Maxmillian Herbert "Max" Gerlach was born on 28 January 1908. He was the son of Johannes Benjamin "Ben" and Margaretha Henriette "Maggie" (née Hohlhan) Gerlach. His brother Alfred "Alf) Heinrich was born on 19 December 1904. The boys grew up in Birchip. In 1942 he married Dorothy Hilda Stoffers. Dorothy was born on 5 July 1915 at Box Hill. They lived at Birchip for a few years before retiring to Anglesea in the early 1950s. The family lived on a large bushy block of about one acre in Walker Street, opposite the Anglesea Hotel. Their daughter Kay Maxine, born on 5 August 1943, died on 25 June 1967 at Royal Melbourne Hospital. |
In 1960 Max became a Barrabool Shire councillor, serving until 1967. In 1968 he became an inaugural member of the Anglesea Sewerage Authority and served for many years. He died on 18 July 1986 at Geelong. Dorothy died in 1990 at Melbourne.