Sub-Branch History

1944

April 22nd

LIQUOR:
Semaphore and Port Adelaide sub-branch of the Returned  Soldiers' League, campaigning for a liquor licence for their proposed new clubrooms, found against it the   Licensed Victuallers' Association, as well as the South Australian Alliance. Both bodies were telling their followers to vote against any increase in the number of licences for the district, which means, if they get their way, there will be no licence for the R.S.L. Club at Semaphore. It was noticeable, however, that while the W.C.T.U. was campaigning all out for a reduction of licences in the Norwood and Hindmarsh districts, it had little to say about Semaphore, less in fact than the L.V.A. Semaphore R.S.L. sub-branch secretary F. H. Williams was moved to say: 'We believe the L.V.A. is opposing us because it will be a community effort if the club is granted a licence. It is interesting to note that in Hindmarsh and Norwood, where the polls are sponsored by the W.C.T.U.. that the L.V.A. is opposing that body, whereas in Semaphore it is supporting the S.A.   Alliance, a body with similar aims.' The vote, which will decide whether there is to be any change in the number of licences in the three districts, will be taken on Saturday next in conjunction with the State elections.

Saturday 22 April 1944 The Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 – 1954)

1945

September 27th

FIRST ENTRANT IN CONTEST:
Miss Laurel Butterfield of Henley Beach, first entrant in the bathing beauty competition which is being run by the Glenelg, Semaphore-Port Adelaide, Henley and Grange, and Brighton R.S.L. sub-branches to raise funds for new clubhouses. Miss Butterfield is 27, weighs 10 st. 2 lb., height 5 ft. 9 in., bust 35, waist 27, and hips 38 in.

Thursday 27 September 1945,  News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954)

1945

November 24th

PORT ADELAIDE ENTRANT:
MARGARET PARKER, 16 is Port Adelaide's first entrant in the Bathing Beauty Contest in aid of memorial building funds for the R.S.L. sub-branches at Glenelg, Henley and Grange, Port Adelaide-Semaphore, and Brighton. Margaret is a milliner and plays basketball. Her measurements are:-Weight 8 st. 8 lb., bust 35, waist 25, and hips 35 in.

Saturday 24 November 1945,  News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954)

1946

January 3rd

GRANGE ENTRY IN CONTEST
Nineteen year old Betty Crispe has entered the Bathing Beauty Contest as Miss Grange. Betty is 5 ft. 3½ in. and weighs 8 st. 2 lb. Her other measurements are:Bust 32 in.,hips 35, waist 26. The contest has been organised by the Glenelg, Henley and Grange, Port Adelaide - Semaphore, and Brighton R.S.L. sub-branches to raise funds for memorial club houses.

Thursday 3 January 1946,  News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954)

Miss Betty Crispe - picture News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954)

1946

January 26th

LILIES BY AIR FOR CARNIVAL:
MRS. A. D. GRAHAME Workinq on the carpet of flowers for today's Glenelg beach carnival.Mrs. Grahame flew to Port Lincoln to bring back by air the Cape lilies in the top, right of the picture. The carnival is one of three arranged by Brighton, Glenelg, Henley and Grange, and Semaphore and Port Adelaide sub-branches of the R.S.L. The Semaphore and Henley carnivals open tonight.

Saturday 26 January 1946,  News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954)

Mrs. A. D. Grahame - picture News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954)

1946

February 2nd

THE LEWIN LIGHTS:
THE Leeuwin light of the West Australian coast has no connection with the Lewin lights of Semaphore.

The Leeuwin is a lighthouse, and the Lewin a name given by several members of the Semaphore sub branch of the R.S.L. to the 5.600 colored bulbs which made such a fine display at the just-concluded Semaphore carnival for the R.S.L. building fund. The name was be stowed as a tribute to the honorary organiser of the carnival (Mr. L.H. Lewin) who did a splendid job.

Many who saw the display said it had not been equalled anywhere in Australia.

The lights were used originally in the South Australian centenary celebrations, and were then bought by the Port Adelaide City Council. They were stored during the war and had their first post-war airing when the council lent them to the carnival committee.

Monday 4 February 1946,  News (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954)

1946

February 21st

MISS DAPHNE FURLER:

Winner of the R.S.L. bathing beauty contest finalised at Glenelg on Saturday. She was hailed as Miss South Australia. The winner comes from Semaphore. Miss Isabella Woollard, of Brighton, was runner-up.

Thursday 21 February 1946,  Cronical (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954)

Miss Daphne Furler- picture Cronical (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954)

CONTESTANTS in the bathing beauty contests conducted by the South Australian seaside resorts in aid of the R.S.L. sub-branch building funds. The contest was finalised at Glenelg on Saturday, when Miss Daphne Furler (Semaphore) was declared the winner.

CONTESTANTSr- picture Cronical (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954)

1946

August 12th

CHALLENGE FOR BAY:
MR. Roy Forde, president of  Semaphore and Port R.S.L.says that as a ruling as to which is the biggest sub-branch in the State cannot be given until the end of the year, he will try to show that his sub-branch is "better,than Glenelg".

