Sir Raymond William Garrett AFC. AE. My grandfather was born at the turn of the century in 1900 and grew up in Kew, in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. He dropped out of school at age 14 and went to work in the tram yards to help support his family, as it was the beginning of the war.
He always had a fascination for machinery and his three greatest passions in life were driving, flying and photography. He paid for his flying lessons by taking aerial photographs of Melbourne which were then used by developers and city councils to map Melbourne’s growth progress.
My grandparents first days of flying
In 1923, my grandfather held the British Empire long-distance gliding record for 1 hour and 23 minutes at Tower Hill in the western Victorian districts. The glider was launched from a ramp using a conveyor belt as a slingshot and a truck to pull it back.
He then started the Victorian Gliding Club in Benalla and became a life member.
My grandfather was the founding father of QANTAS, as he was one of the first pilots to fly the mail route from Longreach to Juliet Creek and the Northern Territory. He is recognized in both the Longreach Hall of Fame and the QANTAS museum.
He then joined the Civil Air Force, which later became the RAAF as we now know it. Reaching the rank of Group Captain and becoming one of the leading pilot trainers during WWII.
While they were in Darwin, their quarters were located on the opposite side of the field from the command center and every day they sent a driver to pick them up.
After a few weeks, he decided that this was a waste of manpower and fuel, so he decided to build his own motorcycle. He did it with an old lawn mower motor with a two-stage dog clutch gear system and water pipes, then even the panel hit his own bodywork and then painted it with RAAF colors and stickers. It now stands at the War Memorial in Foster, NSW, where it has been completely restored.
This was the kind of resourceful man I knew him to be. I remember a wartime flight incident that he told me about was when he flew to Singapore at the end of the war to bring our civilians home and when they took off some Japanese started shooting at them because they hadn’t heard the news yet. that Japan had surrendered.
After the war, he returned to the manufacture of X-ray chemicals and photographic material, becoming the manager of Ilford Australia and later the manager of Ilford UK.
My grandfather and politics
It was during this period that a group of local businessmen in the Outer Eastern suburbs persuaded him to run for local politics and he became a member of the local council in the Doncaster and Templestowe Shire.
My grandfather then joined the state government during the Hamer period and became the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly in Victoria representing East Victoria. He also became the lifetime patron of the Baden Powell and Victoria Scouts Association and many other organizations.
One of the best policies he pushed through parliament was the Green Wedge Belt proposal, which now allows Melbourne to have a bunch of environmental reserves that come together in the suburbs that support both unique flora and fauna and provide places for people to relax and run away. From the monotony of the suburbs.
He represented his constituents with dignity and honor and was considered a fair and reasonable politician, one of the true people who represented the people who put him there. He was considered a true gentleman.
My grandfather was always playing with machinery and chemicals in his later years and had a magnificent workshop at his vacation home in McRae where he turned wood into bowls and table legs and made a large quantity of moisturizer every year using the washing machine. . you have to mix. This moisturizer was fantastic when we got sunburned at the local beach and the recipe continues to this day in the family.
There are many more stories about my grandfather that I have learned over the years, but I will have to wait for another time.