Paymaster
Captain Alfred Martin Treacy OBE
 Some
RAN Supply Branch personnel may recall from their time at
HMAS Cerberus that the building that houses the Supply and
Health Faculty is called the Treacy Building. Some may even
have read the small bronze plaque that was placed on the
lower floor of the building, in 1979, and which briefly
describes the man after whom the building is named: but who
actually was Alfred Martin Treacy and why is he the father
of the RAN Supply Branch?
Alfred Treacy was born in the
central Victorian town of Newstead on 28 April 1869, the son
of John Treacy, Publican of a local hotel, and Mary Margaret
Treacy (nee Hogan). He had a strict Roman Catholic
upbringing and after his schooling joined the Victorian
Public Service as an accountant. In early 1894 he applied to
join the Victorian Navy as a Paymaster officer and commenced
service in the permanent forces on 21 May 1894. In 1894 the
Victorian Navy was the largest of the state navies with some
240 permanent personnel and 350 reservists (the Victorian
Naval Brigade) and the fleet consisted of the flagship HMVS
Nelson, monitor HMVS Cerberus, two gunboats and five torpedo
boats. Financially the maintenance of such a large fleet was
a drain on the Victorian economy and several of the ships
were often held in reserve with only skeleton crews.
Assistant Paymaster Alfred Treacy
(standing) onboard HMVS Nelson in 1897.
The Captains Cabin, in which he is working, must have been a
spacious compartment
as Treacy was 6 feet and 1 inch tall and his head is well
clear of the deckhead.
Treacy entered the service as a
Paymaster’s Clerk (equivalent to a Midshipman) in what was
then known as the Accountant Branch. On entry he was
described as 6 feet 1 inch tall with brown hair and blue
eyes. On 1 July 1895 he was promoted to Assistant Paymaster
(equivalent to a Sub Lieutenant) and five years later, on 21
July 1900, he was promoted to Paymaster (equivalent to a
Lieutenant). He spent most of his time either working
onboard the flagship Nelson, the monitor Cerberus or at the
Williamstown Naval Depot.
In March 1900 the Boxer Rebellion
broke out in China and Britain found itself short of troops
to deal with the uprising. Britain was as that time fighting
a significant war in South Africa against the Boer
Republics. Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South
Australia all offered naval forces to support the British
cause and Victoria provided a 200 man naval brigade and
Alfred Treacy became the units Paymaster responsible for not
only pay but all provisions, stores, equipment and
administration. The Victorian contingent embarked in the
troopship Salamis in early August, along with 260 men from
the NSW Naval Brigade and sailed for China on 8 August 1900.
South Australia provided the cruiser Protector which was
attached to the Royal Navy Squadron operating in the Gulf of
Chihli (Bo Hai). The Queensland Government offered a gunboat
but it was rejected as too old and slow.
The Victorian Contingent arrived in
China on 9 September, but by then much of the heavy fighting
against the Boxers was over and they operated mainly as a
police force maintaining the peace and re-asserting the rule
of the foreign Governments in China. Treacy was described as
a capable officer who was able to maintain the logistics
support needed by contingent, but claims, at the time, that
he was involved in close fighting with the Boxers can not be
substantiated. In March 1901 the Victorian and NSW Naval
Contingents embarked in the troopship Chingtu and returned
to Australia.
They steamed in Sydney Harbour on 25
April 1901 to find that Australia was now a Federation and
the old state navies were now to be subsumed into what would
become the Commonwealth Naval Forces (CNF). In the mean
time, however, the Victorians were held onboard the Chingtu,
due to an outbreak of Smallpox, until 3 May when they boarded
a train for return to Melbourne the following day. For his
service in China, Paymaster Alfred Treacy was awarded the
China War Medal 1900 and most likely he also purchased a
private award - The Military Order of the Dragon which was
available for all commissioned officers for the then
princely sum of $US10.
At the time of serving in the
Victorian Contingent for service in China, Treacy listed his
next of kin as his mother, Mary Margaret Treacy, who resided
at 21 Fitzgerald Street, South Yarra, Victoria. His religion
at the time was also still listed as Roman Catholic.