"Just to prorve it," he said today, "I've issued a challenge to play Glenelg at bowls, billiards, snooker; table tennis, darts, quoits,bridge, and anything else they think they're good at. "And when those matches are over I'll race Harry Beilby, past president of Glenelg over 100 yards on a slippery floor."

Glenelg have accepted the challenge for August 28.

"We'll invade Glenelg with two bus loads of our troops. That should be more than enough to win the night." Mr. Forde said.

Monday 12 August 1946,  News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954)

1947

April 25th

ANZAC DAY PORT ADELAIDE SEMAPHORE:
More than 80 well-drilled "blue jackets" from the nearby naval depot attended the Birkenhead service, where a brief address was given by naval chaplain the Rev.R W. McLeod.

The calm, grey sea and grey sky provided a fitting background as the bugler played the "Last Post" at the Semaphore War Memorial.

Friday 25 April 1947, News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954)

1947

September 16th

CYCLES TO WORK EVERY DAY:
MISS JOY CREEDY, representing Semaphore and Port Adelaide Sub-Branch of the R.S.L. in the Miss South Australia Quest, rides a motor cycle six miles a day to the Parkside Mental Hospital, where she works.

Tuesday 16 September 1947, Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW : 1888 - 1954)

1947

September 26th

QUEST GIRL TO BOUNCE BALL:
MISS JOY CREEDY (Miss Semaphore and Port Adelaide R.S.L. in the Miss Australia Quest) will bounce the ball to start the football match between jockeys and Railways Transport on the I.C.I. ground, Largs Bay, on Sunday. Today she was shown the correct way to bounce the ball by former South and State half forward Max Murdy who will umpire the game.

Friday 26 September 1947 News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954)

1949

July 16th

ACE SPY NOW WORKS AT PORT TIMBER YARD: BY FRED FLOWERS

It was Sunday 3pm. late November 1941. Capt. Stanislav Repotec Ace Yugoslav spy and underground worker, sat tensed in a British submarine "Thrasher" submerged off Brindisi Harbor (Italy).

An enemy convoy with escort was moving into the harbor and into Thrasher's sights.

Suddenly the command: "Stand by, action stations" was rapped out. A few mintutes later:-"First tube, FIRE! . .. second tube ...  third . . . fourth . . . fifth.". Two of the torpedoes found their marks. Thrasher crash-dived to 350 ft.

The motors were cut. Silence enveloped the crew. Then hell broke loose, The submarine shuddered to the explosions of depth charges. The thunderclaps crept closer as the enemy escort vessels flailed the surface.

Repotec loaded his revolver, his hand tightened round the butt .... He waited for the next charge that must surely wreck the submarine. It was never dropped. The enemy had given up the chase.

Some hours later, many miles from the scene, Thrasher surfaced and continued on her way to the Dalmatian coast. The submarine hove-to. A boat was lowered. Under cover of darkness Rapotec was rowed to the shore. He stepped out of the craft . . . at last handshake . . . and disappeared into the gloom. His trek to Gen. Mihailovich's under ground forces in Yugoslavia had begun.

FREEDOM OR DEATH:
Five months ago broad shouldered, grim-faced Rapotec strode down the gangplank of a displaced persons migrant ship on to Australian soil. He had chosen two years' manual labor in a free country rather than return to his Communist-dominated Homeland and certain death. He is now laboring in a Port Adelaide timber yard with men who served under him in the Royal Yugoslpv Guard Battalion in the Middle East with the British 3th Army. At night he is taking a full-time course in economics at the Adelaide University.

"DIDN'T KNOW FEAR"
Rapotec rubbed his fierce stubble of a beard when he talked about British submariners."They were gallant men," he told me. "I spent 40 days under the sea with them. They were cool and efficient, even when a horrible death seemed only seconds away. They did not know fear."

Rapotec's story really begins in March, 1941, when thousands of Yugoslav anti-Hitler demonstrators marched through the streets of Belgrade, shouting, "Better grave than slave!" However, Hitler marched in, and three months later, Rapotec marched out. He slipped through the Nazi cordon round Yugoslavia, made his way through Bulgaria and Turkey, to the Middle East, where he joined the Allied Forces. 

MIHAILOVICH PRAISED
Soon he was on his way back into Yugoslavia; where for nine months he was the link between Gen. Mihailovich's underground movement and the Allied Command in the Middle East.

Hunted by the Germans, he sent out by radio vital information to the Allies, and relayed Allied orders back to Mihailovich. "Mihailovich was a kind, courageous man, who fought tenaciously for the Allied cause," Rapotec said. "Even Winston Churchill, in Brussels two years ago, said one of the Western. Powers' biggest mistakes of the war was the decision to support the Communist Gen. Tito instead of the Yugoslav patriot Mihailovich."

After the war Rapotec said Tito's Reds hunted Mihailovich who, although sick and weak, refused to leave his country. "He was ultimately trapped. After an abortive trial that was given world publicity, he was found guilty of a trumped-up charge of helping the enemy, and murdered," said Rapotec. Rapotec said history had already vindicated Mihailovich, and revealed Tito in his true colors.

