Those We Lost in 2018 - Australia

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Cornelia Frances Zulver (7 April 1941 – 28 May 2018), credited professionally as Cornelia Frances: 

English-Australian actress. 

After starting her career in British films, she became best known for her acting career in Australia after emigrating there in 1970, particularly her iconic television soap opera roles with portrayals of nasty characters. Frances was known for her role as Morag Bellingham on Home and Away since its inception in 1988, after leaving that series, she appeared on a semi-regular basis as the storyline permitted, rejoining briefly as a permanent cast member in 2001, before going back to an itinerant basis. She also played nurse Sister Grace Scott on the Nine Network series The Young Doctors (1976–1978), and Barbara Hamilton on Sons and Daughters on Network Seven (1982–1986). She appeared in the film version of regular series TV soap The Box. She also worked briefly on stage and in voice-over. In the early 2000s, she was the hostess of the Australian version of quiz show The Weakest Link. 

Frances died of bladder cancer that had metastasized to her spine, despite having undergone chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Sje was aged 77. 

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Ian Kiernan AO (4 October 1940 – 16 October 2018) – 

Australian yachtsman, property developer, builder, and environmental campaigner and conservationist. Kiernan is known for co-founding with Kim McKay the not-for-profit Clean Up Australia campaign in 1989 and, in 1993, a similar Clean Up the World operation, serving as the event's chairman, the annual initiative attracted participation from 30 million volunteers in 80 countries. 

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Bill Corey, who died on October 3 2018 aged 101, was one of the last Rats of Tobruk. 

He enlisted in 1940 at the age of 22 and in 1941 took part in the Siege of Tobruk. The Rats of Tobruk is the name given to the soldiers of the garrison that held the Libyan port of Tobruk against the Afrika Corps, during and after the Siege of Tobruk in World War II. The siege started on 10 April 1941 and was relieved at the end of November when Australian forces were withdrawn. The port and its perimeter continued to be held by the Allies until its surrender on 21 June 1942. 

In what proved to be a propaganda mis-step, Lord Haw-Haw derisively referred to the garrison as "poor desert rats of Tobruk" during radio broadcasts. This was probably mostly due to two factors: 

• The Australians tended to counterattack to gather equipment as soon as the enemy was routed. 

• The defenders dug extensive tunnel networks and shelters to supplement their trenches—and were not afraid to use them when bombarded. 

The Australians gave themselves the nickname "the Rats of Tobruk" after Radio Berlin described the garrison's defenders as "caught like rats in a trap". 

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Quentin Kenihan (27 February 1975 – 6 October 2018) – 

Australian disability advocate, writer and actor. 

Quentin was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, a rare bone disease. 

He was born in Box Hill, Victoria in 1975 and first came to the attention of the public aged seven when he was the feature of a documentary by Australian journalist Mike Willesee. He later was the host of a Ten Network television show Quentin Crashes. In 2016, Kenihan participated in a lengthy television interview with Ray Martin. 

He appeared in the 2015 film Mad Max: Fury Road in the role of Corpus Colossus (photo above). 

Kenihan died in Adelaide on 6 October 2018. His suspected cause of death was an asthma attack. 

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Ron Casey OAM (5 July 1929 – 2 October 2018) – 

Australian television presenter, sports journalist and talk-back radio host. 

Although Casey was a successful sports media figure, he later stirred controversy as an often "politically incorrect" talk-back radio host, famous for his quick temper. He was suspended on several occasions during his career for offensive remarks made on radio. 

In 1991, Casey was involved in a live on-air scuffle with singer and actor Normie Rowe during which Rowe pushed Casey into his chair, and Casey responded by punching Rowe in the face. 

Casey had numerous health problems in his eighties, including a quadruple heart bypass, several strokes and bladder cancer. He died at Royal North Shore Hospital on 2 October 2018 aged 89. 

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Robert Frederick Jane (18 December 1929 – 28 September 2018) – 

Australian race car driver and prominent businessman. 

