Leslie John Wearne

The Wearne family have a long association with the Scarborough area. Oswald Maurice Everard Wearne (Les' father) ran the Spot Cash Store on the corner of Brighton Road and Hastings Street, Scarborough from around 1939.

Les Wearne grew up in a house on Hastings Street across the road from the Spot Cash Store and surfed at the nearby beach on a wooden board he and his brother Max made.

He joined the RAAF during World War Two. Les met Elspeth Gibbon while posted to Canada in 1944. They married and she travelled to Australia on the Matsonia in 1945. After the war, Les and a business partner from Wembley ran real estate businesses, including one in Scarborough.

Mr Wearne was active in the community, joining the newly established Scarborough Rotary Club in the 1950s. Les, Elspeth and Jill Wearne were also members of the Scarborough Polar Bears and Barehanded Shark Catchers swimming group.