John Donaldson Reynolds

John Donaldson Reynolds was born at Glebe in 1891, the son of William Meade Reynolds and Lily Josephine Reynolds [1].

He is noted as a pioneer of surf-board riding at Manly Beach [2]

He married Doris Elizabeth Stubbins at Canterbury in 1911[ 3]. He made many rescues as a life-saver, and was also involved in two drowning incidents – John Murphy’s, in January 1910, and Dr William Bedford’s in February 1912 [4]. He was awarded the Bronze Medal for his part in the rescue of two swimmers in January 1911.He was a beach inspector for Manly Council, not always the pleasantest of jobs. A newspaper reported on Sydney’s “Filthy Beaches” in May 1914:

...The subject came up at the Manly Council last night. Bathing-inspector Reynolds wrote that he had buried nearly a ton of animal offal in the sands on the beach, and the Abattoirs Board sent along a long statement regarding its responsibility in the matter. The board denied blame for the dead animals thrown up on the beach, but acknowledge that the offal came from the abattoirs, and offered to pay the expenses of its disposal.

Alderman Quirk:

“It’s a damnable state of affairs. It’s all the same from Barrenjoey to Cronulla.”

Alderman Heaton:

“I saw Reynolds burying this awful stuff, livers and entrails, dead calves, rotten pumpkins, and every horrible kind of decaying fruit and vegetables. It was floating about amongst the bathers.”

Alderman Walker: “What are the sharks doing?” [Laughter) [5]

Reynolds joined the Army soon after the outbreak of war, and was in C Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Infantry Brigade. He was described as 5’11” tall, 11 stone 3 lb, with brown hair and blue eyes. He embarked on the Euripides on 20 October 1914. He was shot in the shoulder at Gallipoli, and taken to No 17 General Hospital at Alexandria, where he died of his wounds on 20 May 1915, aged 23.

He was buried in the Chatby Military Cemetery. The family lived at 5 Cliff Street, Manly. There was a daughter, Enid Niree. According to Army records, Reynolds also had an “ex-nuptial child”, Charles Theodore McLean.

[1] NSW BDM 13587/1891

[2] Harris, Reg, Heroes of the Surf, p53.

[3] NSW BDM 5042/1911

[4] Sydney Morning Herald, 12 January 1910; 26 February 1912.

[5] Cutting from unidentified newspaper, possibly the Sun, May 1914.