15 February 2025

Ann Lorraine Hibbert

23 September 1946 – 30 March 2026

My Life

Born Ann Lorraine Pawley on 23 September 1946, I am the daughter of Betty Millie-May (nee Bond) and William John (Jack) Pawley. We lived with Nana and Pa Bond, Dolly (Dorothy) and Jim (= James Bond!) at 42 Mimosa Rd, Carnegie. When Bruce was born Mum successfully bid on an old house with an adjoining empty block, at 8 Fintonia Street, Hughesdale. Dad was in the Air Force at Tocumwal, where he serviced planes as a Fitter and Turner during WW2. After the war, Dad joined the Police Force following in Pa Pawley’s footsteps (William Taylor Pawley). My first experience of loss was when Nana Bond, my affectionate carer, as Mum had returned to dressmaking work, put me to bed and lay down by me. I awoke to sounds (death rattles perhaps) and bubbles coming out of Nana’s mouth, as she passed away beside me. I was locked in the back bedroom where a brown blind had been pulled down. I was 4 years old. I have vivid memories of this event.

Soon afterwards, Mum was diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB) and was admitted to Heatherton Sanatorium. I was 4 years old and Bruce 2 years old. Dad engaged a migrant family from Poland, Mr and Mrs Fiedler, their daughter Loretta and young son, “Boy”, to look after Bruce and me in return for accommodation. Dad had been advised to go to the Congregational Church in Oakleigh for a migrant family, as there was no one in the family willing to look after us. It was hard on Dad. He later told me he was avoided at work in case he passed on the TB virus, and he had even considered adopting us out, had Mum died! Thank God that didn’t eventuate.

Bruce and I weren’t allowed into the sanatorium (to protect us from TB) so we didn’t see Mum for 2 years. However, I remember sitting by the fishpond in the grounds of the Heatherton Sanatorium and Mum waving to me from a balcony. In hindsight this was my second experience of feeling loss. No doubt Mrs Fiedler had enough on her hands from having been in a concentration camp (they had tattoos on their arms), difficulties with learning English and four young children counting us. I suspect I wasn’t shown much love through this period. Sometimes I wonder if this early disruption led to my insecurity later in life. I remember Mrs Fiedler’s chocolate custard and her making a birthday cake for a neighbour! Apparently, I learnt to speak some German.

Mum eventually came home early 1952, and Colin, 2 July 1953, and David, 23 June 1955, were born. Mum felt that she “had lost her babies” – meaning Bruce and me – but I think in hindsight she was ill‑advised to have more children, as she was to die 11 years later, when David was only 12, in 1968. We were 7 and 5 when Colin was born, and 9 and 7 when David was born. Life in Fintonia Street, however, was very happy for Bruce and me, and memorable. Surrounded with kids growing up in the baby boomer era, there were many friends to play with on the mostly empty Fintonia Street, including riding billycarts down the hill, games like Hidey, British Bulldogs, skippy, marbles, jacks, etc. I remember these years very fondly. Fintonia Street was our playground until the streetlights came on. Dressing up and putting on plays was also popular.

I remember the names of the families even now – the Spauldings, Smileys, Rowes, Whittts, Walshes, Mulderrys and Coppicks. Mum photographed these young people and I remember them from our photo albums. Mum loved photography and our early lives were regularly recorded. We caught a bus to the pictures in Oakleigh, given 1/-. I also joined a calisthenics group and won a third medal! I wasn’t happy at school under a headmaster who was a returned services soldier, who believed in the strict discipline of the army! I only remember Miss Bolte (Grade 3), marching into school and Nature Study lessons. Dad and Mr Spaulding fattened a black pig! Bruce later met Sandra Spaulding in Pakenham Upper.

I well remember helping Mum with the new babies. She hadn’t fully recovered from TB and needed much rest. What added to her difficulty was her grief for her mum, Nana Bond, and her sister Auntie Dot was suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. Mum had been very emotionally connected to Nana Bond. Having four children and Dad on shift work would have been hard on her.

