Sunday 19 January 2020

Merlynston residents enjoying summer holidays at Lorne, 1940



Age, 31 December 1940

It was the end of the first year of World War Two. The battlefields remained geographically remote from Australia - North Africa and Europe. The seige of Tobruk was still three and a half months away. The war in the Pacific was yet to threaten Australia's shores and it was to be just over another year before the Fall of Singapore.

You see here two young Merlynston women enjoying their summer holiday at Lorne. They are nineteen year old cousins Leila Herron and Mary Hughes who live a few streets away from each other - one in Orvieto Street and the other in Galeka Street. They live in a suburb brought to life by local land developer Donald Stuart Bain and named after his daughter Merlyn. You can read more about Bain and the development of Merlynston here and here


And here's a much better version of the photo of Leila and Mary. Thanks to the family members who allowed me to use it.



The girls had been very close all their lives, as can be seen in this early photo of them on the steps to a bathing box. Thanks again to the family members who allowed me to use the photo.















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