Marie Bonnell Owen

Story

My name is Sue Pye (formerly Owen). I am writing this story on behalf of my mother, Marie Bonnell Owen, (formerly Peacock). Mum is not able to write this herself as she is blind, but has contributed to this story.

Both Bill and Marie were products of the aftermath of the first world war. Bill, the eldest of four, completed only four years of secondary education. His father arranged for him to go into an apprenticeship, aged 14, to become a painter and decorator. Bill joined the Territorial Army in 1932. By 1939 he was serving full time. Marie was brought up by her grandmother because her mother died when Marie was aged six, and her father died when she was 15. By 1940 she was living in Deganwy, North Wales, where she met Bill.

Bill and Marie married in October 1940 just six weeks after meeting. A typical war time romance. Bill left the following August by ship travelling to the Middle East via South Africa. He was sent to the North African desert, including Tobruk, then to the Sudan. He was in Egypt when his first child, Susan, was born in 1942. He was demobbed at the end of 1945. The family were living in North Wales when Jane was born in 1948, and Rhys in1950. They moved around North Wales and the north of England chasing the work.

Bill and Marie tried several businesses, but encountered difficulties due to the post war situation in UK. They lived in North Wales, home of Bill’s family, and near Manchester for several years. Susan had married an airforce man, and was living in Biggin Hill in Kent, so Bill and Marie decided to move to Biggin to be near Susan and her new son.

During a January evening after trying to get home through a blizzard, they decided it was time to move to warmer climes. An advert in the evening paper said ‘Queensland needs you’! (While Bill’s father and Marie’s grandmother were still alive, they felt that they could not leave UK.) After they had died, Bill and Marie decided that they were free to move to Australia. They hoped that such a move would benefit their children, Jane and Rhys.

In June 1965, Bill and Marie and their children, Jane and Rhys boarded the P & O ship the Orcades. They were farewelled from the docks at Tilbury, London, by their daughter, Susan and her husband and son, Steve. Life on board the Orcades was a nice change for Marie and Bill, they really enjoyed the experience. The ship called in at Flushing, Gibraltar, Athens, Suez, Aden, (where Susan had been married in 1961),Colombo, Fremantle and finally Sydney. They very much liked the look of Perth when they stopped there, and were told that they could leave the ship there if they wished. But since they were sponsored by the Queensland government they carried on to Sydney and then travelled by train to Brisbane. The disembarked on 20 July 1965.

When they arrived in Brisbane, the weather was warm which was very welcome, (despite being the middle of winter). They stayed in a hostel in Brisbane for one week, and then moved into a rented house in West End. Rhys was settled into school, and Marie, Bill and Jane all got jobs fairly quickly. Bill as a painter, Marie as a comptometer operator, and Jane in the Brisbane shop, Barry Roberts. The family lived and worked around Brisbane for three years. Rhys joined the RAAF, Jane worked for a while in Sydney. Then Bill (aged 51) was seriously injured in a fall from a building while at work. Resultant brain damage meant that his working life was cut short.

In 1971, Susan and family, now three boys, arrived in Australia. Bill and Marie housed the new migrants for a few months before they left on postings with the RAAF to Sale and then Canberra where they remain today.

Jane married Aldo in 1974. Aldo is a musician. Jane has worked in various offices. They lived in Brisbane, before trying their luck in Sydney. They returned to Queensland in the early eighties. They now have two children, Adrian and Kelsie. Rhys is now married to Linzi, and they live near Toowoomba, Queensland. Bill and Marie returned to UK for three years, but came back to Australia to be near the now growing family. They settled back into Ipswich, Queensland. By this time Marie’s sight was beginning to fail. She managed to tend to Bill’s needs for many years. His symptoms were similar to dementia. Eventually he was placed into care. Bill died in 2005.

Marie lived with Jane for eight years, before moving into care herself. She maintains a strong interest in family history which I am trying to translate onto the computer using the genealogy sites. Mum has an amazing memory for dates, places and people, so we take long virtual trips down memory lane using the internet. I live in Canberra, so all this is done by phone.

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