Next, Dad built a new cream brick house at number 10 Fintonia Street. In April 2024 I went to Fintonia Street to find number 10 was demolished! It had been one of the later houses built on that street. I couldn’t believe seeing the cream bricks scattered about. I had watched that house being built! Other pre‑war houses were still standing. Dad would have been mortified.

I went to a kindergarten “on the bus” and started school a year after I was due to, on account of contracting German measles and mumps (rubella) when 5 years old. This infection led to total deafness in my left ear which became a lifelong disability, affecting me in my career and social relationships.

When David was 6 months old in 1955, Dad transferred to Nathalia Police Station. Dad took Mum away from her friends, Isabel and Betsy, deliberately, as he felt they “had too much influence on her”. This must have been tough on Mum, especially that we had just moved into our new house at number 10 Fintonia Street.

We lived in the Courthouse Hotel in Nathalia for 6 months until a Commission house came up at 9 Pearce Street. While living there I have fond memories of town life. We walked to the pictures, we bought ice‑cream in cones, we went for rides on a flat‑bed trailer behind Shimmy the horse. I was exposed to many families and their country lives in the Commission area. We bought milk by the pint from a man as his cigarette ash fell onto the surface; we walked to the bakers for a high‑tin loaf and nearly hollowed it out on the walk back home. Visitors from Melbourne came and stayed. I don’t know how Mum managed as she also began sewing for any and everyone on her beloved Singer sewing machine.

Mum made lots of friends through her kindness, generosity and friendliness. She was really loved by all. I saw it, I know it. She was truly a wonderful woman. I took it all for granted! At 12 I minded “the boys” when Mum and Dad went to balls, which were frequent in those days. Parties in the neighbourhood were also common. In 1956 we all lay outside on the front lawn to watch the first Russian Sputnik fly over. I remember vividly those star‑studded night skies! I later wrote a paper on early space flights when at Teachers College. I remained interested in space travel, loving the space display in 1998 in Washington.

Whilst in Nathalia, we witnessed floods (1956 was exceptional) and bushfires, went rabbiting with Dad with ferrets, nets and rabbit traps, and fished for the mighty Murray cod (100‑pounders were common!), yellowbelly and redfin. Swimming – sometimes in the duckweed of Broken Creek – and picnics by the Murray River, which then flowed clearly (not muddy as in later years when carp entered the waterways). I earned 4 shillings (40 cents!) once when I dived off the high diving board, from Nana Pawley. We learnt to swim in Broken Creek. Pa Pawley brought jars of pennies and small coins for us to sort and count. I don’t remember spending it! The big shops were at Shepparton. A trip to Melbourne took more than 4 hours over Pretty Sally and a myriad of small towns with rail crossings, well before the Hume Highway was built. Dad’s work in the Police Force included colourful stories as he cleared hotels ahead of six o’clock closing. He and Mum also worked on the census, with Mum later making comment of Aboriginal people living in humpies on the Murray River, near Barmah.

In 1959 Dad left the Police Force and bought a Soldier Settler farm, originally the third farm (Price’s) on the right down what is now known as Peter Clay Road. Then in 1963 he bought Condon’s which was the first on the right. Dad stayed on in the Police Force for another year, having bid too much on the first farm and having to sell the back acres to Mr Vern Lucas. I learned to milk by hand our house cow, Polly, and later it was my job to milk the cows late afternoon while my brothers swam in the channel. I remember loving the “big sky”, smell of the hay and the sunsets!

