Early History...Maroochydore SLSC

Tom Prentis was a foundation member on 1.1.1916, when he gained his Proficiency and Elementary Certificate. He was granted Life Member status in 1965, when the club celebrated 50 years of operation.

Prentis (below, middle row, third from the left), walked the district to recruit members (in 1922), as explained in Ralph Devlin's 75th Year History...and as this picture shows, he was successful!

[Harry French's wonderful and illuminating oral history is transcribed on pages 5-8...and we can now more accurately date Harry's tale The "World Odyssey" which ended at Maroochydore however, as Chronicle articles 13/10/1922 p. 5 and 20/10/1922 p. 5 explain this part of the story more.]

He was a farmer at Bli Bli, who went overseas to War in May 1918. After hospitalisation in France, and final discharge on 5/10/1919, he was subsequently elected President of the Maroochy ASC, at that club's third annual meeting (Chronicle 13/10/1922 p.5)...and was also elected Secretary and Treasurer of the reformed branch of the RLSSQ's Maroochydore Life Saving Club (Chronicle 20/10/1922 p.5).

Some of these other faces have been identified over recent years:

back row: Glenn Foxover; ? ; Arthur Evans; Henry Burton; Basil Suosaari (clothed and with hat); Eric Eggins (also in clothes).

middle row: Joe Suosaari; ? ; Tom Prentis; ? ; Sandy Suosaari; ? ; ? ; Nugget Evans.

kneeling: Vic Suosaari; ? ; Bob Anderson.

A sad report appears in the Chronicle of the 4th March 1927 p. 7...which tells of the demise of Tom Prentis' 22 year old wife (of a mere 10 months), and the loss a few days earlier of his first child. Contance Prentis (nee Reading), was also formerly of Bli Bli, while the report tells us that Tom and his wife were at the time of her demise, living at Eudlo where he was engaged in dairying.