Sir Francis Raymond Connelly Nudgee College, 1905-1910

Sir Francis was a successful businessman and lord mayor of Melbourne for three terms (1945-46, 1946-47 and 1947-48). He was a progressive reformer who sought a 'brighter' metropolis, urging the relaxation of laws on liquor and Sunday entertainment, longer shopping hours, the opening of an international airport and the training of hotel staffs to encourage tourists.

An ardent Empire loyalist and charity-worker, he was prominent in the Food for Britain campaign, and in the development of the Lord Mayor's Camp at Portsea which in summer provided accommodation as well as free dental and health care for poor children from the country. In 1948 Connelly was knighted and travelled to London where he began the campaign which was to secure the Olympic Games for Melbourne in 1956. One of Connelly's last official acts was to light a replica of the Olympic torch on 29 April 1949, following the announcement that Melbourne had been awarded the Games. Two thousand people attended a requiem Mass at St Patrick's Cathedral celebrated by Archbishop Mannix and a mile-long cortège followed the hearse to Brighton cemetery in what was reputedly the biggest funeral procession since that of Sir John Monash.