Trevor was born on 16 March 1943 to George and Phyllis Brown, the eldest of three sons, and lived happily as a family at Aberdeen St. North Perth and St. Albans Ave. Highgate, suburbs of Perth, Western Australia.

Family life was very happy throughout Trevor's younger years. George was forever utilizing his metal skills by making his children toys, such as peddle-cars, scooters, 3-wheeler bikes and trolleys.

Phyllis and George divorced while we children were still quite young.  Phyllis married John Hollingsworth. For reasons that are not clear, the boys were placed into an orphanage where they remained for 6 months until their father could make arrangements to support them. John and Phyllis moved from Perth and managed a number of rural properties over the next few years and had a daughter, Syria, on the 3 August 1957.

George removed the boys from the orphanage and we went to live at his sister's dairy farm at Mount barker. We lived with Peggy and Alan Toovey and their family for a year or two. George met Maureen Herbert, born 23 October 1936 to parents Melville (Pat) George and Beatrice Herbert. They married on 23 December 1955 and we then moved into a number of rented premises in and around Mount Barker, until George and Maureen purchased a house within the township.

George and Maureen had two boys, Neville and Lesley (Les) before Trevor, Lindsay and Rodney chose to move to live with their mother and her second husband, John Hollingsworth. George and Maureen were to later have two daughters, Colleen and Gaye.

John Hollingsworth had reluctantly accepted the responsibility of caring for the three boys and there were considerable tensions in the home, which worsened over a number of years. Life improved significantly after Phyllis and John Hollingsworth divorced whilst the boys were still in their young teens.

Trevor joined the Royal Australian Navy in April 1960 at 17 years of age as an Electrical Mechanic. His first posting at sea was on HMAS Vampire. Prior to his first sea posting Trevor met Paulette Dunlop and began a friendship that was to lead to marriage about four years later.

Trevor was on HMAS Vampire for approx 3^1/₂  years, and during that time he did three extended trips to the Far East on Far East Strategic Reserve exercises. His ship visited many Asian ports, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Borneo, Saigon, Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya. Other trips included cruises to New Zealand, Fiji, and Tonga and circumnavigated Australia on a number of occasions. Midway through his third trip to Asia he was flown from Singapore to HMAS Cerberus in Victoria to undertake Petty Officer training.

Paulette was born on June 9th 1945 at Preston, a suburb of Melbourne. She was the third child of Olga and Doug Dunlop. She had two older brothers, Anthony who was 8 and John who was 2 years 6 months. When she was 8 months her family moved to Albury on the NSW border. Her parents bought a corner store and the young family lived in the one-bedroom adjoining house. Two sleep outs were quickly built. During the following five years two more sons were born to Olga and Doug. Their sons were named David and Gerard. During these years they had a very happy life, building the business and enjoying a vast social life. They owned a Ford Prefect and the family went on regular Sunday picnics with friends.

In 1952, when Gerard was two years old, Doug contracted polio and was hospitalized after three weeks of illness at home while doctors were baffled by his condition. Once diagnosed, he was placed in isolation in the Albury hospital. Paulette made her First Communion during the time and was able to go to the hospital to visit Doug. It was rather shattering for all concerned because she was not allowed into the room but instead had to stand about ten metres away behind a screen. It caused many tears all around. Shortly after that Doug was transferred to Melbourne and didn't see his children for many months until he was released from hospital. Olga managed to travel to Melbourne monthly to visit him.

In 1954 the family moved to Melbourne and lived with Doug's parents for 3 months prior to moving to Mt. Eliza. Their new home, "Pine Gate", was to be their home until the children were grown up and left home. Paulette went to the Catholic school in Frankston for her Primary education, and then transferred to Padua College in Mornington to complete school at Year 11. Padua was a convent run by the Mercy nuns and they helped to make those years a lot of fun.

On 21 September 1960, at the young age of fifteen, Paulette went to a birthday party where she met Trevor, her future husband. The party was to celebrate the 15th birthday of her friend Patricia Juler who lived at Crib Point close to the Flinders Naval Depot. Trevor was a young sailor of 17 at the time. At 17 Paulette began her career at Turner Motors in Mornington where she worked in the office. Later she became a Telephonist.

At 19 she married Trevor at St. Macartans Catholic Church in Mornington on February 6th 1965. Trevor went on to complete his training to qualify for promotion to Petty Officer. His stay at HMAS Cerberus was significantly lengthened following completion of his training and promotion to Petty Officer and commencing a term as an instructor at the Electrical School. This enabled Trevor and Paulette to enjoy the early months of their marriage before his next posting to sea on HMAS Anzac.

