Jean Muir 1935

Jean in pram. Jean with her parents. Graham & Jean with Aunt Nancy & Aunt Jean( hands on my shoulders) at Mansell road. Jean

I enjoyed school and made a real bosom pal June Hope - we were inseparable. Mum used to say I always did what June wanted but in fact we just enjoyed doing the same things.

I didn’t pass the 11 plus exam much to my chagrin, and eventually went to Greggs Commercial School for two years. To this day I can still remember my shorthand and of course back in those days you had to be a touch typist! June and I remained good friends and went out with two guys who were also friends – Pat and David for about three years. I can remember the fashion back in the early 1950s was the “new look” and most of my money was spent on clothes. Mind you Mum and Dad insisted on me paying board, and why not, and also an insurance policy but I can’t recall what happened to that!
When I was 19 Judy came to stay the night – she was from Sydney, Australia. She eventually married my cousin Ian Murray. She told me about the ten pound Pom scheme. I couldn’t believe it! I was onto it the next day and eventually given a sailing date on the New Australia for early November 1955. Mum and Dad and David saw me off on the boat train – I cried most of the way to Southampton but that was the start of my new life.
Justs a few memories of the five week trip – meeting the three other girls I shared a cabin with – Evelyn was one she was from Ayr, and we remained friends until her death in early 2000. My Mum had, on instructions from her two sisters in Sydney, Margaret Murray and Jessie Wallace purchased a fur cape and a furstole (plus fox’s head). The ship was carrying 1500 migrants – 900 of them children. Consequently we didn’t have a lot of grownup activities. However there was a ball – and I wore a lovely shot taffeta dress, plus fur stole and a long cigarette holder – given me by my last boss in UK. I thought I was the height of fashion! We stopped off at Port Said and Colombo which was all very exciting. Evelyn and I got carried away looking at jewelry and by the time our rickshaw got back to the dock our lighter had finished ferrying passengers to our ship and was onto a big white ship anchored in the bay. We did talk our way back onto the New Australia much to our relief and peals of laughter! When we docked in Sydney I was met by the McKendrick sisters and their respective families – all chanting “We want Jean Muir” – I was that embarrassed I hid below deck until we could disembark.. I stayed with Aunt Jessie and Uncle Hugh at Bondi for a few months. During that time I worked in the city and learned to body surf, with tuition from my cousin Alistair Murray. I also learned judo – but had to give it up when I started travelling.
I went to Melbourne for the 1956 Olympic Games (as a spectator not a participant) and from there back up to Sydney to the Australian School of Pacific Administration for three weeks where we learned to be “good ambassadors for Australia” prior to going to Papua and New Guinea.
I worked for the Superintendent of Marine in Port Moresby – our office was down on the docks. I could look out of the louvred windows and see the local indigenous people coming and going. I was fascinated by one woman sitting on the ground with her young daughter and picking the, I presume fleas, out of her hair and biting them with her teeth.. I joined the   Port Moresby Sailing Club and befriended Connie Watts who had a 10ft sailing dinghy. We didn’t make the front of the fleet very often but it was all good fun. I was fortunate to become crew on a 65ft steel yacht the South Maid. And had some wonderful times with them sailing out to sea and learning how to sail using a wheel rather than a rudder. I even had a go sailing a lakatoi , a dugout canoe with a big sail and a paddle that steered the canoe by lifting and lowering the paddle in the water. Rather tricky but the locals were very adept at it. I also became active in the Papuan Players – whre we put on shows for the ex pats.
It was in Port Moresby when I was a bridesmaid to a friend Rita Wood that I met John Ephraim who was to become my first husband. We married in November 1959 in Brisbane and lived in Dirranbandi, approx 400 miles inland from Brisbane for a couple of years. It was here that my first daughter Yanine Charrise was born on 19 April 1961. Dirranbandi was the last town on the railway going west and the train would come through three times a week. We lived in the main street in what had been a café – it had a double wood stove that I managed to conquer with great difficulty. I could make a mean boiled fruit cake!! It was a struggle financially, mainly because the cockies (sheep farmers) only paid when they had their wool cheques – so I went to work to keep us going. John and I were both lovers of amateur theatrics and participated in a number of productions. I even was producer for Doctor in the House.
