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.

At a young age their parents divorced. Phyllis had met John Hollingsworth and after the separation he moved in to live with Phyllis and the children at Highgate.  John was reluctant to support the children and after he obtained employment as a farm manager John and Phyllis moved to the country to manage the owner’s farm.

Trevor and his younger brothers were placed in the Swan Boys Orphanage. The orphanage was built close to the banks of the Swan River in the Upper Swan District near Guildford WA. The buildings are still to be found there, but after the orphanage closed in 1971 it became the Swanlea Boarding School, a private school.

Trevor recalls that period; “In 1994, while visiting Perth, I found the old orphanage buildings and they brought back many memories. One was of meeting a lad from the orphanage early in my naval career who had remembered me from those orphanage days. I found myself, at that time, lying to him that he must have been mistaken and that I had never been to any orphanage. Obviously the period in the orphanage was painful and caused me embarrassment.

It was certainly an unforgettable experience though I don’t recall that our relatively short stay there had been particularly traumatic for me.  However I have often wondered how my younger brothers felt about that period. I must have been about 12 at the time, which would have made Lindsay about 11 and Rod about 7. We were separated into different dormitories and I remember how Rod would often creep into the older boy’s dormitory to clamber into my bed crying in the middle of the night.  My younger brothers and I coped because we had each other to give one another support. It was a brave group who would ever take on one of the Brown boys, as they soon found out that they had three to contend with.



                                                             A Section Of The Swanlea Boarding School
                                                                                           Formerly
                                                                               Swan Boys Orphanage


It was tougher to come to grips with the environment. Discipline was strict which encouraged some boys to run away. When they were caught and returned to the orphanage word got around quickly and it was a source of much excitement. During the next meal, held in a huge eating area with many large tables full of boys, we watched in some dread, fear and excitement whilst we waited for the public beating. At the appropriate time the Head would address the gathering of staff and boys and describe the incident in some detail and announce the punishment that the luckless boy, or boys, had earned. It was almost always a number of cuts, carried out with a wicked long cane, across their backside.

They were made to bend forward and the cane was applied viciously across their stretched trousers. I recall one boy with more imagination, or stupidity, than others. After a number of cuts, the Head reached forward and dragged a paperback from out of the seat of the boy’s pants.
 


                                                               The Adjoining Anglican Church & Cemetery


This incident caused a lot of laughter from the audience but the count began again and in short time the lad was in tears. At least these incidents, as painful as they were for the culprits, added spice to an otherwise boring meal. The meals provided at the orphanage sustained us but were very plain. Butter was never available, nor jams or other toppings to spread on the dry bread. Desserts were never on the menu. This was with the exception of a monthly “High Tea” when the meal was decidedly nicer and butter, jam and dessert were served in almost a party atmosphere.

There were happier times. During the summer months we were permitted to run down to the Swan River, which was only about 100 metres from the orphanage buildings. That was fun and we had many enjoyable swims frolicking down there in the nude. Nudity was acceptable because we boys had no bathers anyway. Leeches were a real problem and we helped one another remove the foul things from each other’s body.

One time Dad delivered our canoe to the orphanage. My brothers and I were very popular as we controlled who got a go in it and how often. It was a fabulous canoe, which Dad had made for us in happier times. When first tested it proved to be very unstable and easy to turn over. Even our Grandmother went for an unplanned dive when she was talked into giving it a go one family day at the beach. Dad then constructed “wings” on both sides at the rear end that did the trick and kept it stable.

We were at the orphanage over Christmas of that year. It was a rare time when we all felt thoroughly spoiled. All the boys received their presents together when we were each handed a large white pillowslip that appeared stuffed with toys and other exciting things. I don’t recall ever getting so many Christmas presents before.

All the boys from the orphanage attended a local school some 4-5 kilometres from the orphanage. We had to make our own way to and from the school and we were only allowed to leave for the school at a time that ensured that we all had to run at a brisk pace to make it to the school before the bell. If we were reported late we would find ourselves on punishment. Which meant the cane!

The boys from the orphanage made up a fair proportion of the school numbers so there was a lot of mutual support so the other kids at the school never bullied us. A truck always delivered lunch for the Swan Boys right on lunchtime. If anything was ever predictable it was lunch. We each got a package of two jam sandwiches with no butter. However, the school provided every child with a small bottle of milk and we kids soon were adept at removing the inch of cream from the top of each bottle, adding it all into a commune container and shaking it all until it turned to butter. Enough to provide all of us with a thin spread of butter on what were otherwise dry yucky sandwiches.

We could always depend on Gran Shy and Uncle Alec to visit us at the orphanage every weekend without fail. This, despite the fact that they had their shop to attend to each Saturday morning, and to clean in the early afternoon. They would pick us up in their little Ford Prefect and we’d go off for a drive together. They always bought us a supply of treats at a shop whilst on our drive each weekend and we would always arrive back to the orphanage with brown paper bags full of butter, sugar, peanut paste and other marvelous goodies. They were stored in the personal metal cupboards that each of us had to keep our clothes and other personal effects.

Dad visited us once when he brought us our canoe to enjoy at the orphanage. That was very thoughtful of him and it gave us a lot of joy. I also remember that Dad came to visit us on one other weekend. He no longer had a car at that time but we were excited to see that he had a motorbike with a sidecar. We enjoyed his visit and loved the long ride on his bike. I now realize that it would have been quite difficult for Dad to visit us often. He was now living with his sister, Peggy, and her husband Alan, on their farm in Mount Barker quite some distance from Perth”.

The children were in the orphanage for approximately 6 months until their father was able to make suitable arrangements for them to live with him at his sister's dairy farm at Mount Barker. George removed the boys from the orphanage and they all lived with George's sister, Peggy, and her husband Alan Toovey, on their dairy farm in Mount Barker WA for a couple of years. In the meantime George met and later married Maureen Herbert. Shortly after that Trevor, Lindsay and Rodney moved to live with George and Maureen. While life was happy living with their father and his new family, the three boys missed their mother.

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.

The boys’ mother, Phyllis, and John Hollingsworth managed a number of farms and together had a daughter, Syria. 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 3¹/₂ 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 Blackwood 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.

Although constantly aware of his new physical limitations, Trevor enjoys early retirement with Paulette. Daily exercise walks became an important part of his daily routine. They had enjoyed earlier years caravanning with Megan and so decided to buy a new caravan and again enjoy trips interstate, and within the state, with Megan. Trevor also found enjoyment with his grandchildren and with new hobbies, woodturning, breeding birds and, more recently, doing the Family Tree.

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. A single bypass was also performed at that time.



Children of Paulette & Trevor:

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