E. R. (Roy) CrockerPrint Page

The plantation of trees commemorates E. R. (Roy) Crocker for his services to the Minlaton District as District Clerk and Overseer from 1926 to 1949.

On Thursday, November 10th, the people of Minlaton laid to rest one of their best loved and most respected citizens in the person of Roy Crocker. The service in the Methodist Church, followed by the ceremony at the graveside, where hosts of his personal friends paid tribute in the teeming rain to the man they loved, were eloquent testimony of the very high esteem in which Mr. E. R. Crocker was held by all who came in contact with him. The funeral service was conducted by the Rev. S. K. Wiseman.

Born in Broken Hill, Roy Crocker enlisted early in World War 1, was on Gallipoli soon after his 20th birthday, and served later in Egypt and in Flanders. He was attached to the 3rd Field Ambulance as a stretcher bearer, and was decorated by the King with the Military Medal for bravery in the field. Roy and his friends in his section of the Ambulance have kept in touch with each other through all the years since those days, holding re-unions in their homes each year and all marching together on Anzac Day. One of their number, Rev. D. E. Dickson, had the privilege of taking part in the funeral service of his old war time pal. In World War 2 Roy was again impelled by his high sense of duty to offer his services for King and Country. This time he was acccpted as an Administrator in the RAF, and was posted to Malaya. Soon after the fall of Singapore, he was taken prisoner, and was for 3 1/2 years in Japanese prisoner of war camps in Java. During all those long war years Mrs. Crocker carried on magnificently in charge of the Red Cross in Minlaton.

On January 1st, 1926, Mr. Crocker commenced duty as District Clerk and Overseer in Minlaton and he later became the Secretary of the Hospital, and in these and many other honorary positions he made his mark in the district It was characteristic of the grit of the man that after his appointment as District Clerk, he continued his studies and gained his Accountancy and Secretarial Diplomas. Mr Crocker was an acknowledged authority on finance, and he needs no finer memorial than the Town Hall, Main Street, Hospital and Nurses' Quarter, all of which we owe to him. Much as the district will miss its District Clerk and Secretary, it is the man, a real man, a man who will be missed by many in the family, he was a wonderful husband and brother amongst his workmen he was more than a boss, he was a cobber and to his friends, he was sympathetic and kindly friend. He knew his God, he loved his home, and he enriched the lives of many men and women who were his friends. Members of the R.S.L. marched at the head cortege. The pledge was recited at the graveside, and "Last Post" and "Reveille" were sounded by Mr. A. V. McKenzie.
Pioneer (Yorketown, SA), 18 November 1949.

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