Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

29/05/1917

Date of Discharge

11/09/1919

Place of Enlistment

Sydney NSW

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

15/09/1897

Place of Birth

Weetangera ACT

Address (at enlistment)

Pound Hill, Queanbeyan NSW (previously Weetangerra/ Weetangera ACT)

Occupation

Butcher

Next of Kin

Annie Lee (mother), Pound Hill, Queanbeyan NSW

Service Number

3605

Final Rank

Trooper

Final Unit

7 Light Horse Regiment AIF

George Lee was born at Weetangera, though one source suggests Tharwa where his father, Harry died of consumption in 1900 and is buried at Lanyon. By the age of 13 he had left school and was working for Arthur Studdy at 'Googong'. He was a witness in a court case in 1911 where he stated he never used strong language except, perhaps, "bother it". The Police Magistrate advised him: "don't use anything stronger when you grow up."

Lee was a butcher in Queanbeyan when he enlisted in 1917. He arrived in Egypt with the 32nd reinforcements for the 7th Light Horse Regiment on 10 December 1917 and, after being hospitalised with pyrexia, served in Palestine from June 1918. In November 1918 he was part of the party from the 7th Light Horse sent to occupy Gallipoli and to accompany war historian Charles Bean. He arrived back in Australia in August 1919 and was discharged on 11 September 1919. He worked as a groom at the Royal Military College before marrying Ethel McKeahnie in 1925. They lived at 'Rose Hill', Ginninderra where they farmed and Lee played rugby league for the premiership winning Hall team. During 1939 he became ill and underwent an operation at Canberra Hospital. In August 1940 he was sent to the Mater Misericordiae Hospital in Sydney for treatment. He died on 28 August 1940 and is buried in St. John's Churchyard in Reid.

Description - height 5 feet 6 inches, weight 126 pounds, chest 31½ -33½ inches, fair complexion, blue eyes, fair hair, Presbyterian.

Rex Cross, 'Bygone Queanbeyan', 1980
Lyall Gillespie, 'Ginninderra - Forerunner to Canberra', 1992
Ross Howarth, 'Civilians employed at the Royal Military College of Australia, Duntroon, from 1911 to 1931', RMC Duntroon, November 2000
Narelle O'Rourke, 'A Country Nurse and Midwife', 1989
Jean Salisbury, 'Canberra: St. John's Churchyard 1844-1998', Canberra 2000
Bruce Moore, 'The Lanyon Saga', 1982
Queanbeyan Age - 12 May 1917, 15 June 1917, 3 July 1917, 5 March 1918
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
ACT Archives - TL599 Block 24 Belconnen, TL990 (Part 1) Block 24 Belconnen