Toc H South Australia

Remembering Les William Aynsley

The Man Behind the Gift

A Journey of Discovery

In 2017, Toc H Australia received an unexpected telephone call from a Queensland solicitor.  The solicitor explained that Toc H Australia had been identified as a proposed beneficiary in impending statutory will proceedings concerning the estate of Leslie William Aynsley.

For Toc H South Australia, the bequest became an invitation.  It prompted a simple but profound question: who was Leslie William Aynsley, and why had Toc H remained important to him throughout his life?

Answering that question proved far from easy.  Les was an intensely private man who left behind remarkably little public record.  Rather than finding a complete biography, we found fragments - official records, military service files, historical documents and the memories preserved through the statutory will proceedings.  Piece by piece, those fragments began to illuminate not only Les himself, but also the values that quietly shaped his life.

This article is not intended to be a definitive biography.  It is a tribute to the man behind the gift, written with gratitude and respect.  Where the historical record is silent, we have chosen not to speculate.  Where evidence exists, we have sought to let it speak for itself.

The telephone call was received by Michael Thomas, then National Director of Toc H Australia.  According to information conveyed during the statutory will proceedings, it became apparent that this was not a spontaneous act of generosity.  Toc H had appeared in successive versions of Les Aynsley's wills over many years, suggesting a connection that had endured throughout much of his adult life.  Understanding that connection became a journey of its own.

As our research continued, it became clear that understanding Les meant first understanding another man - his father, William.  While Les left few clues explaining his lifelong regard for the Toc H Movement, William's story revealed a world in which the Movement was born and its values first took root.

A World in Which Toc H Was Born

William was born into a generation that would come of age during the First World War. In September 1915, at just eighteen years of age, the young Sydney printer enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force.

He was subsequently posted to the 53rd Battalion, with which he would serve on the Western Front for the remainder of the war.  Over the next three years he would survive multiple wounds, rise through the ranks from Lance Corporal to Sergeant, and be awarded the Military Medal for bravery in the field.  Like thousands of other young Australians, his life would be forever shaped by the war.

To better understand the connection between William and the Toc H Movement, we turned to the official war diaries of the 53rd Battalion.  Rather than simply recording battles, those diaries revealed something remarkable - they placed William within the very landscape in which Toc H was born.

After surviving the Somme and the bitter fighting at Bullecourt, the exhausted battalion was withdrawn from the front during August 1917 to the French village of Lynde for a brief period of rest and training. That respite was short-lived.  By mid-September the battalion marched through Steenvoorde before crossing into Belgium, where they established camps around Reninghelst and Wippenhoek, on the edge of the Ypres Salient, in preparation for the Battle of Polygon Wood.

These locations were only a few kilometres from Poperinge, where Talbot House had become a refuge for soldiers of every rank.  Established in 1915 by Army Chaplains Neville Talbot and Tubby Clayton, Talbot House offered something rare amidst the devastation of war - a place where officers and other ranks were welcomed equally, where men could read, write letters, share conversation, attend the attic chapel or simply enjoy a cup of tea away from the front line.

The surviving records do not tell us whether William ever visited Talbot House.  History is silent on that question, and we have chosen not to speculate.  What they do show, however, is that William spent significant periods serving in the very district where the Movement was quietly demonstrating the principles that would later become known throughout the world as Toc H.

On 26 September 1917, the 53rd Battalion advanced into the Battle of Polygon Wood.  The official war diaries reveal the ferocity of the fighting and the devastating losses that followed.  When the battalion was finally relieved, 66 men had been killed, 226 wounded, 16 were missing, and another 42 had been evacuated suffering  what was then described as "Not Yet Diagnosed (Nervous)"- the language of the day for what we would now recognise as psychological trauma.

As the surviving soldiers withdrew once more through the Poperinge district before returning to Wippenhoek, they once again found themselves within the landscape that had given birth to the Toc H Movement.  Whether William sought comfort within Talbot House or simply witnessed the quiet work being undertaken there can no longer be known.  What can be said is that he experienced, first-hand, the world from which Toc H emerged - a world in desperate need of fellowship, compassion and hope.

William's war, however, was far from over. Following Polygon Wood, the 53rd Battalion was again committed to the fighting around Anzac Ridge during the Passchendaele campaign. Although serving in a support role, the battalion endured relentless artillery fire before eventually being withdrawn. Their return once more took them through Wippenhoek, on the doorstep of Poperinge, where the men paused to regroup, absorb reinforcements and prepare for whatever lay ahead.

For William, this second period in the Poperinge district represented more than a brief passage through the area. Whether or not he ever crossed the threshold of Talbot House cannot now be known.

What the historical record does show is that William spent repeated periods in the very place where Toc H's enduring principles of fellowship, equality and service were quietly taking shape amidst the devastation of war. Whether those experiences directly influenced him we cannot know.  What we can say is that they formed part of the world he carried home from the First World War.

William returned to Australia in August 1919, joining thousands of servicemen seeking to rebuild lives interrupted by war. On Christmas Eve 1921, he married Ivy at the Church of St Matthias in Paddington, New South Wales. It was a partnership grounded in a shared trade: William resumed his work as a printer, while Ivy worked as a bookbinder. Together they settled in the Sydney suburb of Randwick, where, on 13 February 1926, they welcomed Leslie, their only child.

