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Place Names Register Extract

Copley Street

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Name Copley
Type Designation Street
Place Id 24947
Place Type Road
Status Registered
Date Registered 3 August 2018
Locality / Suburb  
  Muirhead
Lot/Portion  
  Town of Nightcliff
Local Government Area  
  Darwin City Council
History/Origin Francis Peter Copley (1918 - 1981)

Francis (Frank) Peter Copley was born in Yarram, Victoria on the 15 January 1918. The family later moved to Melbourne and lived at 34 Oxford Street, Oakleigh. He turned his hand to many trades looking for employment relocating from Victoria to NSW where he enlisted at Paddington with the outbreak of WWII in 1939. Frank enlisted on 8 November 1940. He later served with the 2/30 Australian Infantry Battalion. He embarked from Australia on the 29 July 1941 to serve with the AIF in Malaya. He was captured by enemy forces on the 16 February 1942 and remained imprisoned until the end of the war.

In October 1945 Frank returned to Australia and was discharged from service with the Australian Defence Force on the 1 February 1946. Frank met Elizabeth (Betty) who was a Nurse with the Australian Defence Force Medical Services who had assisted with his care and recovery. They were married before Frank and Betty moved to Darwin in the early1960s and lived in Stuart Park and Nightcliff where they raised and educated their seven children. Frank worked in various areas during his time in Darwin including as a Postal Worker and in the Public Service with the Departments of Works and Housing and Mines and Energy. Frank was also self-employed & part owner of a small wholesale distributer business and Café in Bennett Street ('The Matchbox').

Frank was involved in various sporting and community groups including the Darwin RSL, the Darwin Sailing Club, the Darwin and Arafura Bowls Clubs and the Nightcliff Football Club. Frank was elected President of the Nightcliff Football Club in 1966 - 1967 where he was later bestowed a Life Membership for his commitment to that Club. The family survived the destruction of Cyclone Tracy in 1974 and although their home was destroyed remained in Darwin. Frank continued to work in Darwin after Cyclone Tracy, retiring in 1979. Frank passed away suddenly in Queensland in 1981.

Register & Gazettal information

Date Gazettal Comment
03/08/2018 Date added to the Register ( Certified Plan S2018/058)
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