We decided to move in 1963 to Glen Innes in the New England Range in New South Wales. One memory that is very vivid was when John was Father Christmas at the Day Care Centre. Yanine would have been 2. And she had to get her present from Father Christmas and when she came back whispered to me “Father Christmas has the same boots as my Daddy”. I left Glen Innes December 1963 and Yanine and I sailed on the Castelle Felice for the UK. I was five months pregnant with my second daughter Robyn June who was born on 14 March 1964. We lived with my parents at Greenford for some months and I returned to work and the girls went to the Nursery attached to Stanhope School where I had attended as a young child. I realise now how generous my parents were in having us stay at their home. Even Aunt Bessie who had lived with my parents since I was 11 y.o. moved out of her bedroom to let us have the front bedroom. I did eventually move into rented accommodation in Allenby Road just a short walk from my parent’s place . On 1 March 1966 Yanine died from peritonitus – due to a misdiagnosis by a locum doctor. Robyn was not quite 2when this happened and has no personal memories of her sister, although we speak of her often..
In 1967 I met Martin John Searle a Civil Engineer with Taylor Woodrow. We moved to Walsall in Staffordshire to work on the Midland Links Motorway. We married in May 1969 and emigrated to Perth Western Australia in June 1969. We moved to Port Hedland three weeks later and while driving to the North West we stopped to listen to the report of the man landing on the moon. It was 20 July 1969 and my birthday, and not one to forget!
Port Hedland was the harbour where the Japanese iron ore tankers loaded up and it was fascinating seeing these huge tankers being manouvred up to the wharves. The soil in the North West is red – and the whole of the town had a pinkish red hue.. We saw the big turtles coming into the beach up the coast to lay their eggs - it was amazing to see how they dug the deep hole with their back flippers laid the eggs and then covered them up and went back out to sea.   Living in Port Hedland was a challenge in many ways but so different to city life and it really was a pioneering town.. We returned to Perth in 1971 and Martin and I went our separate ways.
In 1973 I met William Donald Thurtle (Don) a Chartered Accountant and a Company Secretary with Taylor Woodrow Homes. We moved in with Don and two of his three sons Richard and Simon and lived as a blended family. On 15 December 1985 Don and were married in our back garden. My brother Graham was in Australia on business and “gave me away” and Don’s brother and wife Albert and Eileen came from UK. Don had a quirky sense of humour – on our wedding day he greeted me wearing a hobo hat with corks hanging off the brim and an overcoat. Luckily he had his good clothes on underneath. Then he arranged for a friend to push him into the swimming pool so consequently his wedding outfit didn’t feature in the wedding photos! I reckoned it was Don’s special day as well as mine – so I just accepted that “men will be men”.
Over the 37 years we were together we saw the two boys marry and have children, Robyn went nursing and eventually moved to Brisbane. She has a youjg son Taj. I went to University and became a Social Worker which was just the best thing I had done just for me. It dispelled that sense of failure when I didn’t pass the 11plus exam all those years ago. My parents met Don on a number of trips we made back to the UK .First time they met him at Heathrow Airport my Mother whispered “He is a good looking man isn’t he?”. Praise indeed! Don and I travelled together overseas quite a lot making sure we caught up with family and friends. On 2 April 2010 Don died suddenly and at his Farewell Ceremony the boys, their children, Robyn and I all gave our tribute to him. His youngest son Tom who lives in Wales was unable to attend but we acknowledged him and his family and also Don’s brother who was unable to attend.
I have continued my interest in Art and paint in acrylics, very mediocre ,but enjoyable. I also travel quite a bit with my campervan “Jois de Vivre”.   I have traveled around Australia on my own – and go away usually once a month. Life is good."

