# Joe Shelley

Joseph Eustace Shelley (18 September 1892 – 23 June 1966) was an Australian rules footballer who played with University in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

## Family

The son of Edgar Shelley (1861-1949), and Blanche Shelley (1867-1960), née Rouse, Joseph Eustace Shelley was born at Caulfield, Victoria on 8 September 1892.

## Education

Educated at Geelong Grammar School and at Melbourne Grammar School.
As a resident at Ormond College he attended the University of Melbourne.
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, Shelley was staying at "Ferndale", the property of James Griffiths, of Griffiths Brothers' Tea, at Bayswater, Victoria. He was the sole survivor of an accident in which the wagonette, 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 on 23 June 1966.

## Footnotes

* ↑ "Register of V.C.A. 1st XI Pennant, District & Premier Cricketers: 1889-90 to 2013-14" (PDF). Cricket Victoria. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 September 2014. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
* ↑ The University Team, The Leader, (Saturday, 4 May 1912), p.29.
* ↑ Commencement Day, The Argus, (Monday, 19 April 1915), p.13.
* ↑ Roll of Service Overseas 1914–1918: Roll of the Returned: Shelley, Joseph Eustace 1910, The University of Melbourne Record of Active Service of Teachers, Graduates, Undergraduates, Officers and Servants in the European War, 1914–1918, University of Melbourne, (Melbourne), 1926, p.251.
* ↑ Service Record.
* ↑ Deaths: Griffiths, The Herald, (Tuesday, 7 April 1925), p.23.
* ↑ A Philanthropist: Mr Griffiths, Generous Man of Business, The Herald, (Tuesday, 7 April 1925), p.5.
* ↑ Miss Morton: Church and Kindergarten Worker, The Herald, (Tuesday, 7 April 1925), p.5.
* ↑ Deaths: Harris, The Age, (Wednesday, 8 April 1925), p.1.
* ↑ Miss Harris, A Bright Girl, The Herald, (Tuesday, 7 April 1925), p.5.
* ↑ Deaths: Griffiths, The Argus, (Saturday, 11 April 1925), p.1.
* ↑ Bayswater Tragedy: Mrs Griffiths' Death, The Herald, (Saturday, 11 April 1925), p.7.
* ↑ "Safety First" Education Urged by Coroner, Bayswater Crossing Smash Inquest Story, The Herald, (Tuesday, 5 May 1925), p.1.
* ↑ Level-Crossing Perils, The Age, (Wednesday, 6 May 1925), p.14.
* ↑ Bayswater Accident, The Argus, (Wednesday, 6 May 1925), p.22.
* ↑ Bayswater Crossing Smash, The Weekly Times, (Saturday, 9 May 1925), p.6.
* ↑ Joseph Eustace "Joe" Shelley, Find a Grave.