WOFF Freeman Roland George Strickland 409249

AM OBE

Freeman Strickland with a 111 Squadron Spitfire

The following is the eulogy delivered by Bill Rogers at the memorial service for Freeman Roland George Strickland AM OBE.

Freeman Roland George Strickland was a larger than life character and I am particularly honoured to have been asked to deliver a eulogy at his memorial service. As you might imagine, he left detailed written instructions about his funeral headed "the Arrangements". He did tell me some years ago that he wanted me to carry out this function and I don't think I took it too seriously but there it was in "the Arrangements" under "Eulogy" so here goes.

I know very little of his school days and we did not meet until after the "recent conflict" when I was completing my law course and he was well and truly established as a customs agent helping his father run Halford Young. A group of us used to meet for dinner on New Year's Eve after work and after the Christmas Party at Halfords which was held in their office below street level on the corner of Flinders Lane and Market Street and perhaps more significantly opposite Roly Palmer's Hotel.

Free was still a bit of a mess. He had joined the Militia on leaving school and on returning from camp surprised his family including female visitors on a Sunday afternoon by using language which he claimed later he didn't understand. War broke out and he joined the Air Force and became a RAF fighter pilot in England flying Spitfires and was then transferred with 111 Squadron to the Middle East and flew in North Africa supporting the Army in the desert. When the desert war finished his squadron joined in support of the invasion of Sicily and Italy. Taking off from a field in Sicily his plane was struck by a damaged returning aircraft and burst into flames. He managed to escape badly burned and was placed in a tent and not expected to survive. He was rescued by a priest from a local seminary and nursed in the seminary to a sufficient state to be removed to England where he was placed in a hospital at East Grinstead under the care of a talented New Zealand plastic surgeon Archibald McIndoe who was carrying out pioneering restorative work on badly burned airmen and other servicemen. Free always referred to McIndoe (later Sir Archibald) as 'the Boss' and attributed him with giving him the will to live. The patients became known as "The Guinea Pigs" and formed a society, the survivors of which still meet.

Only partially recovered on his return to Australia he was in the care of Benny (later Sir Benjamin) Rank, the leading plastic surgeon in Australia. In all, he underwent more than 50 major operations.

Before the war he was a good tennis player. His father was Victorian Squash champion and his sister was schoolgirl champion. As his right hand was badly burned escaping from his aircraft he taught himself to play left handed, then as his right hand began to recover he played right handed with a racquet with a handle about the size of a toothbrush and managed to get back to playing pennant at Royal South Yarra. His great friend John Pearson who was also a very good player was killed fighting in New Guinea and Free presented a trophy in his memory which was competed for at Royal South Yarra between the services on Ex-Service Day for more than 50 years.

Freeman was pursuing the love of his life Mary Marshall with great diligence but it was an off and on affair for about six years; however his perseverance paid off and the happy couple took up residence in Armadale. Jane was born and they later moved to a larger establishment in Kooyong Road where Free built a Guinea Pigs bar, which was the scene of much hilarity.

I am instructed by Free in his "Arrangements" that there should be no sorrow and the theme of my efforts should be happiness.

We certainly did have a lot of happy times. More recently we took to going fishing in the West and up North. The first adventure was to the Monte Bello Islands on a boat that was constantly breaking down in these islands, which to this day are still a terrible mess from the atomic bomb the British exploded there about sixty years ago. To our surprise there was a pearl farm populated by a very strange group of people who were banned by their employer from drinking alcohol. Some negotiations took place as a result of which a slab of beer was to be traded for crayfish. No crayfish were caught but we all captured a large quantity of mud crabs, which were taken back to the boat where we were joined by the pearl farmers. We were not short of drinks and the custody of the mud crabs lapsed with the result that there were mud crabs all over the boat including a huge crab in behind the toilet. We were still finding mud crabs on our return to Dampier.

Next year we travelled to the Rowley Shoals on a boat named "North Star" owned and skippered by Craig Howson who now runs the "True North". The trip out was so rough that Free and Owen Moore wanted to be taken off by helicopter but we were out of range and soon everyone was subdued by the sheer beauty of the place. Among the adventures was getting stranded in a crocodile creek for about 6 hours by the tide. As Free observed "girls and fishing are not a good mix".

Free was a fastidious and very slow eater and like a lot of old chaps he liked plain food. When the four of us were staying on one occasion at Lizard Island he found the food too exotic and called for the chef. He then ordered "Toad in the Hole" and golden syrup steam pudding which to our amazement was duly served.

To return to Mary and Free, Jane was followed by Matthew, Lindy and Virginia. Tragically Matthew was lost, a blow that both Free and Mary found hard to endure but the girls and their children have been wonderful.

Let us consider the marvellous contributions that Free made to society. He was inter alia: a member then Patron of the Aerospace Foundation; Chairman and Director of Perpetual Executors and Trustee; Managing Director of the Halford group; Chairman of Norwich Winterthur Insurance, Scottish Union and Norwich Union Life; President of the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce; President of the Asian Chamber and the Customs Agents; OBE 1978 and AM in 2004. He was extremely proud of establishing the Confederation of Asian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. He was Chairman of St John's Ambulance Society and spent 60 years supporting his old school Melbourne Grammar including sponsoring and chairing the Foundation and chairing the Council Executive and Financial Committee. A member until he died of Melbourne Legacy. He bred cattle on a property in North Queensland and flew his own aeroplane to get there. President of Royal South Yarra Lawn Tennis Club. He was a member of the main city men's clubs and of Rotary.

He was a man of enormous charm, charisma, strength and leadership. Supported all the way by his marvellous mate Mary who cared for him all his life and so tirelessly during his dying weeks when he just refused to give in.

To have been his friend was a wonderful experience. In the words of the hymn he was "Slow to chide and swift to bless". He loved music and sang with a beautiful tenor voice. We will all miss him and we offer our condolences to Mary and the girls.

"Farewell sweet prince, may guardian angels guide thy rest."

He left a general message in the "Arrangements": Happiness from having sixty years of borrowed time. He also remembered:
- His love for Mary and his children and grandchildren
- His pride of working with friends and the many friendships without arguments
- His friendship with "the most unforgettable man I knew", Sir Archibald McIndoe. He presented a bust of McIndoe to the Alfred Hospital.

Supermarine Spitfires of No. 111 Squadron undergoing maintenance at Comiso, Sicily. 'JU-R' in the foreground is a Mark IXE, the other aircraft being Mark VCs.

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