READY TO SUICIDE
Existing on the brink between life and death was commonplace to underground workers, Rapotec said. On two occasions he was on the point of taking his own life, because "I did not agree with the kind of death before me." The first time was in the Thrasher off Brindisi Harbor, and the second ..."It was February, 1942," said Rapotec. "I was dropped on the Dalmatian coast again from the British submarine Thorn. "For a month I was in Split, the Dalmatian capital, organising the underground. The Italian and German officials soon became aware of my presence and were constantly searching for me.

"One afternoon I had just returned to my hide-out from an underground conference in the city when I saw a squad of Italian blackshirts approaching. "When they were 50 yards from my quarters, they stopped, loaded their rifles, then continued towards me."This was the end. I loaded my revolver, put my finger on the trigger. "Afraid to look back, I walked out the back door and down the road. "Every moment I expected to hear shots. I walked 200 yards, then looked round quickly."The Italians were not following me.They were just exercisingl"

"I WAS A LONE WOLF"
Rapotec's grim face broke into a smile when he said his underground work had its romantic side. On one of his escapes from Yugoslavia a beautiful Yugoslav blonde spy in the pay of the Germans teamed up with him. Instead of reporting his presence to her masters, she asked him to marry her and take her back to Allied Command with him. He declined her advances. "I was a lone wolf," he said. Rapotec is still a bachelor.

He says his laboring work is assisting him with his University course."Labor is an important part of production, and production is an important part of economics," he said.

He is a member of the Semaphore Port Adelaide RSL sub-branch, the British Imperial Club, and the Royal Society of Arts.

KEEN PAINTER
"My beard is 75 per cent. submarine and 25 per cent. art," he said.Rapotec is a keen portrait and landscape painter. He has not yet shown any of his work in Adelaide. "I must consult your Mr. Ivor Francis before I do that," he grinned. Rapotec said many displaced persons in Adelaide were very unhappy. "They cannot speak the language and they are very lonely," he said. "They are thrilled with working conditions and the kindness of fellow workers, but they have no social life." Rapotee suggested that it would be helpful if the YMCA or some church organisation could arrange social evenings for them where they could meet Australians.

"For myself, I am all right," Rapotec said. "I have many Australian friends. I met them in Cairo, at Jerusalem's 'Trocadero' and Alexandria's pubsl" He is proud of the part Yugoslavia played in the war, and sad when he realises several hundred thousand of his countrymen lost their lives fighting for the Allied cause.

Saturday 16 July 1949,  News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954)

Capt. Stanislav Repotec- picture News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954)

1949

November 12th

Hotel builders wait for poll results

The Returned Servicemen's League planned to build a £60,000 semi-community hotel at Semaphore, the acting president of Port Adelaide and Semaohore sub-branch (Mr. G. D. Coffey) said today.

THE sub-branch will seek approval for new hotel licences for the area in a local  option poll to be conducted in conjunction with the State elections next year.

Mr. Coffey said: 'Profits of the hotel will be devoted to advancing cultural interests and securing amenities for the seven RSL sub-branches in this area.

"It is proposed to build the hotel on the corner of Blackler street and the Esplanade, Semaphore."

"The seven sub-branches in the area have representatives on the Western District Progressive Association, which will back the move for additional licences."

"There is urgent need for a modern residential hotel here."

"It is planned to give accommodation priority to country RSL members who visit the area on holidays.

"All plans and specifications for the new Hotel have been prepared. It will be built on the most modern lines, with an eye to attracting tourists as well as local people."

Local option polls

Three local option polls will be conducted with the next State elections.

Electors of Port Adelaide, Glenelg, and Port Pirie will be asked to vote whether they favor a reduction in the number of licences, whether the number should remain the same, or whether the licensing Court in its discretion should increase the number of licences.

Mr. T. F. Dollard, proprietor of the unlicensed Esplanade Hotel, Brighton, is waiting on the option poll result. It will determine whether he will build a new 50-room hotel, four stories high on the present Esplanade Hotel site.

Three years ago, he said to day, voters rejected a move for additional licences and his plans had to be shelved.

'Share for council'

"The hotel I plan would be conducted on a semicommunity principle, part of the profits to* be handed each year to Brighton Corporation for foreshore and town improvements,' said Mr. Dollard.

'A company is about to be formed. It will be called 'Brighton Tourist Hotel Ltd.' 'If Port Adelaide local option poll succeeds, Mr. J. A. Talbot, of the Criterion Hotel, Port Adelaide, will go ahead -with his plans to build a £40,000 40-bedroom hotel on the Outer Harbor road opposite the Im perial Chemical Industry works.

Mr. Talbot said: 'The Harbors Board will take over my present hotel when it 'extends its wharves.

'Ill have to get out, and I want to build a new hotel where it's most wanted.

'The Outer Harbor area will one day be a city in itself. It will be the gateway to Adelaide. It is already expanding fast, and a new hotel is urgently needed.'

Mr. Talbot said he had bought a hotel site opposite the Seaton Park Golf Club and within five minutes of the new West Beach airport. He hoped to float a company to build another modern hotel there in the future. It is understood the Port Pirie local option poll was petitioned for by people interested in building a licensed clubroom for Broken Hill Associated Smelters employes.