Dolly Powell

Story

Dolly Powell (nee Van Brugge) was in Holland during World War two. She was exposed to German soldiers knocking on doors to take fathers and sons to become soldiers. Each time her father would be locked inside a small hidden room so the German soldiers would not find him. On one occasion, his finger was stuck in the door when it was closed and he had to remain quiet until the soldiers left – so he would not be found.

When her mother took her for walks, she would see destroyed homes. One day, she saw an empty crib and asked if the baby was ok. Her mother said yes, because she was too young to understand.

After the War ended, her father decided it was safer to leave Holland and move to Australia. In Holland, the parents, two daughters and two sons lived in a lovely multi-storey family house in Bennebroek (north Holland) and worked in diamond mining. Dolly’s mother was a housewife, looking after the children. It was a comfortable life in a middle class suburb, with financial security and a good family environment. Before the war, Bennebroek was a safe, family suburb.

The journey to Sydney, New South Wales, mainly involved a long boat trip with many other people leaving Europe after the war.

When the family arrived in Sydney, they found they could not afford accommodation – so ended up living in a garage with cockroaches for several months. In the meantime, Dolly’s father was having trouble finding work in diamond mining, and ended up commuting to Coober Pedy in South Australia to work in opal mining.

Eventually they managed to get enough money together to rent a house, later moving to St Ives in New South Wales. They ended up being the first family on their street to get a pool, so became very popular with the neighbours during the warm months.

Education was another problem – as the daughters and one son were still in high school, they continued their education in Australia. However, Dolly went from an academic focused school to a home school – which did not suit her at all. She ended up coming third in English and maths out of 120 students, however the domestic education did not suit her interests and abilities and she quit school at the end of year 10.

She did further study, and used her knowledge of multiple languages to work as a secretary for several companies. She was able to translate letters and communicate with certain overseas officers with ease.

She remained in Sydney for much of her life, meeting her future husband Peter Irvine Powell (Pip) through her work for a company with officers posted overseas. PIP was working overseas, and had come back to Sydney for cancer treatment. They meet in the Sydney office, and were dating shortly after.

They travelled to Vietnam together and were dating for three years before splitting up.

Pip went back overseas, to Zambia, and proposed by phone to a very surprised and emotional Dolly. She moved to South Africa and got married there. Zambia has some safety problems for visitors, so when Dolly was pregnant with her first daughter, of two, they moved back to Sydney, NSW. They lived in Castle Hill, NSW, for the birth of both daughters in 1975 and 1978. Pip was declared terminal with lung cancer in August 1979, and died in February 1980.

After his death, the family was bought a townhouse in Dee Why on the northern beaches of Sydney by the company Pip was working for when he became terminally ill. Dolly lived in that house with her daughters. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1991, but continued to live in the house – adapting it so she could live downstairs. She remained living there until her death in 2004 from pneumonia.

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