In 1962 Dad and two neighbours, Mr Lucas and Mr Roder, went to Western Australia to look at Soldier Settler land in the Denmark–Albany area. Dad put a deposit on a farm (one pound an acre) next to the Pratt family. Mum and I went over to check it out in 1963. We sailed on a ship bound for England and returned home via the Transcontinental Railway. Stayed with the Pratts, a Seventh‑day Adventist family, enjoying vegetarian meals and home‑made bread. Wonderful. What a memorable adventure it was, perhaps sowing the seed for my future travels on the Fairstar! (And to think Brendan and his family would end up building a holiday house on Lynda’s land in Denmark 50 years later!)

That road is now known as Pratt Road alongside the Hay River, and I returned there once with Colin and Karenne in 2003, and again with Brendan in 2023. The farm would have been a disaster, as we found out from the lady on “our land”, what with the salty soils inundated over millennia by nearby Wilson Inlet.

Returning to the story, in 1963 I was enrolled at MacRobertson Girls’ High School, Albert Park, as Nathalia only offered Forms 5 and 6 by correspondence. Bruce went to the Police Academy; Colin and David went to Echuca Tech. I had won scholarships at Nathalia and I think Mum and Dad wanted to thank me for helping on the farm in the early years.

I completed my high school education 1963–1964 at “Mac Rob”. While it was a prestigious school, it heralded quite a change from Nathalia High. I grew to love Geography, Biology and Chemistry in particular. My friend was Cheryl Plant. I lived at the Presbyterian Girls’ Hostel for 6 months – hated it – then with Mr and Mrs O’Bree in Rosanna until she got sick, and finally with Nana Pawley (Dora Vivien Pawley). It was two years of slog as I couldn’t let Mum and Dad down by failing. Apparently they paid for my accommodation, £10 a week, when the milk cheque came in! My spending money for all extras came from the bank book that I had saved with birthday money etc. over the years through the school bank scheme. No wonder I learnt to be frugal with money!

In the following years, Mum instigated that the family relocate to Melbourne so my three brothers could live at home, and the younger two attend Doveton Tech. In 1966 they auctioned off our beautiful cows and horses and relocated to Ryans Road, Pakenham, via 66 Corrigan Road, Noble Park. Dad maintained his long‑term interests of greyhounds and golf. Mum continued to sew, with the old Singer roaring late into the night and early morning, again completing dresses for so many neighbours. Once Mum saw a parachute fail to open on the Pakenham airfield, and once she witnessed a collision on the Pakenham railway tracks.

1965 I went on to Bendigo Teachers College, where I completed my TITC (Trained Infant Teachers’ Certificate). Living two years in Hostel 1, I spent third year in a flat with Rosalie Smith (Reville), Jenny Mansfield and Jenny Hawkins. Great years, including big world changes such as the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement, with protest songs and folk music – The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel and The Seekers, which I loved. Teachers College was wonderful! Brendan later returned to Bendigo to complete his Graphic Design course at the old Teachers College, then renamed La Trobe University.

I took a job waitressing at a hotel in Apollo Bay Christmas 1965 and Cowes Guest House 1966. The young people I met were “very different” to my Teachers College friends! I graduated with an A in Teaching and a B in Academia. My photo was published in The Bendigo Advertiser. In 1967 Rosalie and I hitch‑hiked around Tasmania, including hiking the Cradle Mountain Overland Track. Fabulous memories of youth hostels and rides! Desires to travel further afield were sown.

1968 I began teaching at Specimen Hill Primary School. In May 1968 I received news from Dad that Mum had gone to St Henry’s Hospital on St Kilda Road. I travelled down immediately, saw Mum in a bad way and left her favourite flowers, violets, but the next morning at 6.00 am on 5 May we were advised Mum had passed away. We four crawled into bed with Dad to absorb this awful news. Dad said we would have to all pull together. I never forgot that. We were all in shock and completely devastated.

They hadn’t lived long in Pakenham. Had she died in Nathalia, Dad (and us four) would have received more support. There was no counselling. We needed it. Colin (14) and David (12) did not attend Mum’s funeral, which was the practice in those days. Colin later often remarked on his regret. Nowadays that wouldn’t happen.

