A FORMER Member of the Victorian Parliament and a Bass Coast Shire Councillor, Ross Smith of Inverloch, has died aged 85, on Thursday, June 22.
Born in Southport, Queensland, on January 24, 1938, to Allen and Leila Smith, he attended the Fort Street Boys' High School and Balmain Teachers' College, both in Sydney, before working as a brief time as a teacher at the Tarcutta Primary School and Albury High School.
After working for the Immigration Department at Australia House in London in 1960, he became a journalist in 1961, writing for the Daily Telegraph and the Sydney Sun.
In 1964 he enlisted in the army and served two tours of duty in Vietnam, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel across a 20-year career in the service. Also in 1964, he joined the Liberal Party and was elected as the Member for Glen Waverley in 1985, serving until 2002, being appointed Government Whip in 1996 and Opposition Whip in 1999, serving for part of that time with another Inverloch resident Alan Brown.
He was a councillor at the City of Monash (2003-2005) and after moving to live locally, a Bass Coast Shire Councillor from 2005 to 2012.
Please note:
The Funeral Service for Mr Ernest ‘ROSS’ Smith will be held at the Anglican Church of Ascension, The Crescent, Inverloch on THURSDAY (July 6, 2023) commencing at 2pm (not Thursday, June 29 as stated in the Sentinel-Times).
At the conclusion of the Service the Funeral will leave for the Inverloch Cemetery.
The Funeral Service will be Livestreamed via the Handley and Anderson website at https://handleyandandersonfunerals.com.au
