Dorothy Winifred Fowkes

Story

Dorothy Winifred Fowkes – Grandma\’s Story

Dorothy Winifred Fowkes, my grandmother, sailed to Sydney Australia from Tilbury, England, on 30th October, 1920, on the R.M.S. ‘Orvieto’ which was under the command of W.S. Shelford, R.N.R. The ship entered the Mediterranean on 3rd November, sailed through the Suez on 12th November, crossed the Equator on 24th November and arrived in Fremantle on 2nd December, 1920. The R.M.S. ‘Orvieto’ then took three days to cross the Great Australian Bight, dropped mails in Adelaide on 6th December, stopped at Melbourne 8th December and arrived in Sydney on 11th December, 1920, having sailed 12,575 miles from London.

My Grandmother was 28 years of age and family history has it that she came to Australia as the result of a broken engagement. Her home address had been 15 Webster Street, Coventry, Birmingham, England. She was one of eight children, two girls and six boys.

Letters from her father are addressed to ‘My dear Winnie\’, so it seems that is how she had been known. However, at about the time she travelled from England there was a song on the Hit Parade called ‘Peg of My Heart\’ and from this time on Grandma was called Peg. Once again family rumour has it that this also started on the ship. Gran\’s Passport photograph shows a very attractive young lady. Her description in her passport describes her as 5\’3′ tall, fair complexion and with blue eyes. It suggests she may have been the darling of the ship and highly likely to win this title.

In 1922, Grandma had a son, my father, Albert Richard Fowkes, known as ‘Snowy\’ during the war and later as Dick. Richard was a family name. Her father\’s name was James Richard and she also had a brother Richard.

Grandma\’s profession, as stated on her Passport was ‘Weaver\’ and she acquired work at the Bonds Cotton Mills in Dunmore Street, Wentworthville. Grandma was always very secretive about her age and when she retired from her position as a Supervisor at Bonds, it was a surprise to everyone to learn she was 72 years of age. Grandma lived at 12 Carinya Road, Girraween, (a suburb of western Sydney) and would get up at 6.00am and walk the two miles to work every day. I can remember in winter there were some very frosty mornings.

During World War II the employees of Bonds started a Concert Party which travelled around giving concerts to raise money for The Red Cross War effort. Grandma and a friend Belle Herbert developed a comedy act known as ‘Peg and Belle\’. I can remember seeing their performances as a child and they were very funny. They actually produced a record at one time with Triangle Productions, Merrylands They also appeared on Dick Fair\’s Australia\’s Amateur Hour in December, 1947 on the radio, and were very popular. A newspaper article at the time reports that when they appeared, they ‘topped the poll with 5,901 votes’ and that Dick Fair said he had ‘never seen nor heard the ovation accorded either a professional or amateur act as that which greeted Peg and Belle’. I believe Grandma wrote most of their routines. My father, when he came home from the war, also entertained with the Bond\’s Concert Party. He played the banjo and had an Al Jolsen routine.

Grandma loved to travel and had many overseas trips. It was nothing to walk all the way up to Grandma\’s only to find she was away again. This was before the days of telephones and communication was not always as easy as it is now. Grandma had many trips back to England, as well as to Italy, France, Portugal, Egypt and many other countries. For short trips she loved Fiji. Travel was by ship and some of the ships she sailed on included the Fairstar, the Arkadia, the Oranje and she especially loved the Oriana.

Grandma had five grandchildren: Robyn, Carolyn, Christine, Julie and Alan Fowkes and two great grandchildren Michael and Amanda Martin.

Grandma maintained very good health well in to her eighties when she had two strokes and a broken hip. She recovered from these sufficiently to enjoy a ‘surprise\’90th Birthday party! She died at Windsor 10th May 1982.

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