I applied for a compassionate transfer to Lang Lang, on the pretext to help Dad with the boys – then 12, 14 and 19 – but as much as anything it was to cling to my remaining family. Mum had died of a brain aneurysm. I couldn’t speak of Mum without crying until another ten years had passed. I experienced grief in a big way. I grieved for the Mum who had clothed me with her fabulous creations, her fun and her vibrant personality. Most of all I knew she loved me. I also knew she had suffered bad headaches. I grieved for the friendship that was still ahead after my bruising adolescent years. Being away for five years by then, I felt our mother–daughter friendship was still to be realised.

1969 I joined the Kooweerup Light Opera Society, taught Sunday School and played tennis. But our house was sad without our Mum. In those years I was a bridesmaid for Cousin Val, Cheryl from Mac Rob, and Rosalie from Teachers College.

1970 Dad sold the farm and moved to 25 Albert Road, Hallam, where there was a permit for four greyhounds. He later moved temporarily to Peacedale. The boys completed their schooling, apprenticeships and got work. I transferred to Pakenham Consolidated School. Dad encouraged me to travel overseas, as much as anything to come to terms with the loss of Mum. That loss of Mum, of course, was to travel with me.

1971 Having served my three‑year bond, I left on the Fairstar for Southampton on 6 January 1971, the day after Bruce and Merrilee married. Again a bridesmaid, my fourth and final time!

Thus began my two‑year trip overseas. I flatted with Helen Broom and Barbara Cartland, with whom I had shared a cabin on the Fairstar, in Wheelers Hill, when Helen and I used weekends to hitch‑hike to destinations beyond London. I taught in a primary school (Harrow Lane), rising and travelling on the bus in the early morning dark and home in late afternoon darkness.

We then hitch‑hiked throughout England, Scotland and Wales youth hostelling (the YHA), and hired a car to circumnavigate Ireland! We took a Contiki tour to Scandinavia and Russia in June, after which I returned to Edinburgh to live with Maree Dickinson and Barb Gemmell and taught again (I had known Barb and Maree in Hostel 1 at BTC).

On Maree’s suggestion, together we travelled to Spain, Portugal and Morocco, as far as Tangiers, by public transport and staying at pensiones – “upmarket” travel compared to travelling with Helen! We only touched on Morocco, Tangiers. I was later to travel Morocco with Trafalgar Tours after Meja was born in Frankfurt, as Morocco was “unfinished business”.

Christmas 1971 I moved in with a Jewish family as a mother’s help, until I decided late February to go on a trip to Austria to learn to ski.

On return I was put in touch with Ros Straughan, who turned out to be my best travelling companion. We toured Eastern Europe in her little van, and into Israel where we worked on a kibbutz near the Lebanese border. What incredible experiences we had. I learned to eat green olives and make what Rex later called “eggy bread”. We hitched the length of Israel.

In August 1972 Ros and I decided to travel back to Australia via Africa – London to Nairobi via Land Rovers with SIAFU Travel. We then hitch‑hiked to Cape Town – again without incident! On the actual tour was Gabrielle (Gay) McGrath from Hostel 1, and Denise and Richard from Australia, Connie from Canada, and Tom from the USA. We caught a ship back to Port Melbourne from Cape Town ahead of Christmas 1972. We saw game parks and the raw side of Africa – Pygmies, apartheid and the Sahara with its Tuaregs. We travelled through the length of Algeria into the Sahara, which was amazing, as Noudjoum, Cameron’s wife, came from Algeria. I well remember Tamanrasset and Agadez.

Gabrielle, Denise and I took Ros to Broken Hill. The amazing memory of that journey was the sound of numerous rabbits crunching under the car tyres. Equally amazingly we ran into Barb Gemmell at Mildura, whom I had last seen in Edinburgh 18 months earlier.

