Having sailed from Singapore to Melbourne Anne Shaw remembers living near Melbourne where her mother managed to get a job as the school doctor for Melbourne Girls’ School which had been evacuated to the hills in case the Japanese offensive reached Australia. Anne was only three and her sister eighteen months at the time so there are few memories of their time there.
Eventually, the family were able to join friends in Geelong where the girls attended the kindergarten of Geelong Grammar School. They used to collect the bread from a horse and cart at the bottom of the road and Anne remembers being sent to pick up the still warm loaf, the end of which was stuck with holes where the sisters had dug out the dough with their fingers! Anne’s mother made delicious apricot and almond jam from the trees in the garden.