 As a permanent member of the
Victorian Navy, Treacy was automatically transferred to the
CNF but it was not until 1904 that naval administration was
centralised and for some time the state navies continued to
operate very much on a state basis. Alfred Treacy served
almost continuously as the Paymaster in HMCS Cerberus from
1901 until 1911. Although Cerberus had now been afloat for
over 30 years she was still a sea-going vessel and regularly
carried out naval exercises in Port Phillip Bay before
becoming the static depot ship, at Williamstown, in May
1914.
On 8 September 1906 Alfred Treacy
was promoted to the rank of Staff Paymaster (equivalent to a
Lieutenant Commander). In August/September 1908 the United
States Navy ‘Great White Fleet’ visited Melbourne and men
and ships of the CNF were fully employed in supporting this
visit.
Alfred Treacy married Alice Maud
Keilora Robertson, with Presbyterian rites, at a private
residence, Wiljah, in South Yarra on 1 March 1911. They then
lived at Jandra, 70 Clendon Road, in Toorak, Victoria. At
the time of their marriage Alfred was 41 and Alice was 39. They were to be married for 27 years but had no children.
Shortly after being married Treacy
was sent to England for a period of training and was
attached to the staff at the Admiralty. During this time he
was part of the 37 man Australian Naval Contingent which
attended the Coronation celebrations for King George V, who
was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 22 June 1911. Alfred
Treacy was subsequently awarded the 1911 Coronation Medal. When he returned to Australia in 1912 it was as an officer
in the Royal Australian Navy which the CNF had become on 10
July 1911.
After his return to Australia Alfred
Treacy became the Director of Naval Stores, Victualing and
Contracts at Navy Office; then located in Melbourne. He was
promoted to the rank of Fleet Paymaster (equivalent to a
Commander) on 1 July 1912. In October 1913 he applied to the
Minister for Defence to be considered for the position of
Finance and Civil Member (Fourth Naval Member) and Secretary
to the Naval Board. This position was then held by Paymaster
in Chief (equivalent of a Captain) Henry Manisty, RN who was
due to retire in mid-1914. The Minister For Defence, Senator
Edward Millen, stated in late December 1913 that ‘As no
vacancy exists the submission of such an application is both
surprising and reprehensible’. Treacy took offence to these
comments and further explained himself to the Minister and
the word reprehensible was later withdrawn by the Minister.
Despite this Alfred Treacy was not
selected to become the Finance and Civil Member for the
Naval Board and instead, in May 1914, George Lionel
Macandie, who had joined the Queensland Marine Defence
Force, in 1895, as a Clerk was selected to become the
Secretary of the Naval Board and given the rank of Honourary
Paymaster (Lieutenant). The Finance and Civil Member
position was initially gapped and then filled by the
Assistant Minister for Defence the Honorable Jens Jensen
who, in 1915, became the Minister for the Navy when Defence
and Navy became separate Ministries. The Finance and Civil
Member position was then gapped again but effectively
Macandie filled this role as the Naval Secretary to the
Board.
Macandie was to remain Naval
Secretary from 1914 until his retirement in 1946 except for
a brief period in 1920-21 when Alfred Treacy actually did
fulfill this role. Macandie was, at that time, on loan to
the Admiralty for 12 months to gain an insight into higher
level naval administration and Treacy became the Acting
Naval Secretary for 12 months. In 1914, however, it would
appear that the Naval Board had concerns regarding a serving
naval officer filling what was supposed to be a civil
position on the board. It is not known now what the
relationship between Treacy and Macandie actually was but
one commentator later wrote ‘he (Macandie) was belatedly
accorded the benefit of a years experience at the British
Admiralty from June 1920 - while surviving attempts by
lesser men to oust him from office’. While some of these
lesser men were the senior naval officers on the Naval Board
of 1920 some of this comment was directed at Alfred Treacy.
A group of Victorian Navy
officers circa 1900 Paymaster Alfred Treacy at
6 feet and 1 inch tall is noticeable due to his height
compared with his peers.