1973 A phone call to the Education Department landed me a job at Collins Street Primary, Morwell, and in the library! In time I joined the La Trobe Light Opera Society and through meeting Josie Polsma I was introduced to the St Kieran’s Moe Youth Group, which lived in a Christian Community group home in Westbury named Ambleyn (Amble In). Through this group I met Rex, with whom an attraction was instantly realised. I truly fell in love with “the love of my life”. I couldn’t believe it! My first real love.

Rex proposed about six weeks after we met at his holiday house at Phillip Island, and we were married 20 October 1973. Cameron was born the year afterwards. What a beautiful baby. We were so enamoured with our first son. I felt the growth in me of such an encompassing love – for Rex, for Cameron. My life was finally realised then, as in no other earlier period of my life. It was good. So good.

Beginning life in the condemned town of Yallourn, we built one of the Houses of the Week, as illustrated in The Sun newspaper, at 15 Mulcare Crescent, Churchill, for $19,000. We moved in the June long weekend 1975, and Brendan was born in 1976. He began life smiling, and that smile is reproduced in almost every photo taken of our beautiful Brendan.

Still feeling the loss of my Mum, it was imperative for me to at least try for a daughter to rekindle, I guess, the lost opportunity of a mature relationship with my Mum – this time as the Mum. That was not to be, and we brought a new son into the world in 1979. Ashley’s birthweight was 5 lb 5 oz, our smallest son, yet 20 years later he was our tallest son! Ashley too was a beautiful, affectionate, perfect baby. Our family was now complete.

We took Ashley to Bali when he was one year old as Dad had won Greyhound of the Year and invited us to go. I so regret we didn’t take Cameron and Brendan. They stayed with our friends, the McGraths and the Harrisons.

The next event that was to mar my life was the unexpected death of my dearest friend Ros. I remember Ros experiencing pain in the Sahara. Little did we know a cancer was beginning. I went to Sydney to see Ros, staying with Richard and Connie from the SIAFU trip. Ros died that very night. I was pain‑filled with sad grief. A horrendous bus trip home to Rex and my three little boys. Ros had been so happy for me that I had found Rex and had my three beautiful sons. I was in grief again (Nana Bond, my first carer; Mum; and now the awesome Ros).

The early years of Churchill were unique. We joined the Co‑operating Churches and Playgroup, where began the catalyst of friendships that have endured to this day, as I write in February 2025. Often recognition of earlier friendships has emerged with my relocation to Traralgon. Churchill forged a togetherness that was recognised as the town grew around us, needing a babysitting club as we were families without grandparents nearby. We arrived ten years after Churchill began and watched the town grow and expand.

When we decided on our third child, Rex began the build of a top storey on our house. I well remember finding both Cameron and Brendan halfway up the ladder watching the progress! Rex had built his shed, the BBQ, the dividing fence and the surrounding fences. He serviced the car. Studied. He was always busy. His shed was neat and stored every known tool a man such as Rex would need – a handyman in the fullest sense of the word. He fitted out the lining of the upstairs rooms.

And then Dad gave us $10,000, and $1,800 for each son. While I was already looking for the next house to be built, Rex was determined not to have another mortgage and that he was “happy with what we had”, which led to our purchase of the adjoining block. A huge veggie garden, beautiful fruit trees, chook house, storage for the trailer and a caravan, and eventually room for our Border Collie named Janey that Brendan brought home after pleading for a dog for many years. Reasons Rex didn’t want a dog included our regular visits to Plover Street, Cowes – the holiday house Rex originally built for his parents – and back to Hallam to see Pa.

Rex built double bunks for the boys’ bedroom and many happy times were spent on the beach, travelling to favourite destinations around the island and time with the Pecks. The house took much of Rex’s time to maintain and extend, such as the building of fences, breaking through rock‑hard ground with a post‑hole digger, the BBQ area and filling in the carport for an extra bedroom.