A four-time winner of the Armstrong 500, the race that became the prestigious Bathurst 1000 and a four-time Australian Touring Car Champion, Jane was well known for his chain of tyre retailers, Bob Jane T-Marts. Bob Jane T-Marts is the only major tyre retailer in Australia who do not sell retread tyres. Jane's personal reason for this is that his second eldest daughter Georgina had died in a car accident in 1991 due to a retreaded tyre blowing out. 

Jane was inducted into the V8 Supercars Hall of Fame in 2000. 

On 28 September 2018, Jane died from prostate cancer, 21 years after his diagnosis. He was 88. 

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Peter William Thomson AO, CBE (23 August 1929 – 20 June 2018) – 

Australian professional golfer. 

Thomson won the Open Championship five times between 1954 and 1965. 

He is also the only golfer to win a (modern) major three times in succession. The Open (British) 1954, 1955, 1956. 

Thomson died in Melbourne on 20 June 2018 after a four-year battle with Parkinson's disease at the age of 88. 

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Darrell Eastlake (11 July 1942 – 19 April 2018) – 

Australian radio and television presenter, commentator and sports journalist. 

Eastlake is best known for his long association with the Nine Network. Prior to his media career, Eastlake worked as a Qantas baggage handler, before making surfboards and running a surf shop. His career in broadcasting began in the 1960s when he gave surf reports on Sydney radio station 2UW (now known as KIIS 106.5). 

During his media career, Eastlake was noted for his over-the-top voice and loud antics aimed at raising the excitement of listeners or viewers, providing commentary for weightlifting and motorsport. This trait was parodied by Billy Birmingham in his The Twelfth Man sporting commentary impersonations, including his Eastlake signature of (with a rising voice) "taking the voice back up to the threshold of pain". 

On 19 April 2018, Eastlake died in a nursing home where he lived on the New South Wales Central Coast. 

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Jeff St John (born Jeffrey Leo Newton; 22 April 1946 – 6 March 2018) – 

Australian musician. 

St John is best known for several Australian hits, such as "Teach Me How to Fly" (1970), "Big Time Operator" (1967) and "A Fool in Love" (1977). 

St John was born with spina bifida and spent much of his life in a wheelchair. 

He was involved in educating people about disabilities and was a member of spina bifida support group MOSAIC. He appeared at the opening of the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney where he sang the Australian National Anthem, and a song written for the opening ceremony called The Challenge. 

Jeff St John died of a bacterial infection following surgery. He was aged 72. 

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Sir Nicholas Michael Shehadie, AC, OBE (15 November 1925 – 11 February 2018) – 

Lord Mayor of Sydney (1973–1975) and national representative rugby union captain. 

Shehadie made thirty career test appearances for Australia between 1947 and 1958. He was President of the Australia Rugby Union from 1980 to 1987; in that role he pushed for and succeeded in persuading the International Rugby Board to launch the Rugby World Cup. He is an inductee into both the Australian Rugby Union Hall of Fame and the IRB Hall of Fame. 

Shehadie was 92 when he passed away. 

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Graeme Frank Langlands, MBE, (2 September 1941 – 20 January 2018) – 

Australian professional rugby league footballer of the 1960s and 1970s. 

He retired as the most-capped player for the Australian national team with 45 international appearances from 1963 to 1975, and captained his country in 15 Test matches and World Cup games. Langlands was the fullback and goal-kicker for the St. George Dragons in the latter half of their 11-year consecutive premiership-winning run from 1956 to 1966. 

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Ronald Peter Tandberg (31 December 1943 – 8 January 2018) – 

Australian illustrator and political cartoonist. 

Tandberg contributed to The Age newspaper in Melbourne, Australia from 1972. 

Tandberg's credits include eleven Walkley Awards. 

He was inducted into the Melbourne Press Club's Victorian Hall of Fame in 2014. 

Tandberg died of oesophageal cancer at St John of God Hospital, in Geelong, Victoria, surrounded by his family, in the afternoon of 8 January 2018, at the age of 74. 

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Charles Richard Xuereb (19 April 1955 - 20 September 2018) - 

You may be wondering who Charles is. His death was not reported in the news media and he was not a celebrity. He was a good man. He was my friend.