Living 112 Mansell Road Greenford in 1955 when she left for Sydney. A shorthand typist. Must have booked on the Georgic from London in July but failed to get on. Then actually left in November from Southampton on the New Australia.

Married 1. John Ephraim in 1959, with whom she had 2 children: Yanine 1961-1966 & Robyn 1964. 2 Martin Searle in 1969 . 3. Don Thurtle in 1985.

Returned to England late fifties/early 60s and lived with her parents for a while. Graham acted as a surrogate father to her young child Yanine, who sadly died aged~4.

But then returned to Australia, married, briefly, Martin Searle in 1969 but separated by 1971, and married DonThurtle in 1985 in Perth. Photo above - brother Graham was present. .

Dad was not a big talker but a thorough gentleman. I loved him but probably never really knew him. At social gatherings at home he was a good story teller and could manage to amuse people with jokes. Graham inherited the ability to tell a joke (not me – I always lost the punch line!) Dad loved playing cards – Solo was the game he and Mum and Mary and George (Watson) played twice a week – alternating between the two homes. They all had a plastic bag in which they kept their card money – not big stakes but serious stuff whilst the game was in progress.
New Year parties always had joke sessions, and games where people did daft things like having to go out in the snow and yell out loud “Help Fire” – not that anyone came to the rescue! We also had a piano and there was usually someone who could play – which was a good excuse for a good old sing song.
During the War Dad would take Graham and me to either the fish and chip shop for lunch on a Saturday or the Community Meals place. It was the only time we went out with Dad that I recall without Mum. She was working I think
When I returned to the UK in 1963 I lived with Mum and Dad and my two daughters. Once I needed a bit of financial help and Dad lent me some money. I got upset, saying I felt I was relying on others and he quietly said “Your turn will come Jean”.
When I was young Dad had to go to Kilmarnock Scotland for about six weeks with Glacier Metal as they wanted him to re-locate. Nothing came of it. I do remember that when he came back my Mother pushed me out of the way when I went to take his arm going up the street, saying “That’s my place”. I always felt that their relationship came first and we were second in line – not that I minded. That’s the way it was.
I visited Mum and Dad in Renfrew many years later when Dad was really sick with emphysema and Mum’s dementia was getting worse I sat on his bed and we talked about the situation within the home. His comment was “It’s not like it used to be Jean”. He never criticized Mum although I know it was a very difficult time for him.

I never felt that close to Mum but possibly I just didn’t know her. She loved dancing and she and Mary Watson would have great fun “Hooking” and laughing when the Scottish dances were being played. She was a smart dresser and during the war she and Mary would go to London to a Jewish shop called Rosenbergs. If I went with them I was warned to say nothing if the police spoke to us. Turns out the shop dealt in the black market – no clothing coupons necessary.
Mum was very strict about keeping the house tidy – and this was even more so once Aunt Bessie came to live with us when I was about 11- ~1946. A place for everything and everything in its place! I think I am right in saying that Aunt Bessie (my Mother’s maternal aunt) came to live with us because someone needed to be in the home when Mum and Dad did armament work and they would get home long after we finished school. I always felt that Mum didn’t really like Aunt Bessie – but maybe it was resentment at having someone permanently living with the family and going everywhere with them. My husband Don Thurtle and I visited UK and Mum and Dad met us at Heathrow Airport. She whispered “He is a handsome man isn’t he”. Praise indeed. When we returned to Australia after that holiday Dad said to Don “I don’t need to worry about Jean anymore”.

Elizabeth Gilfillan Blackburn (McLellan)
Aunt Bessie was just a “Weeun” – approx 4’6” She had developed rickets as a child resulting in a deformity of her lower legs which had her wear clothes down to her ankles. She had married Uncle Fred when she was in her early 40s - thus ~ 1923-1926?? and told me that he had never seen her deformity! Uncle Fred was her Supervisor at the Glasgow Telephone Exchange. They got married in their lunch hour and went back to work! He was a widower and a clock maker. One of his clocks resided in our bedroom and would chime on the hour and every half hour. 24hours a day! I only saw him once when we visited their house in Giffnock. I think. He was pretty old and losing his sight. When he died at home she washed and shaved him before contacting the doctor the next morning to say he had died. Was his name Frederick Newton Myers and did he die, aged 80, in Newton Mearns, Renfrew?? Probably yes, as Giffnock is close to Newton Mearns, 7 miles south of Glasgow. It was after his death that she came to live with us. It was years later that I learned that she had a stillborn child in her twenties. It was never spoken about by my parents or Aunty Bessie. Aunt Bessie said her sister Annie (my maternal grandmother) used to get headaches and her eyes “would shine like diamonds”. Annie was the sister that died of the Spanish flu at approx 41years of age.
I had to share a bed with Aunt Bessie from 11 years of age until I left to go to Australia at 20. Her snoring was momentous. It was described by someone “as a train going through a station”! She often referred to “her operation” which required that she didn’t eat fatty food – but I cannot remember her refusing any meals. We would row a lot and she would say “If I leave this house, and it will be on account of you, your Mother will get nothing!” Mind you after 20 odd years there wasn’t much left anyway! Aunt Bessie went to a fortune teller one time who told her “There will be two significant people in your life” Aunt Bessie thought they would be me and Graham.
She loved buying hats – and you could guarantee that when she went shopping she would come back with a new hat. She used to make me laugh when she would put a hat on, pretend to be inebriated and in her strong Scottish accent slur “Is my hat on straight”. She used to visit the lady across the road Mrs Leach and it was on one of those occasions when she darted across the road (as was her want) and was killed by a car. When I got the letter telling me of her death- this March 1971 Ealing, aged 87, her d of b 7/11/1883 - I remember saying “Silly, silly woman, why didn’t you die in your bed” it was most upsetting as I did love her.

Jean McFarlane (McKendrick)
She was my favourite Aunt when I was young – I think the cuckoo clock might have had something to do with that! She and her husband Johnnie McFarlane had a child that was stillborn. I believe her sister Nancy’s son Ian McIntyre was very dear to her. Uncle Johnnie played the mouth organ and had a good singing voice. I did hear that later in life he developed a liking for alcohol.

