Leckys left their mark

THEY were Officer’s brothers in arms from a pioneering family, whose battlefield deaths in France only six weeks apart rocked the small community to its core.
Popular and well educated, James and Mervyn Lecky led a privileged life.
Their grandparents, Irish immigrants James and Elizabeth, were the first Europeans to settle in Officer in 1846, having travelled over 50 kilometres from Plenty (now Greensborough) by bullock and dray with six children over difficult country to claim Gin Gin Bin run.
James snr and his son, James jnr (the boys’ father), were active in community affairs.
Both served on Cranbourne Shire Council and had several stints as shire president. James jnr was a central figure in the early years of the Berwick and District Agricultural and Horticultural Society (then called the Mornington Farmers’ Society), serving as president three times.
The Lecky brothers, born five years apart, attended Scotch College, were both noted horsemen and had a large circle of friends.
They were so popular that when a Soldier Box competition was held across the district – soliciting votes for boys overseas in the form of donations to Red Cross – James came out a clear winner. So great was the response that Mrs Scott Sharp, who conceived the idea, declared at the presentation night that three boxes, filled with comforts from home, would be made and the placegetters, Corporal Sid Greaves of Berwick and Corporal Clair Whiteside of Officer, would also receive one.
George Tivendale recalled in a Down Memory Lane article in the Gazette in 1962 that he shared many a happy day with the two Lecky lads and enjoying many fishing trips with them and the likes of Tom Kernot, Alex ‘Jim’ Henry and Gill Egerton.
Growing up, George recalled, the Lecky boys would hear stories of how their grandfather would harvest wheat grown along the banks of Cardinia Creek and travel for a week by bullock dray to Brighton and back to sell the harvest and restock supplies – or how he used to have to lock the dairy at night to prevent the Aboriginals camped up in the hills from taking the milk and cream.
Mervyn was the first to answer the call to defend the Empire in the battlefields of Europe. At 20, he enlisted on 15 June 1915 and was assigned to the 4th Brigade Field Artillery and embarked from Melbourne on board the HMAT Wiltshire on 18 November that year.
James, 25, followed a few months later, enlisting on 25 February 1916 and joining the 8th Brigade Field Artillery. He sailed on HMAT A7 Medic on 20 May 1916, along with another Officer recruit Norman John Bromley.
Just before James and Norm sailed, the Berwick Shire News and Pakenham and Cranbourne Gazette reported that a letter had been received from Private Clair Whiteside of Officer, stating that just prior to writing he had met four of the Berwick boys – Privates Merv Lecky, Sid Greaves, Ted Lyall and Will O’Sullivan – and that all were well. Sadly, of those only Greaves would return.
On 10 August, the paper reported that Mr Lecky had received news that both his sons, Driver James Lecky and Gunner Mervyn Lecky, were fine and in good spirits.
The boys acquitted themselves well in battle.
On 23 August 1918, Mervyn earned a Military Medal as part of a party of four soldiers who were able to provide vital tactical information about enemy movements as part of a forward party in a battle at Herleville. The citation said that “these men worked under great difficulty from the Forward OP station at the relay post under heavy fire and due to an utter disregard for personal safety succeeded in maintaining the line except for short periods”.
Within a week, he was killed in action at nearby Mont St Quentin.
News of his death hit the newspaper back home on 20 September, 1918.
“The many friends of Mr and Mrs James Lecky of Cardinia Park, Officer, will deeply regret to hear that their youngest son, William Mervyn, has been killed at the front after two years and ten months active service,” the Shire News reported. “The young man, who was 23 years of age, was a general favourite and his death will be generally regretted. He has a brother at the front.”
On 29 November 1918, the newspaper reported that his brother had also succumbed to a gunshot wound – three days after the Armistice had been signed and the world was at peace again.
“We regret to have to record the death of Driver James Lecky, the son of James and Maggie Lecky of Cardinia Park, Office,” the paper reported.
“Mr Lecky received word last week, stating his son was in hospital in France suffering from a gunshot wound and that he was dangerously ill. Later information was to the effect that his son died on the 14th instant. He was 28 years of age and had been on active service for two and a half years.
“The sad news of his death was received with widespread regret, as he was well known throughout the district and greatly respected. His brother, Mervyn, was also killed at the front about three months ago.”
Cranbourne Shire Council sent a letter of condolence to the Leckys. Moving the resolution, Cr Wilson said that as Mr Lecky was an old and much respected ex-councillor of the shire, who had filled the office of president more than once, it was only right that a letter be sent to him.
It was all too much for James and Maggie, who were so distraught at losing their only two sons that they sold the Cardinia Park property and left the district.