In 1966 I hitched a ride from Melbourne to Perth, Western Australia. There was a
statewide recession at the time and work was very hard to find.
Eventually I found myself in a surveyor’s office in Port Hedland and enjoyed doing
survey work in the Iron Ore mountains of the Hammersley region.
All the workers shared living in air-conditioned huts called Dongas. Most of the
work was hot, dusty and boring. Perth, the State capital, was 1600kms away.
After a year with no holidays, I was suffering severe burn out and wanted to quit.
The irony is that I fell in love with the Bosses secretary! Her name was Denise
Faithful and she was quick-witted and amusing. She was also single and there was
no entertainment of any kind, so we spent a lot of time together, talking and
laughing but nothing more serious.
Eventually I left the region and travelled to London U.K. to do some serious
travelling. I missed Denise a great deal, but we wrote regularly, and I hoped (like a
schoolboy!) that we would meet again.
It wasn’t a big surprise when the letter arrived... “I’m getting married to an
American guy”. I was very happy for her, but I was travelling all over Europe and
had no plans to return to Australia.
Another 2 years had rolled on when I was walking down Old Brompton Rd. West
London at about 6pm, towards where I lived, when I had to side-step a couple
walking past me. I did nothing more than glance at them and walked on. When I
stopped to look back Denise had also looked back! We were 20 metres apart with
eyes wide open! Her husband was amused as we hugged and laughed at the
moment! We all had dinner together that night and we stayed chatting for hours
but then the party was over and we said, “stay in touch and goodnight.”
3 years later I had returned to Melbourne and Denise was back in Perth. We
wrote regularly but the letters petered out and were eventually “Return to
Sender”.
Recently a clairvoyant predicted that we would meet again and marry... but the
odds are 2 million to one!
John A Wilson, Pottsville 2023.
2 million : 1 - That's better odds than winning Tattslotto!