Returning to Les

The thread between father and son can be seen most clearly in the trade Les initially chose for himself.  For two years, he worked at the Bridge Printery as a compositor - the skilled craftsman responsible for arranging lead type for the printing presses.

On 31 March 1944, having only recently turned eighteen, Leslie enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force for the duration of the war.  Aircraftman 1st Class Leslie completed an intensive twenty-week course at No. 3 School of Technical Training in Ultimo, qualifying as a technical electrician.

One entry in Les' service record is particularly significant to our search.  On 2 February 1946 he was recorded as serving with Headquarters Northern Area, placing him within the northern military command centred in Townsville, where Toc H maintained an extensive wartime service for Allied personnel.

During the Second World War, Toc H’s work in Townsville provided accommodation, meals and companionship to servicemen passing through one of Australia’s busiest military centres.  Its significance was recognised during Eleanor Roosevelt’s wartime visit to Townsville, when she visited the Toc H service facility and observed its work firsthand.

As with William’s proximity to Talbot House, the surviving records do not tell us whether Les personally entered the Toc H premises or participated in its activities. What they do reveal is another remarkable convergence: during his own wartime service, Les was stationed in a place where Toc H was again responding practically to the needs of servicemen through hospitality, fellowship and care.

Whether this experience contributed to his later regard for the Movement cannot now be known.  It nevertheless formed part of the wartime landscape through which the young Les passed - and provides another possible thread in a connection that would endure throughout his life.

From May 1945, Les served as an RAAF-trained electrician and Leading Aircraftman with the Northern Command Headquarters Telecommunications Unit. By that time, the unit was operating from Madang, Papua New Guinea, maintaining the communications network that supported Allied air operations across the South West Pacific.

Operating in tropical conditions, personnel maintained high-frequency radio networks, landlines and switchboards under difficult environmental conditions, with heat, humidity and corrosion presenting constant technical challenges. Technical personnel such as Les formed part of this communications capability, helping to sustain the network that linked Allied commands during the closing stages of the Pacific War.

Les's wartime service was recognised by the award of the Pacific Star for qualifying operational service within the Pacific Theatre.

Following his demobilisation at RAAF Bradfield Park, New South Wales on 11 March 1946, Les returned to civilian life at Haig Street, in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra.

The Life He Built

In 1959, Les married and began a new chapter of his life. During the mid-1960s he became licensee of the Australian Hotel in Wingham, New South Wales, a landmark of the town that continues to operate today. By the late 1960s or early 1970s, Les and his family had made Queensland their home.

Queensland would become Les's home for the remainder of his life. While information about these years is limited, it is understood that he operated a motel near Brisbane before acquiring the former Oxenford racecourse property, title to which was registered in his name on 3 August 1973.

As the Gold Coast expanded in the decades that followed, the surrounding district changed with it. By the early 2000s, then in his seventies, Les was working with property developers as the former Oxenford racecourse was transformed into what is today Homeworld Helensvale.

By the end of his life, Les's estate reflected considerable wealth. Yet those who knew him describe a man who remained intensely private, preferring a quiet life away from public attention.

Leslie William Aynsley died on 3 February 2022 at the age of ninety-five. His memorial plaque is marked by the RAAF emblem and the image of a horse, quietly reflecting themes that came to define his life.

We will probably never know precisely what inspired his lifelong affection for Toc H.  The historical record leaves us with possibilities rather than certainty.  Yet perhaps certainty is not what matters most.

Throughout our search we discovered a remarkable pattern.  William served in the landscape where Talbot House first offered hope amidst the horrors of the First World War.  A generation later, Les served in wartime Townsville, where Toc H was again providing practical care and fellowship to servicemen far from home.  Whether those experiences directly shaped Les' enduring regard for the Movement can no longer be answered. What can be said is that, throughout two generations, Toc H appeared wherever service, compassion and quiet humanity were most needed.

Today, almost a century after William first walked the battlefields of Belgium, Les' generosity is helping another chapter of that same story unfold.

A Lasting Legacy

At Cooinda Retreats in Victor Harbor, Toc H South Australia is working towards the development of a Community Village — a place where people can find welcome, belonging and practical support. It is a vision that reflects the same spirit that animated Talbot House in Poperinge and the Toc H volunteers of wartime Townsville.

We hope that Les's extraordinary generosity will continue to strengthen the Toc H Movement and its charitable work throughout Australia. The true measure of his gift will not be found in the money it provided, but in the opportunities it helps create, the lives it enriches, and the doors it continues to open.

We never had the privilege of meeting Les. We wish we had.

Instead, we have been privileged to discover something of the man he was.

His generosity has become more than a financial gift. It has become part of an enduring story of service — a story that continues wherever someone is welcomed, supported or given a place to belong.

Thank you, Les.

Prepared with gratitude by Toc H South Australia Inc.

This tribute is the product of a shared journey of historical discovery undertaken by Michael Thomas and Rebecca Butler. Together, we sought to honour the life of Les William Aynsley with the same care and integrity that his remarkable generosity deserves.

by Toc H South Australia