Nancy McIntyre (McKendrick)
She was married to Uncle John a man with a dry sense of humour and a bald head! When the McKendrick girls got together there was plenty of laughing, singing and dancing. I believe the McKendrick girls were known when they were young as “the cow eyed girls of Renfrew” I am assuming it was to do with their big eyes and not busts!!

William McKendrick
Uncle Willie spent many years in Burma – prior to Independence one of his jobs was Harbour Master at the Irawaddy Docks. His first marriage ended in divorce .He came to UK on holidays with Aunty Marjorie his second wife. She would go to Petticoat Lane and buy the ingredients for an Indian curry and spend the whole day cooking for us. She smoked with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth – but was a lovely lady. He had an infectious giggle. He told a story of the invasion during WWII by the Japanese and how he and Marjorie trekked across the Naga Mountains to safety. Some of the group took items such as their silverware, but all was discarded during the trek. He spoke of drinking boiled water initially but in the end they drank whatever they could find even if it wasn’t clean. I believe he wrote an account of this odyssey – Ian McIntyre may know its whereabouts. Marjorie died suddenly and for many years Uncle Willie kept her room exactly how she left it. He eventually married a lady called Jenny a woman he knew from school as a young boy. He died some years after having possibly a stroke – his motor skills had been compromised and he couldn’t remember what words to use. I have since met Marjorie’s daughter here in Perth. Marjorie Keller.

Ruby Conway (Muir)
She was Dad’s sister. A big lady married to a bank manager Bob Conway. I didn’t know her that well – she certainly was not like her mother, my Granny. The latter was a fun loving feisty woman. Aunty Ruby was more conventional. Once Graham stayed with her on holiday while I stayed with Granny .I believe she found Graham a bit of a handful. She and Uncle Bob had been parents to a stillborn daughter but no other children.

Helen (or Ellen) Elliott (Muir)
Granny was Dad’s Mum. I wanted to be like her when I grew up. She liked to talk with Dad in Hindi when she came to our house on holiday. Mum would say that Granny didn’t care what people thought e.g. it wasn’t the thing to have parties on a Sunday, so she would do just that. She had long brown/auburn hair done up in a bun.. She loved to play cards. She spoke of her second deceased husband Mr Elliott and how she would enjoy singing “Carry me back to old Virginia” – because he had a lady friend called Carrie! I’ve seen her come dancing into our bedroom in her long bloomers and camisole thinking it was really funny. Aunt Bessie did not approve. I think there was a bit of jealousy there. I stayed with her once in Hebburn whilst Graham stayed with Ruby. My Mum said that Granny had met a man in India after my grandfather died and they were going to live in Australia, but he died on Christmas Day of a tropical fever. Apparently she never liked celebrating Xmas after that, but I didn’t know that as a child.

Robert Muir
My Dad’s older brother was quite a handsome man, more outgoing than my Dad. A lady’s man I was told. My mother said he probably had illegitimate children all over the world. He had twins Rona and John by his first wife. His second wife was Eve (who had been married to a stockbroker). He had lived with another lady for many years and met Eve whilst on holiday. He spun Eve a story about working overseas. She found out he was not truthful when she traced him via a medicine bottle with the pharmacist’s name on the label. When they married he tried to carry her over her threshold and nearly fell. He had emphysema and she was a matron model (smart but ample). That marriage only lasted weeks or maybe months. He ended up in hospital in Weston-Super-Mare with lung cancer and chronic emphysema. We visited him before he died. He was another good teller of jokes, but wouldn’t have me in the room if they were a little bit risque!

Jessie Wallace (McKendrick)
When I migrated to Australia I stayed with Aunty Jessie and her husband Uncle Hugh for some months. I believe if she had been born in another era she would have been an intellectual. She had one son Norval. Uncle Hugh was a salesman and travelled long distances into the country areas selling silverware and glassware. Their son Norval and his wife Lyn lived in the flat below them. I don’t remember them visiting upstairs in the months I lived there.

Margaret Murray (McKendrick)
Aunty Margaret was married to Uncle Walter. They were a really lovely couple. Mum had said of Aunty Margaret that she could look smart dressed in a sack. It was true. Some people thought she looked like Mrs Simpson, the Duke of Windsor’s wife. They had lived in Hong Kong but had to evacuate when the Japanese invaded during WWII. Uncle Hugh was away on the ships as an engineer and the Red Cross were shipping people off the island. Aunty Margaret asked to come to Australia because Jessie was already there. They have two sons Ian and Alistair. Whenever we visited their house in Gladesville Uncle Walter would say “here comes my bonnie blue eyed Jean”, I liked that. He worked at the main Power Station in Sydney (can’t remember the name) and they both loved playing golf. Aunty Margaret liked playing Majong.