We used to rent the house out for the Christmas holidays, using that opportunity to travel ourselves. We travelled to Cairns, Maroochydore, Adelaide and the Barossa, the Blue Mountains and to New Zealand in 1991. In 1989 Rex and I took Brendan and Ashley to the west coast of the USA, when Cameron was on Rotary Exchange in New Zealand. I missed Cameron so much, wishing he was with us those nine weeks, but as it’s turned out, at time of writing, Cameron and his family have lived in the USA since 2014 – 11 years and still counting!

In the Valley I worked at Collins Street, Churchill Primary, the School Support Centre, Boolarra and other schools and kindergartens as a relief teacher. In 1994 I began work at Cooinda Hill Centre. I had also worked in the Monash Library workroom on the reference desk. I had completed my BA of Education (Librarianship) in 1985.

Rex had been an Air Cadet in his younger years and joined the Air Force. In lieu of National Service to Vietnam, he joined the National Reserves (CMF). He learned to fly and gained his restricted licence. He also tried parachute diving. One of our first dates was flying a Cessna and I felt completely safe in his hands.

After our marriage, Rex’s involvement in work and outside work increased. He belonged to many branches of Freemasonry, was a probationary officer, bail justice, Lifeline telephone counsellor and donated blood regularly, being O‑, as well as taking on roles at the SEC including Help a Mate. He finished building and extending the holiday house at 16 Plover Street, Cowes.

Rex also took an active role in Nana Hibbert’s welfare, and often paid for Colleen to visit her Mum from Queensland. When Nana Hibbert died in 1999, Rex arranged for his brothers to agree to gift their share of their inheritance to Colleen and Peter, enabling them to live at 44 Murray Road, Newborough. This caused a rift in the family with Enid and Delise.

In 1996 Janey had given birth to six magnificent pups and I realised my love for these pups equated to being ready for my future grandchildren!

When Cameron went to uni in Clayton, a friend asked could I board a student attending Gippsland Monash Uni. Jane came into our lives, followed by Polliana, Ada, Suryani and Lauren. Of these I maintain a friendship with Suryani and Khatija, and their husbands Simon Strack and Abdul Halabi, and children Monticel, Rigaroix, Karima and Zahra.

The boys grew up, had their 21st birthdays, and Rex and I started to think about new interests for ourselves. In 1989 I had an unexpected twisted bowel operation, which explained my abdominal pain since 1971. We returned to the USA in 1998 where we explored New Mexico, the Anastasi Indian culture, New Orleans, the Oshkosh Air Fly‑In, and the east coast of the USA including Niagara Falls, New York, Washington, Philadelphia and the Amish culture.

We learnt to scuba dive, which took us to Fiji. The boys were doing well in their chosen fields of study and work. Brendan had returned to study and completed his Graphic Arts degree. We were so proud of him returning to study, of Cameron gaining his Chemical Engineering degree with honours. Ashley was also at uni doing Professional Writing and Editing. Life was so good. And then suddenly and unexpectedly … it wasn’t.

On 12 October 2001, whilst on a scuba dive at Merimbula Pier, Rex suffered a cardiac arrest whilst still on the surface. Resuscitation was provided by the dive master and a nurse from critical care who was nearby. On arrival at Pambula Hospital, the doctor came out and said, “Are you Mrs Hibbert?” Yes. “There’s no other way to tell you this. Your husband is dead.” He’d only just been admitted; my cup of tea was still scalding hot.

The nightmare began.

Years – literally years and years – of missing Rex and the life he should have been enjoying passed. I don’t know how I got through those truly awful years of depression, sadness and grief. I think it was compounded by the personal loss of the life I had enjoyed in his shadow and wisdom. His extraordinary interests and energy beyond Hazelwood were the interests of my life too.