When World War I commenced, in
August 1914, Alfred Treacy was 45 years old and deemed too
old to serve at sea. His repeated requests for active
service were denied and he remained in the position of
Director of Naval Stores, Victualing and Contracts for the
duration of the war. He was also vice chairman of the
Commonwealth Coal Board which controlled all supplies of
coal and electric power for Australia during the war. The
Argus newspaper reported that ‘the tactful manner in which
he carried out the difficult duties of the position soon
gained for him the confidence of merchants and others with
whom he had to deal, and enabled the board to carry out its
work with the minimum amount of friction’.
On 1 April 1916 Treacy was promoted
to the rank of Paymaster in Chief (Captain) and thus became
the senior Accountant Branch officer in the RAN (this title
was change to Paymaster Captain in late 1918). In 1917-18 a
Royal Commission was conducted into irregularities in Navy
and Defence Administration, particularly the Lieutenant
Davis Howell-Price scandal where this military officer had
defrauded the Department of Defence of £67,374 pounds over
the period 1914-1916. Howell-Price was convicted in 1917 and
sentenced to four years imprisonment. This however was the
catalyst to conduct more rigorous checks on the
administration of the Army and Navy.
The Argus claimed that the Royal
Commission stated that Treacy had carried out his duties as
the Director of Naval Stores, Victualing and Contracts in an
efficient manner and recommended that he be appointed to the
Naval Board as the Finance Member. On 4 October 1918, Treacy
was made an Officer in the Order of the British Empire (OBE)
‘For distinguished services as Director of Naval Stores,
Victualing and Contracts’. He was also subsequently awarded
the British War Medal 1914-18 which was the standard award
for all RAN personnel who had mobilised service in the RAN
during the war, but as he had not served overseas he was not
entitled to the Victory Medal. Treacy’s OBE, and that of
another naval officer, Captain FHC Brownlow, were originally
issued in the Civil Division but in the London Gazette of 15
July 1921 they were both transferred to the Military
Division.
Following the end of the First World
War, Treacy continued on in his role of Director of Naval
Stores, Victualing and Contracts until early June 1920 when
he assumed the position of Acting Naval Secretary to the
Naval Board for 16 months while Lionel Macandie was in
Britain on secondment. Macandie was on loan to the Admiralty
for a period of 12 months but was allocated two months
traveling time by sea to and from England hence the 16 month
period that Treacy was Acting Naval Secretary. Macandie
returned to Australia, in September 1921, and resumed his
duties as Naval Secretary.
During Macandie’s absence overseas
there was an attempt made by the Naval Board to have Treacy
relieve Macandie permanently and have Macandie take up the
role of Director of Naval Stores upon his return to
Australia. Macandie was advised of this plan after he had
left Australia and wrote immediately, and quite bluntly, to
the 1st Naval Member (Rear Admiral Grant) and the Minister
for Navy (William Laird-Smith) that he had no intention of
allowing this to occur. The matter festered on for some
weeks until Laird-Smith cabled Macandie, on 19 February
1921, advising him 'Well aware you are Secretary, Navy
Department. No change will be made in your absence'.
The relationship between the civil
and the military officers within the Department of the Navy
was often strained and, after handing back the duties of the
Naval Secretary to Macandie, Alfred Treacy then took some
well earned leave and then retired from the RAN in early
1922 after 28 years full time service.
In his retirement Treacy was the
Secretary of the Melbourne Club which was, and still is, an
exclusive private men’s club, established in 1839, and
located at 36 Collins Street, Melbourne. The club is made up
of approximately 1500 members; admission being by invitation
only. The clubs members are among those that have
traditionally been perceived by critics as wielding a
disproportionate influence on Melbourne life, with a third
of its members being listed in any issue of Who's Who
Australia. Treacy was also a patron of Ex Naval Men’s
Association in Victoria and a member of the Naval and
Military Club of Melbourne.
Treacy had been the President of the
Naval and Military Club during the period 1916-1921 but
retired when he took up the position of Secretary of the
Melbourne Club. Upon his retirement as President a vote of
thanks was given to him for his valuable services to the
club and the unfailing courtesy displayed by him at all
times. He had lead the club ably and, during 1920, he
oversaw the move of the club into its new premises (the
former German Club at 7 Alfred Place). The club remained
there until 1967 when it moved to 27 Little Collins Street.
The Naval and Military Club of Melbourne closed in early
2009 after 127 years of service to the service community due
to debts and waning membership.
