Vale Stanley Benjamin John (Stan) Golinski
15 June 1933 to 24 May 2025
Thank you NSWRA for sharing this extract written originally by Stan’s late wife Joy.
Stan was born and educated at Marist Brothers in Brisbane.
Joining the Royal Australian Navy at the age of 17 he rose to the rank of Petty Officer Clearance Diver and was Coxswain of Clearance Diving Teams Numbers One & Two. He also filled the billet of Chief Clearance Diver on HMAS Sydney during the Vietnam War.
Stan served in HMAS Australia, Condamine, Anzac, Vendetta, Yarra, Melbourne and Sydney.
He was awarded the
• General Service Medal – Clasp Borneo: plus Malaya Peninsula,
• Australian Service Medal – Clasp Korea: plus Far East Strategic Reserve
• Logistic Support Medal – Vietnam
• Admiral of the Fleets Commendation (F.O.C.A.F.)
• Australian Active Services Medal – Clasp Vietnam and Malaysia
• Pingate Jasa Malaysia
Stan met Joy at the Journalist Club in Sydney on New Years Eve 1968 and in the next year they where married and Stan discharged from the Navy.
He worked as a diver for an oil rig until 1975 and then for Sydney Prince Henry Hospital as Officer in Charge of the Hyperbaric Chamber until his retirement in 1998.
A devoted target rifle shooter, Stan used to enjoy shooting while on leave from the Navy, although leave was not sufficiently long enough for him to compete at a high level of competition such as State and Australian Teams.
Upon leaving the Navy and working on Oil Rigs Stan finally was able to become competitive and he achieved much in this regard.
His greatest win was the individual Gold Medal at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. He was the first Australian to win, with a record score, a Gold Medal in either Commonwealth or Empire Games. In the Teams event held at the same Games, Stan and his partner, James Corbett, won Silver Medals. Also with a record score (counted out to Silver Medal).
Stan competed in Four World Championships – Venezuela, Moscow, Italy and Spain.
He was a member of 13 State Teams and 16 Australian Teams. He won Six Queens prizes including two National Queens.
He was also the first and only Australian to win the Canadian Governor General’s Prize – The Canadian Open Championship, with a record score.
In the 1988 Bi-Centenary Palma Match held at the ANZAC Range in Sydney, Stan with his coach Reg Rowlands top scored.
At the height of his competitive shooting career Stan was a fierce competitor, a very deep thinker and a man who would readily help anyone that was willing to listen. It was once said that his mind and thinking ‘runs as deep as the ocean’.
Stan will always be remembered as a respectful, kind-hearted man. But when it was needed, was as brave and fierce as a Lion. You could find no better man to be in the trenches with than Stan Golinski.
Stan is survived by his daughter Judy.