In the November, their first daughter Michelle was born. It was a wonderful occasion for everyone, especially as girls were few and far between in the families. Michelle is shown here with Trevor. Seventeen months later they had another little daughter, Kathryn. Unfortunately by this time Trevor was away at sea a lot and was not at home for the birth. Luckily, at the time his ship was alongside in Brisbane and he got leave to return home. He had to get to Frankston in Victoria from his ship in Brisbane. He first traveled to Sydney by rail to pick up the car, which had been left in the naval dockyard. He then drove on to Frankston, the whole trip taking about 24 hours. At 3am he was allowed into the hospital to see Paulette and their new daughter. Within a few months Paulette had her gall bladder removed. Prior to Kathy's birth Paulette had moved home to live with her parents and stayed there until Kathy was about 6 months.

During this time Paulette's father became very ill and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Olga was devastated and channeled her grief into working very hard as well as visiting the Peter McCallum Hospital daily where Doug saw out his final months in a coma. He died on March 13th 1968.

This all became too much for Paulette. She was struggling with two babies alone, having moved to a Naval house in Doveton, a lonely place offering little family support. To visit her mother's home in Mt. Eliza meant 3 modes of transport. So at 22 she sat for her driving license. This solved a few problems but not the loneliness so Trevor applied to the Navy to move her back to Frankston so she could be nearer to family and friends. It was a good decision.

Their first son, Stephen, was born in August 1969. Paulette is shown here with young Steve in the backyard of her parent's home at Mt. Eliza. Trevor was now home daily and only had six months left to serve in the Navy. In April 1970, on Trevor's discharge from the Navy, they moved into their first home at Mooroolbark, Victoria, having paid a deposit of $1200. Trevor left the Navy as a Chief Petty Officer in April 1970 after completing a 10-year term in the RAN. That same month Trevor began his new career with IBM.

Trevor, Paulette and their family lived at Mooroolbark for approx three years. On 9th February 1971 their son Mark was born. Michelle had started school only days before. The family had grown fast and their fourth child, Mark, was born only 3 days after Paulette and Trevor's 6th Wedding Anniversary. Olga was always a wonderful support to them.

In January 1973, IBM offered Trevor a job transfer and the family moved to Adelaide. It was a difficult time for the family; Paulette had not been away from family before and found it very lonely. She was pregnant again and not coping really well. Happily a little girl, Nicole, was born on the 13th October 1973 at Black wood Hospital and life gradually settled down again. At that time the family were living at Rockley Road in Reynella. On Good Friday in April 1975 they moved into their home on a small acreage at McLaren Vale where the family resided for approximately 17 years. The children grew up in rather idyllic rural surroundings and learned to horse ride.

However, during that period Trevor accepted a two-year temporary transfer to Darwin where he had the position of IBM Branch Manager of the service division. Trevor, Paulette and the children lived in Darwin from January 1983 through to December 1984. At first it was difficult to get used to the discomfit of Darwin during the very hot and humid "build-up to the wet". The children suffered a lot of minor ailments and bike accidents, etc which saw them at the hospital on numerous occasions. The children had been somewhat unhappy with this transfer as it meant leaving many friends. Following a few hiccups and a couple of months settling, they began to enjoy life in the tropics. Trevor worked long hours at the office but within a few months he bought a fiberglass half cabin fishing/skiing boat in which the family enjoyed many outings.

As the time approached to the family's return to Adelaide, it seemed that the children were just as disappointed to be leaving Darwin as they were to leave Adelaide two years earlier. The family returned to their home at McLaren Vale. Megan Sarah was born on 23rd July 1986 at the McLaren Vale Hospital.

Trevor worked with IBM in a wide range of technical, management and other professional positions for almost 30 years. The bubble burst around early 1990 when IBM needed to restructure and put employees off to cut costs and ensure the company's very survival. Although his position wasn't particularly under threat, it seemed like a good time to sell our property at McLaren Vale and move back to suburbia, consolidating and significantly reducing their debts. They moved to Hallett Cove, where they are happily living to this time.

Trevor enjoyed good health but in later years with IBM was taking medication to control high cholesterol and high blood pressure. In November 1996 he suffered a heart attack and was in Flinders Medical Centre for a few days. Following a further twelve months on medication it was necessary for him to have a triple coronary by-pass operation, which was carried out on the 1st October 1997. There were complications during and shortly after the operation and after a lengthy period of sick leave Trevor took early retirement from IBM, who had been very supportive during the long period that he was off work.  It was late 2004 that Trevor was diagnosed as having a failing Aorta valve of the heart (Aortic Stenosis). Trevor was 63 when, on the 24th January 2006, the valve was replaced with a mechanical one during heart surgery carried out at Flinders Private Hospital.

Although now constantly aware of his new physical limitations, Trevor enjoys retirement with Paulette. Daily exercise walks became an important part of his daily routine. They had enjoyed earlier years caravaning with Megan and so decided to buy a new caravan and again enjoy trips interstate, and within the state, with Megan. Trevor and Paulette also found enjoyment with their grandchildren and more recently have become avid lovers of cruising overseas.





Children of Paulette & Trevor:

Michelle Elizabeth (1965-)
Kathryn Anne (1967-)
Stephen John (1969-)
Nicole Louise (1973-)
Mark Andrew (1971-)
Megan Sarah (1986-)