Colin Prosser, a former Secretary of the Carlton Football Club and one of this nation’s last surviving Rats of Tobruk, has died in Caloundra at the age of 94.
Mr. Prosser was, as reported in the Sunshine Coast Daily, “a frail old man with dementia when his life drew to a close in a Currimundi nursing home last Thursday (February 18).
“But in his day, Mr. Prosser and 14,000 Australian men just like him had been heroes. As the Rats of Tobruk, they held off one of the most strategic ports in the Middle East against relentless attacks by the German and Italian forces for 241 days.”
Born in Victoria in 1921, Mr. Prosser apparently lied about his age to join the army in 1939, not long after the outbreak of the Second World War.
Service records indicate that Mr. Prosser served his country in the Middle East for around two and a half years until 1943. At least some of his time was served in the army field workshop.
Following the war, Mr. Prosser found work as a correspondent for The Argus newspaper in Melbourne and, later, as an ABC broadcaster both in Australia and abroad.
Mr Prosser replaced Cr. Larry Floyd as secretary of the club and Finance Committeeman on September 1, 1955. Quaintly, his Strathmore address and four-digit telephone number were included in the annual report of that year.
1955 was a pivotal year, for it was also Ken Luke’s final year as President, having served in that capacity for a then record 18 years since the Premiership year of 1938.
It was also the year in which Perc Bentley, who commandeered Carlton to the 1945 and ’47 Grand Final victories, relinquished Senior Coaching duties to Jim Francis.
In signing off as Secretary in ’55, Floyd, in a letter of appreciation in Carlton’s Annual Report, wrote;
“To my successor, Mr. Colin Prosser, I wish the greatest measure of success in the carrying out of the many duties that are required from a full-time secretary of a League club. In the short time that I have worked with him, I feel that he has the capacity, enthusiasm and energy for the post and deserves all the support and loyalty that can be given him in the task of getting the Club on to the top of the list.”
Ken Luke also offered the highest praise;
“Your new Secretary, Mr. Colin Prosser, has commenced his duties and already is showing excellent results. He has travelled many hundreds of miles recruiting new potential players. I am sure our new Secretary will be a great acquisition, and we trust that his term in office will bring success to our club, both on and off the field.”
Prosser’s term as secretary was all too brief – ending on August 31 in the Melbourne Olympic year of 1956 when he was replaced for a brief period by the grand old man of Princes Park, Newton Chandler - and later by Allen Cowie.
“It is regretted that because of illness Mr. Colin Prosser had an interrupted season as Secretary,” Chandler noted in the ’56 Annual Report.
“At the end of his term of office, when the President made a presentation to Mr. Prosser, the best wishes of the Club and the committee were conveyed to him for his success in his new sphere.”
Vivienne Kerr, Carlton’s No.1 female ticketholder and the wife of the late former Carlton player and powerbroker Laurie Kerr, remembered Mr. Prosser from his all-too-brief secretarial days.
“Colin was a very nice fellow, a gentle soul, who was a tiny bit fragile when he came back from the war. He was a bit unsure of himself,” Vivienne said.
“He worked with Laurie at The Argus. He had the occasional grand plan . . . he was quite good.
A lovely memory Vivienne has of Mr. Prosser involved the visiting Trinidadian pianist Winifred Attwell.
“Whilst Winifred was in Melbourne on a concert tour, Colin asked her if she would put on a private show for the hierarchy of the Carlton Football Club at The Chevron. We had dinner with her and she played piano for us all night.”
Vivienne believed Mr. Prosser relocated to Queensland not long after his Carlton tenure ended “and Laurie pretty much lost contact with him”.
Mr. Prosser was amongst the last surviving members of Australia’s Rats of Tobruk, who held off one of the most strategic ports in the Middle East against relentless attacks by the German and Italian forces for 241 days.
Five years ago, there were thought to be just 150 Rats of Tobruk still living.
News of Mr Prosser’s passing was conveyed to the club by local funeral director Glenn Greyson, himself a Carlton supporter.
Mr Prosser’s funeral is to be held at the Gregson and Weight chapel at Caloundra tomorrow (Friday), February 26. He and his wife had no children and at the request of his power of attorney, a representative from the Caloundra RSL Sub-branch will read his wartime history at a poppy service.
Mr. Prosser’s carer, Salvation Army volunteer Joy Prior, told the newspaper that Mr Prosser were truly deserving of recognition.
“You see someone shuffling along in a wheelie walker and you don’t know what they’ve done in their life,” she said.
“We enjoy the freedom that we’ve got today because of people like Colin.”
The Carlton players will wear black armbands in memory of Colin Prosser, in Sunday’s NAB Challenge match against Essendon at Ikon Park.
