MACK, Stanley (1889-1960)Born on 3 May 1889, Stanley Mack was the son of Joseph Mack and Helen nee Dodds, of Berry Bank, Victoria. He became a boarder at Geelong College entering in 1904.
During World War I, he enlisted (No 67) in the AIF on 11 September 1914, and embarked on
HMAT A16 Shropshire on 25 February 1915 for Egypt and Gallipoli. He joined the 8th Light Horse with his brothers who stayed together for as long as possible.
On arrival in Egypt he spent various times in hospital before Gallipoli, where he had a narrow escape on the day his contemporary,
Major Ernest Albert Edward Gregory (1882-1915), was killed on 27 June 1915, as related by John Hamilton in
Goodbye Cobber, God Bless You:
'Stan Mack had a narrow escape that day. He had gone into the firing-line trenches to relieve Trooper Robert Halahan1, aged just 21. As Halahan took cover in Stan’s dugout, an 11.4 inch shell landed at the entrance and blew one of his legs off. He died of his wounds a week later in hospital in Cairo, in what was once the luxurious Palace Hotel. Soon Stan would be in hospital in Egypt himself. Dogged by illness, he would be sent off Gallipoli for the second time. Now it was the enteric. He would be on his way home.' Mack was evacuated to No 2 Australian Stationary Hospital, Mudros on 17 July 1915, and back to Egypt by
HS Ionian for further treatment, thence to Australia on 7 September 1915, by
HMT Ascanius.
Stanley Mack died on 5 February 1960.
Pegasus in June 1960 provided a brief obituary:
'Stanley Mack of 'Berry Bank', died at the Repatriation General Hospital, Heidelberg, on February 5, aged 70 years. He attended the College under Mr Norman Morrison and had spent the greater part of his life on the land in pastoral pursuits. He saw lengthy service in the First World War, enlisting as No 67 in the 8th Light Horse.' 1 Trooper Robert Reeves Halahan (No 126), 8th Light Horse, the son of Dr S H Halahan, of Lameroo, South Australia, enlisted Edenhope 18 September 1914, where he was working as a surveyor’s chainman, died of wounds 3 July 1915, buried Cairo War Memorial Cemetery, Grave B.315.
His brothers,
John Dodds Mack (1880-1957), Sidney Arthur Mack (1884-1958),
Ernest Harold Mack (1886-1916), and Norman Oscar Mack (1887-1961), were also educated at Geelong College.
Sources: Pegasus June 1960 p58; Geelong Collegians at the Great War compiled by James Affleck. pp 245-46 (citing John Hamilton, Goodbye Cobber, God Bless You: The fatal charge of the Light Horse, Gallipoli, August 7th 1915; The Pegasus; National Archives.)