The years passed slowly and with huge support from Cameron and Brendan, and Ashley, plus particular friends such as Jan W., Kathie D., Ruth, Rosalie, Gwenda and Colleen. Some people called regularly, such as Colin and Val T. But Rex was only 55. There was so much life we’d planned – the Jabiru, caravanning, overseas travel. I was bereft. The boys were so young – 22, 24 and 26. I grieved for their lives without their dad and the influence he would have had in their lives.

Now on my own, the first trip I took was to work as a VISE educator at Winton with the Phillott family, which was great. Then a trip to Central Australia and the Kimberley, which I abandoned at Broome.

2003 Cameron and I caught up with Brendan in Würzburg, and Brendan and I travelled to Italy. Later I travelled to China, Turkey, France, Morocco, Canada and Alaska, Mexico, South America, Switzerland and on cruises with Bruce and Merrilee to the Pacific Islands and Mediterranean Greek Islands. Cameron relocated to work in Frankfurt. Brendan returned from England and later relocated to Perth. Visits to Germany and beyond – such as Bruges, Berlin, Heidelberg – to visit Cameron and Noudjoum, and to Perth to visit Brendan and Joya, and later Obe, followed.

Whilst visiting Joya, a friend John McKinnon and I travelled up the west coast to Kalbarri, Ningaloo Reef and Newman, and south to Augusta. Nick’s wedding in Phuket and a side visit to see Noel in Chiang Mai, and later to Hobart and Perth with Eddie.

I followed up interests Rex and I had talked about, such as volunteering on the Great Victorian Bike Ride and learning golf. I became Ladies President at golf and played in three pennant teams plus other competitions around the Valley for about 12 years. I volunteered for Meals on Wheels. I joined the Jeeralang Book Club. I redeveloped Rex’s vegetable garden to a native garden. I bought my first new car, a red Toyota Camry Altise. I bought my golf outfit.

In 2006, 60 years old, still overwhelmed with the memories of Rex that Mulcare Crescent evoked, I purchased a beautiful property at 33 Mackeys Road, Churchill.

Through those years I hosted more students including Khatija, Lorena and Felicity, three male lecturers, Ebony and Lauren, and a number of Chinese lecturers with the Monash 2+2 program. Some mixed experiences. One Chinese lecturer did all the cooking!

Cameron had meanwhile relocated to Frankfurt working at Basell, met Noudjoum, and Brendan to Perth, originally to live with the Churchill boys, met Lynda, and was employed at Central College of TAFE, Perth. In time Joya (14/8/2009) and Oberon (19/2/2013) were born.

Cameron married Noudjoum in Montpellier on 26 July 2011. An Australian wedding followed in February 2012 in my Mackeys Road garden, and Meja Ann was born 26/4/2013 on Cameron’s birthday! That was the one great thing we celebrated at Mackeys – their wedding! What a celebration, and to date our only family celebration outside birthdays.

I loved meeting my new grandchildren and visited them as much as possible. Discovering Aussie House‑Sitting enabled me to stay for extended periods of time in Perth. Until then I had tried Airbnb, furnished apartments and staying with Colin and Karenne. I boarded with Juju for two terms in 2014 to take Joya to Morley School.

My trips to Perth averaged twice a year, sometimes on the grandchildren’s birthdays. I usually hosted them for whole weekends and took Joya, or both Joya and Obe, on special outings, such as the Fairy Festival at Kings Park, the circus, Disney on Ice, Whiteman Park, the Science Museum, the Aquarium at St Hillarys, the Maritime Museum (the Pirate exhibition), Fremantle Markets and to innumerable parks.

I loved all my visits to Perth to be with Joya and Obe, making memories and playing games such as cricket in the backyard, trampolining and frisbee tossing. I loved visiting Meja and joining in her interests such as gymnastics, Shinbukai and piano. I was lucky to go to two piano concerts to hear Meja play.

We travelled to Strasbourg and Burg Breisach in France, where I met Noudjoum’s parents and Nacima, and to Sedona in Arizona, which was fabulous. I also loved my visits to the beautiful beachside city of San Diego. Cameron took me on return visits to Coronado Island, Old Town, La Jolla, Little Italy, etc. I especially liked my evenings out with Cameron, particularly to the rooftop restaurant watching the planes land.

