John ‘Stanton’ Davis Mellick, attended Brisbane Grammar School in the 1930s, and later studied accountancy before beginning his association with the Australian Armed Forces. Commissioned Lieutenant in October 1939 Mellick attended Duntroon Military College and served with distinction in New Guinea from 1940-1945 with HQ 5th Division and Royal Australian Signals Regiment, retiring as a Major.
‘Sappers’ in training, North Queensland, 1939-1945.
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After the war Mellick qualified as a pharmacist and worked in this field for many years. Mellick also distinguished himself in other areas, including
as a senior lecturer in English language and literature at the University of Queensland; service on the Board of St Andrews War Memorial Hospital; post-war military service as Lieutenant Colonel commanding 401 Signal Regiment; Chairman of the Restoration Task Force St Paul’s Presbyterian Church, Chairman of Grace College council, as well as being honoured in 1997 through the Stan Mellick Centre at the University of Le Havre in France, in recognition of services to that University.
Pay day, Angau, near Lae, New Guinea, 1944-1945.
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Mellick is the author of several published literary works including: A centennial history of the Pharmaceutical Society of Queensland, 1880-1980; The Passing Guest: a life of Henry Kingsley; Keeping faith: a history of St Andrew’s War Memorial Hospital, 1958-2003.
In 2005 Mellick was awarded the Medal for the Order of Australia (OAM) “for services to the community, particularly through the restoration of St Paul’s Presbyterian Church, and to Australian cultural studies“, and in 2016 endowed the State Library of Queensland ‘Letty Katts Award’ in honour of his late wife, through the Queensland Library Foundation, that supports research and documentation of Queensland’s music history.
Selected items from the archive have also been included in the new digital installation at the state’s war memorial, Anzac Square, in Brisbane, due to open mid 2019.
View the collection:
31553, John Stanton Davis Mellick Archive
Marg Powell | Specialist Library Technician | State Library of Queensland