From the Land Down Under to the Rising Sun

This short post is a little break from the Japan story – will come back to that soon.

Lately I have been curiously looking through a very old scrapbook/photo album that I believe belonged to June’s mother. I came to that conclusion because many of the pictures seem to go back even further than Mom’s birth – or at the very least it was put together as a photo album for my mother by her mother, Elsie May Guest. 

The frustrating thing is that I don’t remember seeing this small album while Mom was living as I hope I would have asked more questions. Equally frustrating is that most images have no labels or writing on the back. Some free advice for myself and anyone else is: print photos and put them in an albums (because your future generations will not have access to your cell phone) but once you put them in the photo album write some context: date, place, people’s name underneath!! With that off my chest, the good news is that there have been some mysteries solved so here are some success stories.

I must have flipped past this picture a dozen times without really examining it. One day I realized there was a little bit of writing in the lower right corner, and it said “Feb 1938”. Suddenly I was looking at this with fresh eyes. Oh my goodness! That is an eleven-year-old June Furner holding those balloons! I am pretty sure that is her mother. At first, I wasn’t sure if this city scene was Sydney or was it Melbourne. Then I remembered in Mom’s biography she made the statement “When I was 11 our family sold up and moved to Sydney.”

Further proof was the picture of Dad, Milton Whan, from a different scrapbook/album (see below) and it all clicked. This was Sydney. The picture of Milton could have been taken around the same time –they were eight years apart in age so the picture below could have been Dad at age 19 or 20 or or perhaps a few years later.

The idea that both Milton and June had pictures of themselves on the streets of Sydney was a puzzler. I had found this picture of Dad a few years ago and even then I had wondered why was he posing on a street and who took the picture? But now that I was examining the street scene of Mom, the questions had to be answered! . If you look at both pictures – they look to be on different streets but they both have one thing in common. Did you notice? It’s the sign for “Repin’s Coffee”.  And with that search term, the mystery was solved easily.  If Sydney history interests you, check out the links below but here is my synopsis of how these street scene pictures came to be.

In the 1930’s before most people had personal cameras, enterprising photographers flocked to key spots in downtown Sydney and took pictures of shoppers & pedestrians. They then handed out their cards so people could stop at their stand to buy the print of the picture.  I found this information from the Sydney Living Museums website. They created an online exhibit of street photographers spanning from 1930 to early 1950. (see link)

https://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/stories/popular-nuisance-controlling-street-photographers

My curiosity was also satisfied specifically regarding the sign “Repin’s” seen in both pictures.  (second link).

Apparently, this was the first chain of café’s to Sydney started by a Russian immigrant – long before the coffee culture of Sydney came to be! Here’s a little quote from the link:

“Inspired by his research trips to the United States, Repin modelled his coffee shops on American cafes, offering ‘fast, clean service at minimum price’. At a time when most people drank tea, Repin’s served coffee at 3 shillings a cup with cream in little pots on the side or, for those who could afford an extra 3 shillings, ‘Vienna style’ with whipped cream on top.”

From the information at this site, I was able to figure out that the picture of June was taken on Market Street and the Repins in the picture of Milton was taken on George Street.

The second picture of Milton (below) was given to me by Darelyn so I am guessing Milton once again got snapped by the street photographers and must have sent this picture to his mother or sister – and why not – he was looking good! I can not figure out where the picture was taken but clearly in this bygone era, people dressed up to go to downtown!

The next picture piqued my interest and hope for an answer because it actually had writing on the back. I searched my Ancestry family tree for a Keith or a Stella but at that moment, a few months ago I didn’t have anyone by that name. Was the reference to “Uncle Warren and Aunty Elsa” just a family friend sort of uncle/aunt or a real one?

I solicited the help from Victoria, my cousin on my mother’s side to see if she knew who this was. She didn’t but she is a far better sleuth than me and quickly figured out that Keith was the son of Warren’s oldest sister, Eileen (Furner) Thorne.  To put it another way, Keith Thorne and June Furner were 1^st cousins. This picture of Keith and Stella’s wedding would have been taken on January 26^th, 1945 in Melbourne. At the time, June would have been in the middle of her nurse’s training in Sydney so probably not in attendance.

Keith was 7 years older than Mom and I was saddened to see he only just passed away in 2018, at the age of 98. I wish I could have met him – or even better I wish I knew all this maybe back in 2012 when I started research for both Mom and Dad and maybe they could have arranged to meet once again!

But one happy discovery (credit again to Victoria’s investigative skills) was the next picture found on the Facebook page of Qantas airlines. As mentioned in the news clipping, Keith was a World War 2 Navy veteran. Two generations later, his grandson is a pilot for Qantas airlines and flew a special mission with his grandfather’s photograph.

If you ever take a Qantas flight, take a look to see if the pilot’s name is Nick Thorne!

Some pictures remain a mystery. There is some connection to Warren & Elsie May Furner (Guest) because it was in that small scrapbook but who is the lady with the horse? The back (shown) says Sincerely Vene? Or is it Irene?  I have to guess the location is Goulburn. The area was very agricultural so not surprising there would be horses and maybe it was just a family friend.

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And finally, I will finish this post with one more mystery. This picture was in a different album created by I think June because it starts with what seems to be her baby pictures but then includes some of Milton’s family and then further on what looks to be missionary friends. But for some reason this image is very compelling to me. I feel like these people are in the family tree – we just don’t know their names – yet. The two women look like sisters. I am guessing the man is either a husband or a brother.  So perhaps aunts and an uncle. The search continues…