Rex JonesPrint Page

The monument commemorates Rex Jones of the 27th Battery , 7th AFA who accidentally drowned in 1936.

Rex Jones owned a thriving boat hire service from 1925 until his death in 1936.  In 1927 at Berowra Waters the first motorboats in Australia were available for hire. He was responsible for the development of a public wharf, parking area and swimming pool on the western side of the water. 

BEROWRA Thursday. Rex Jones, 40, one of the best-known residents of Berowra Waters, was drowned today when he became entangled in the killick rope of his launch, and was dragged under water. His body was found by his 15-year-old son, Max, who went to the launch intending to use it to search for his father. Mr. Jones left his home at 5.30 a.m. to go to his boatshed. Apparently he fell from the boat, or from the pier, when stepping from one to the other. In his fall he must have become entangled in the rope, and dragged a heavy stone killick from the pier. Apparently he was carried down about five feet, and had no chance to escape. The rope had cut deeply into the body. Mr. Jones was president of the New South Wales Boat Service Association and of the Berowra Progress Association, a vice-president of the Hornsby Football and Cricket Clubs, an active member of the Returned Soldiers' League, and a member of the local Masonic Lodge.
The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW), 27 November 1936.

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