John Lee, born in 1856 in Geelong, married Margaret Deans there when he was thirty-six years old. The young couple enjoyed Christmas Day in Colac in 1894 with their first child, George, who was one year old. Margaret was again pregnant, and they were looking forward to 1895. Three days after Christmas, John went off to his work as a carpenter. He left quietly, early in the morning, leaving Margaret and George sleeping.
Later in the morning Margaret’s father came to tell her that John had been killed in an accident at work, he had been working on a frame of a building in Gravesend Street on a ladder, putting a stay on the uprights. A wind gust caught the frames, which blew over carrying John with it. He was dashed up against the adjacent building and pinned by his head, he fell to the ground, his skull had been fractured and he bled onto his brain.
After a postmortem on that fateful day, his body was taken to his home to be prepared for the burial, which was held the next day. Instead of a happy family, looking forward to 1895, Margaret was now burying her husband.
Their second child, John Hogarth Lee, was born about four months later. He joined the AIF in 1915 and safely returned from war in 1919. At the age of forty, when living in Red Cliffs, near Mildura, he drowned while swimming. Margaret lived on in Colac, never remarried and died in 1945 aged Eighty-Three. Their elder son, George lived locally and worked as a labourer and boot repairer until his death in 1960.
Research by Merrill O’Donnell
Story by Mary Day

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