Elizabeth ZANKE [907]

   Cause of her death was was cancer.

  General Notes:

Elisabeth (Lizzie) Zanke and Lionel Julius.
World War I had just ended and young Lizzie was working as a cook on "Jingeree" station near Proston, when news came that a handsome soldier was coming to work there as a stockman. He had served in many areas in France and had been gassed several times necessitating convalescence in England. Everyone was primping and preening, but it was shy young Lizzie who won his heart and they were married in Wondai in 1924. Very little is known of Lionel's war service as he refused to talk about it, but it is known that he served in the 4th Pioneers which was a battalion made up of the remnants of other battalions that had been almost wiped out as individuals and were banded together to form the 4th Pioneers.
Life was not easy, as in 1924 the depression was making itself felt in Queensland. Lionel had been a drover before the war so he was a "jack of all trades" and loved country life. He was working on the roads near Murgon when their daughter Marion was born in 1926. Four years later he was working on the new Kyogle railway line when, with the birth near, Lizzie went once more to Murgon to stay with relatives and on "lucky" Friday 13th of July her son Stanford was born.
Living conditions in the railway camp were far from luxurious, home consisted of 2 tents joined together. One bedroom was floored with pieces of timber, but the eating area had a beaten earth floor. Cooking and washing facilities were minimal but Lizzie's cooking skills were a great help. Marion began school at Rocklea in 1929 and when the Kyogle line was finished the young family packed up and went to Kinleymore farm. Lionel and his father-in-law built a neat little house and Lizzie helped her mother in the house and taught Marion by correspondence school. Because she had very little formal schooling herself, at Chelmsford and Kinleymore where she was a first day pupil at both schools, Lizzie was determined that her children were going to have the best education possible.
Another move for the family came with a share dairy farm near Woodford. Marion attended a small one teacher school at Stoney Creek but after a year or two as the farm was not paying, another move was made to a nearby dairy farm where Lizzie helped in the dairy and in return the family was given a cottage rent free. As there were two children, Lionel was given 2 days relief work on the roads, and he and Lizzie eked out the relief rations with home-grown vegetables. Lizzie's skill with a sewing machine was very useful. When employment began to improve, the family moved to Monto in 1935 where Lionel was employed with the Forestry Department, rising to the position of ganger.
Marion became the first girl to pass the scholarship examination from the Monto State School in 1938. She was sent as a boarder to the Rockhampton Girls Grammar School and became the first Monto girl to hold a Junior Pass. On leaving school at Sub-Senior, Marion worked for the Monto branch of the Commercial Bank of Australia.
In 1942 Lionel joined the Army but as he was over the age limit for the A.I.F. he was put into the Garrison Battalion who escorted POW trains and acted as guards on camps. Lizzie and Stanford moved with him to Brisbane. Because of her sewing ability her war effort was as a tailoress. In 1943 Marion joined the newly formed Woman's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS) and served in HMAS Moreton, Platypus, Kuranda, Torrens, and Flinders Naval Depot, and was discharged in 1946 from HMAS Moreton.
After the end of World War II Lionel was employed by the Defence Department until he retired at the age of 65. They bought a house at Zillmere and he did odd jobs until in 1956 he died suddenly, Lizzie was devastated.
Some years after her husband's death, Lizzie showed artistic skills which had been hidden by the task of raising her family. Her children and grandchildren have many reminders of her in gifts of china painting, pottery and needlecraft which are of outstanding beauty. She was living in Symes Grove Church of England home when she became ill and died of cancer at Mt Olivet Hospital in 1976. She had waited 20 long and lonely years to join her husband in Lutwyche Cemetery.
Marion's first marriage to Arthur John Crummer ended in divorce, but in 1954 she married Arthur John Robert Walsh. Bob had seen service with the 9th Division 2/3 Field Ambulance in the Middle East, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Tobruk (one of the Rats), El Alamein, Finchafen and Lae. After discharge he and his family bought a farm at Sexton, near Gympie but this venture was not a success and in 1955 Bob, Marion and son John went to the Elgin Vale Forestry. Their children Lionel, Kathy and Beth-Ann were born at the Nanango Maternity Hospital, 26 miles from the Forestry. In 1962 the family moved to Gympie, but war service caught up with Bob, he was unable to continue in the Forestry and got work as an orderly in Rosemount Repatriations Hospital in Brisbane in 1963. John had attended Banyo (living with Lizzie), and Gympie High Schools and on passing Junior joined the Post Office. He sat for exams to reach postal clerk/telegraphist, passing out seventh in Queensland and 21 years old. He applied for country posting and was sent as relieving officer to the Far West, Charters Towers, Boulia, Cloncurry and other small offices where at times he was acting postmaster, and was the youngest man in Queensland to hold that position. He died suddenly of septicaemia in Cammoweal in 1971 aged 23 years, and his ashes are at Albany Creek in Brisbane.
As soon as he was older his brother Lionel joined the Post Office and has named his son John in memory of his brother.
Marion lives in retirement Grovely, sadly Bob passed away on 26th of August 1982.
Stanford started his school life at Stanmore, later going to Monto when the family moved on, and it was here that he was among the first children to be taught carpentry and metalwork. He passed his scholarship from Milton in Brisbane, and went on to do a commercial junior at Brisbane Commercial High School he started work as a clerk and pay clerk while studying accountancy, and joined the Air Force in January, 1950 where he served for almost 7 years as an engine fitter in Malaya, Japan, and Korea in 77 Squadron. In April May 1951 at Iwakuni Japan, he was the first member of the RAAF to be sucked into an engine nacelle of Meteor jet aircraft. No safety guards were fitted as they were among equipment yet to arrive from England. The Department of Veterans Affairs have just recognised that the accident had effects on him that led to his early death. He was discharged in October 1956 at his own request on the death of his father. Until 1959 he spent his life doing what he dearly loved, fishing with his uncle Martin (Kate Zanke's husband), a professional fishermen along the Queensland coast and Great Barrier Reef. He decided to settle down and obtained a job as an assistant accountant, and it was about this time that he met his future wife Shirley at a party. Stan took a job with a Sydney-based company where he stayed for 15 years. He married Shirley, and in 1967 their son Michael was born on 13 April. This made the birthdays of Stan, Shirley and Michael on the 13th of their respective months.
In April 1968 Stanford suffered a myocardial infarction. September, 1971 saw the birth of twin daughters Suzanne and Michelle, so now the little family was complete. Most of their holidays were spent at the beach, where as they grew older the children shared their father's love of fishing. Another relaxation was a love of sport, and Stan spent many years as assistant treasurer at Brothers St Brendans Rugby League Club, where Michael played all his junior football.
Stanford's last job was with the State Government Works Department and it was whilst on annual holidays that he died of a heart attack doing what he loved most, on his way to catch the big ones at Kingscliffe, New South Wales, on 16 August 1980.
Son Michael is a corporal in the Army cadets and hopes to make his career in either the Army or Air Force. Suzanne and Michelle have recently become enrolled as Girl Guides after spending the junior years as Brownies.
Author unknown.

Elizabeth married Lionel Percy JULIUS [906] [MRIN: 296], son of Stanford Percy JULIUS [898] and Janet Christina ARMSTRONG [899], on 2 Jan 1924 in Wondai Qld. (Lionel Percy JULIUS [906] was born on 16 Aug 1888 in Queensland Aust, died on 1 Aug 1956 in Brisbane Queensland Aust. and was buried in Services Section, Lutwyche Cemetery Brisbane.)