Treacy was also President of the
Australian Amateur Billiards Council (AABC). In 1933,
after defeating Joe Davis to win the World Championship in
London for the first time, Walter Lindrum caused great
controversy when he announced his intention to defend his
title in his native country. Lindrum's 1934 title
defence was organised by the AABC to coincide with
Melbourne's Centenary celebrations. The Championship
was staged at the Victorian Railways Institute Ballroom at
Flinders Street Station in October 1934 and opened by the
Australian Prime Minister Joseph Lyons at the invitation of
Captain Alfred Treacy OBE, the President of the Amateur
Billiards Council.
L-R Captain Alfred Martin Treacy
OBE (President, Australian Amateur Billiards Council),
Walter Lindrum (Australia), The Honourable Joseph Lyons MP
(later Prime Minister of Australia), Joe Davis (England).
October 1931.
Alfred Martin Tracey died, suddenly
at his home, on 9 August 1938 from heart failure and was
cremated at Springvale Crematorium on 10 August 1938. The
Argus published the following article regarding Alfred
Treacy on 11 August 1938:
A large representative gathering
attended the funeral at the Springvale Crematorium yesterday
(10 August 1938) of Paymaster Captain Alfred Martin Treacy
(RAN Retired), Secretary of the Melbourne Club, who died at
his home in Clendon Road, Toorak on Tuesday. The service was
conducted by the Moderator-General of the Presbyterian
Church of Australia (the Right Rev Dr John MacKenzie).
Members of the Ex-Naval Men’s Association of which Captain
Treacy was a patron, formed a guard of honour from the
crematorium gates to the Chapel.
The pall bearers were Major-General
Sir Brudenell White, General Sir Harry Chauvel, the
President of the Legislative Assembly (Sir Frank Clarke),
Brigadier General JP McGlinn, representing the Naval and
Military Club, Messrs Richard Turnbull (President of the
Melbourne Club), EH Richardson, and J Staughton and
Paymaster Commander HM Ramsay.
Vice Admiral Sir Ragnar Colvin (1st
Naval Member) was represented by Paymaster Captain JB Foley
and the Navy Office was represented by the Secretary of the
Naval Board (Mr GL Macandie), Paymaster Commander CA Parker
and Paymaster Commander HM Ramsay.
The Melbourne Rowing Club was
represented by the senior vice president (Mr P Matthews) and
the secretary (Mr F Watts). Others who attended the funeral
included the secretary of the Victorian Racing Club (Mr AV
Kewney) the starter for the Victorian Racing Club and the
Victorian Amateur Turf Club (Mr Rupert Greene) and Mr A
Bonville-Were, Chairman of the Colonial Mutual Assurance Co
Ltd.
When his wife Alice died, on 30 July
1945, she left £10,000 in her will to the HMAS Cerberus
Chapel Fund. This money was used partly for the construction
of the Memorial Chapel of St Mark which was opened in May
1954.
Age (Melbourne,
Vic. : 1854 - 1954), Tuesday 28 February 1950, page 7
A Memorial Chapel to R.A.N. Fallen
A chapel to hold 480 people is to be built at Flinders Nayal
Depot as a memorial to Protestant R.A.N. officers and men
killed in the first and second world wars.
The foundation stone will be laid by the Governor-General
(Mr. McKell) at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Cost of the chapel will be defrayed by public donations,
including a bequest of £10,000 under the will of the late
Mrs. A. M. K. Treacy, in memory of her husband, the late
Paymaster-Captain Alfred Martin Treacy.
NOTE: During
the HMAS Cerberus renovations which were completd in 2023,
the Training Authority - Maritime Logistics & Health moved to B block.
A block is now home to 54 Junior Officers in single cabins.
A block is still referred to as the Treacy Building.
Medals Awarded to Alfred
Martin Treacy, in order of being worn (the
location of his medals is currently not known)
-
Officer of the Order of the
British Empire (Military Division)
-
China War Medal 1900
-
British War Medal 1914-1918
-
Coronation Medal 1911 (Silver)
-
Military Order of the Dragon
(China 1900)
Sources:
Royal Australian Navy - Greg Swinden
Monument Australia
Alcocks Billiard Tables
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