To backtrack – in 2006, when I purchased Mackeys Road, it was to fill that desire I had for a garden and property, plus a new beginning. I never regretted that decision and always had something to do to distract me. I returned to relief teaching for a while. I also worked on the census for several years, and worked at state and federal elections. There were some hairy occasions involving insurance claims. The best event at Mackeys was Cameron and Noudjoum’s Australian wedding.

I really loved 33 Mackeys Road. I put money and effort into keeping it as beautiful as it was when I bought it. But I knew the time would come to downsize and after research into several retirement villages, after 16 years at Mackeys, I settled on Dalkeith Village in Traralgon, moving in on 12 January 2023, and have always loved my “Amber” designed unit.

Cameron and family and Brendan and family returned home for Christmas 2022 to say goodbye to Churchill. It was a stressful but wonderful time for me, seeing them and packing up the house. There was so much to sell or give away beyond the two garage sales I’d had at Mulcare Crescent. I used Marketplace to sell much of our stuff.

For now, I have made friends both at U3A and the Village. I will continue with Current Affairs, History, Music, Book Club, TED Talks (U3A), and with line dancing at the Village and exercises in Morwell. I am in Probus, for now!

I am especially grateful to my new friends Marg Noone, Rosemary Dunworth, Judy Horne, and especially my 96‑year‑old friend in the Village, Elaine Priest. Elaine became a very dear friend – a little bit like a mum, but also a most entertaining and colourful friend, interested in so many things with a wonderful memory.

Postscript: I attended Elaine’s 97th birthday on 19 June and she died 11 July 2025. Before she died I asked if she would be my adoptive mum. She agreed and Di Whitehead said, “You’re one of us now.” What a privilege. I will never forget Elaine – the best adoptive mum. Di included a reference to me in her writing to the Village about the care of her mum at Dalkeith. I was truly honoured.

2025 I am very aware of my ageing and declining energy levels. At time of writing I am planning a trip to Sydney to the Australian Museum – which I did! In November I will go to Sapa, Vietnam and Cambodia. I am toying with a trip to South America to see Machu Picchu for Rex, and perhaps Patagonia, and perhaps India. I have started to think of my Advanced Care Directive and funeral. Hope that’s completed soon!

The investments are going well, and I hope the boys and the grandkids will benefit from Rex’s superannuation. I hope it gives Ashley the financial security he needs to purchase his home.

Famous last words – above was written ahead of Trump’s massive wrecking of the American economy. And before my emergency operation on 9 June.

 

Post script

On 8 June I was admitted to St Vincent’s Hospital for an emergency bowel removal. Cancer was detected that had metastasised to the liver. My prognosis is not good – maybe five years with a clinical trial of chemotherapy. My trip to Vietnam is, of course, cancelled.

I will add to this story as time goes on. At time of writing my first goal is to attend Joya’s 21st birthday in five years’ time – 14 August 2030!

Chemotherapy has many side effects. Chief among them are bone‑shattering fatigue, pins and needles in hands and toes, mouth ulcers and sore lips. I have to keep up fluids, which is most challenging.

The nurses and oncologists at LVH Cancer Care Unit are fabulous, offering support as required. I had day surgery to insert a port, which is used to deliver the chemotherapy down to my heart, then pumped around the body.

It’s an amazing, unreal experience. Are we really talking about me? It’s hard to describe how shattering it was to receive this news.

But I have had the most exceptional support from the Village – Jeni Grubb and Jan Riddle are my go‑to Team Ann. So many people reach out and call, text or call in. So much so that with my 79th birthday approaching and Cameron, Brendan and Ashley all coming home to see me, I have decided to have an “80 less 1” birthday celebration on 28 September 2025!