Joseph Eustace Shelley (18 September 1892 – 23 June 1966) was an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who played with

University A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL).

Family

The son of Edgar Shelley (1861-1949), and Blanche Shelley (1867-1960), née Rouse, Joseph Eustace Shelley was born at

Caulfield, Victoria Caulfield is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Glen Eira Local government areas of Victoria, local government area. C ...

on 8 September 1892.

Education

Educated at

Geelong Grammar School Geelong Grammar School is a private Anglican co-educational boarding and day school. The school's main campus is located in Corio on the northern outskirts of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, overlooking Corio Bay and Limeburners Bay. Establ ...

and at

Melbourne Grammar School Melbourne Grammar School is an Australian private school, private Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican Day school, day and boarding school. It comprises a co-educational preparatory school from Prep to Year 6 and a middle school and senior s ...

. As a resident at

Ormond College Ormond College is the largest of the residential colleges of the University of Melbourne located in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is home to around 350 undergraduates, 90 graduates and 35 professorial and academic residents. H ...

he attended the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

. He graduated Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) on 17 April 1915; and, during his time at the university he was awarded a " double blue" in cricket and football.

Military service

He enlisted in the First AIF on 7 July 1916, and left Sydney on 8 July 1916 (on the RMS Mongolia) to serve overseas in the Australian Army Medical Corps (AAMC). He was discharged for the AIF in England (effective date 26 December 1919); and, rather than being repatriated to Australia, he independently went to Jerusalem, where his parents were living, and where he intended to practise medicine.

6 April 1925

While in Victoria, on holiday from his residence in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, Shelley was staying at " Ferndale", the property of James Griffiths, of Griffiths Brothers' Tea, at

Bayswater, Victoria Bayswater is a residential and industrial suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne's Melbourne City Centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Knox Local government areas of Victoria, ...

. He was the sole survivor of an accident in which the

wagonette A wagonette or waggonette, meaning ''little wagon'', is a four-wheeled open carriage drawn by one or two horses. It has a front seat for the driver, and passengers enter from the rear and sit face to face on longitudinal bench seats. Originating a ...

, driven by Griffiths (on the way to Bayswater Station to meet Arthur Henry Harris, the manager of "Ferndale"), was hit by a train. Three of the five occupants, James Griffiths, Elizabeth Morton, and Janet Emily Harris (Harris's daughter), were killed immediately, and the fourth, Emily Griffiths (James Griffiths' wife), died of her injuries four days later.

Death

He died at

Melbourne, Victoria Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

on 23 June 1966.Joseph Eustace "Joe" Shelley, ''Find a Grave''.
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Footnotes

References

* Holmesby, Russell & Main, Jim (2007). ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers''. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.
World War One Embarkation Roll: Captain Joseph Eustace Shelley
collection of the ''Australian War Memorial''.
World War One Service Record: Captain Joseph Eustace Shelley
''National Archives of Australia''.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shelley, Joe 1892 births 1966 deaths Australian rules footballers from Melbourne University Football Club players People educated at Geelong Grammar School People educated at Melbourne Grammar School Medical doctors from Melbourne People from Caulfield, Victoria Australian military doctors Military personnel from Melbourne Australian military personnel of World War I Australian expatriates in Mandatory Palestine 20th-century Australian medical doctors Survivors of railway accidents or incidents Melbourne Medical School alumni University of Melbourne alumni