It doesn’t matter whether it’s sport, service or just life in general, and when you consider some of Scone’s long serving community members they ‘haven’t had a bad one’.

One such long term Scone stalwart is Athol Rose, who is 92-years-old, a World War II veteran and still living in his own home, with help and support.

Mr Rose is one of those local blokes who has influenced the fabric of Scone, he served time in the uniform and he has enjoyed many sporting endeavours representing himself and the Upper Hunter. 

He’s been involved in local business, community endeavours and also dabbled in the horse racing industry that Scone is so well known for across the globe. 

Born in Scone in 1923, Mr Rose was the fifth born of six in the family with four older brothers and a younger sister born later. 

He is a direct descendent of  Thomas Rose who he believes was the first free settler to arrive in NSW in 1793 on the ‘Bellona’.

Thomas was granted 90 acres of land located at what is now Strathfield in Sydney, however he later swapped it for 130 acres at Wilberforce where he built Rose Cottage and is where Athol’s father William was born. 

As a youngster, Athol completed all of his education up to ninth grade at the Scone District Rural School in Liverpool Street.

In February 1938, Mr Rose started his long employment with Australia Post when he was employed at the Scone Post Office as a telegram messenger when he was just 15-years-old. 

For his first week of work, which was a 44 hour week, Mr Rose earned 16 shillings and threepence, which is equal to $1.62.

He continued working for Australia Post until December 31, 1941 when the 18-year-old was called up for the army. 

Young, burly and enthusiastic about serving for his country, Mr Rose and others from Scone reported to the Maitland Showground for initial rifle training before he was drafted to a role to operate signals when he spent time situated at Hawks Nest signalling across the Nelson Bay.

Later he was transferred to Sydney Showground where he spent 12 months in telegraphist  training school with about 30 others.

From then on he worked with up to 500 other telegraphists and phonogram attendants for the next four and a half years.

During this time, Mr Rose was transferred to Gympie in Queensland to train in Morse Code before returning to Raymond Terrace where he joined Lester Rose in the 1st Field Ambulance. 

On short notice they were moved to St Ives and then Narellan to reinforce the 9th Australian Field Ambulance. 

They left Sydney on red alert to Brisbane, scheduled to go to Milne Bay or Goodenough Island, but not before several weeks at Ravenshoe and Atherton in training. 

It was on June 15, 1943 that the orders came for him and his troops to go to New Guinea and they boarded the boat for Port Moresby.

Mr Rose said it wasn’t until they got there that it was realised they had missed out on the active involvement.

“We went on the coastal streamer up the west coast of New Guinea where the beaches were just covered in crocodiles until we got to Wow where we established camp on the coffee plantation.

“We stayed there until September 1944 and helped to look after casualties in the little hospitals spread across the islands,” Mr Rose said. 

“One good thing was we got to play a bit of football up there and we left as the undefeated team,” he said. 

After returning, Mr Rose was transferred to Goulburn to work in a mental hospital, and he also played football down there as well.

He spent 12 months at Herne Bay working at an army hospital before being discharged on November 28, 1946.

Sadly, Mr Rose’s father passed away in 1951, so he moved back to Scone to help his mother and sister, and was fortunate to regain employed at the post office. 

With a hunger for a new challenge and adventure, Mr Rose retired from Australia Post in 1955 and decided to endeavour into business interests by purchasing a mixed business from George Jovanovich, which was originally established by the Livermore family. 

At the time, Mr Rose’s brother owned and operated the supermarket, which is now Coles.

The store was located in Liverpool Street opposite the school and sold everything from groceries to hardware items and produce. 

Mr Rose said he enjoyed operating the business, and then, in 1959 an Apex member came into the store to sell him a 50 cent raffle ticket and Mr Rose ended up selling him the business. 

Again spreading his wings into new endeavours, Mr Rose then went to work for the Upper Hunter Pastures Protection Board as the secretary where he stayed until he retired in 1986.

Within his position, Mr Rose was responsible for the control of travelling stock, noxious animals and insects and he also instigated the purchase of an office for the organisation for just $10,000.

As many local residents were, Mr Rose was heavily involved in other areas of the community, with one such commitment being to the Scone Race Club. 

From 1951 to 1994 Mr Rose was involved in the club in several different capacities of a voluntary nature including a committee member, Calcutta organiser and general worker of the club. 

Being a keen golfer, he joined the Scone Golf Club and was elected to the committee in 1953.

In 1955 and 1956 Mr Rose had a great season and won the Club Championships and he was president of the club from 1959 to 1961.

After his first introductions to touring golf at Moore Park, Mr Rose enjoyed four overseas trips and various NSW tours playing the sport.

His first voyage overseas was in 1976 to Europe for five weeks when he played at St Andrews, followed by another in 1978 to Hawaii for three weeks on four of the islands.

In 1980, it was off to Canada to play at Montreal and in 1982 New Zealand was the location for golf.

Mr Rose said he found quite a lot of enjoyment in playing golf, and mixed with a little success, he had an unreal time overseas each time. 

Back on the home front, Mr Rose inherited the position of secretary of the Scone Bushman’s Carnival and Show Association in 1959 and also became the honorary treasurer of the Scone RSL Club.

Back in the days when the White Park Sporting Body existed, made up of all the occupants of White Park, Mr Rose was the treasurer for the entirety of the organisation’s life. 

Around this time, Mr Rose owned a place in Kingdon Street where he built racing stables and dabbled in training race horses for a period of time. 

Among his interests were a stallion at Yarraman Park that he purchased shares in, as well as a filly he bought from the Bowcock dispersal sale and bred a few successful horses, including one that he trained to win five out of its first eight races. 

Looking back on life, Mr Rose believes he has had a good innings.

He never married, as he said “what I wanted I couldn’t have and what I could have, I didn’t want”.

However, he said he considers himself lucky, as he has had a very good life and grew up and lived in a good era.

“I have also been lucky to have had good health,” he said.