(Second part)
My parents after the war, emmigrated back to Australia. My mother was the first chinese war bride to be allowed into Australia when they settled in Adelaide, South Australia. My eldest brother was born there (Clement Theodore), and at that time, dad made the decision to quit opera singing, and become a minister of religion. He let go of his Church of England beliefs to become a Seventh Day Adventist, and from that day on, the house became vegetarian. Travelling to Cooranbong, in the Central Coast of NSW, where the church had their university and factory to make the famous Australian Weetbix, my father attended theological college. It was during this time that I was born (Benjamin Laurence) in Kurri Kurri, the closest hospital to the school. I have written about this place earlier in this blog.
Before my dad was able to complete his studies, they decided to put him to work as a singing evangelist throughout the churches reaches in the south seas. The first moves took us into south west NSW into the Riverina area, where we began to travel to all of the small towns through the early 1950s. My younger brother was born in Wagga Wagga (Warner Owen) after moving into the region. It seemed like a constant moving experience, for as long as I can remember due to my dad being a human singing canary that people simply could not get enough of. So began a life that has had me live in hundreds of places in three countries, with stories that could be told from them all. Experience and adventure was the name of the game to me as a child. By the time I was beginning to climb up in primary school, we moved to Sydney, where I began music (keyboard) training with Trinity College of Music in England, and Royal School of Music. By the age of 12, I had begun to accompany my father in his singing, and became his main accompanist for a decade beyond this.
By age 17, I had left home, though went back one more year before turning twenty, after living in New Zealand for several years, where all of the high school was done. During our teen years, my parents went through the floods downstream of Warragamba Dam when they had to release the water, back in the early 60s, where we found ourselves in a civil defense position. They continued with their interest in this field in NZ, and when they emmigrated to Canada, worked to clothe 20,000 people from 50 nationalities around the world, single-handedly. They worked tirelessly from 7 in the morning till late at night, for years, and had hundreds of children who called them "mum and dad" due to their having been separated from their own parents sent to other destinations. At this time, United Nations sent in a film crew to film the operation, and the Premier of the Province wrote a letter saying that it was a model for work between church and state.
A true superstar, my dad retired in Vancouver, BC, in Canada; until his death on Feb 28th, 2002. Mum continues to live in the Lower Mainland of BC, and presently lives in an old folks home there.
~Spiritwind~
Before my dad was able to complete his studies, they decided to put him to work as a singing evangelist throughout the churches reaches in the south seas. The first moves took us into south west NSW into the Riverina area, where we began to travel to all of the small towns through the early 1950s. My younger brother was born in Wagga Wagga (Warner Owen) after moving into the region. It seemed like a constant moving experience, for as long as I can remember due to my dad being a human singing canary that people simply could not get enough of. So began a life that has had me live in hundreds of places in three countries, with stories that could be told from them all. Experience and adventure was the name of the game to me as a child. By the time I was beginning to climb up in primary school, we moved to Sydney, where I began music (keyboard) training with Trinity College of Music in England, and Royal School of Music. By the age of 12, I had begun to accompany my father in his singing, and became his main accompanist for a decade beyond this.
By age 17, I had left home, though went back one more year before turning twenty, after living in New Zealand for several years, where all of the high school was done. During our teen years, my parents went through the floods downstream of Warragamba Dam when they had to release the water, back in the early 60s, where we found ourselves in a civil defense position. They continued with their interest in this field in NZ, and when they emmigrated to Canada, worked to clothe 20,000 people from 50 nationalities around the world, single-handedly. They worked tirelessly from 7 in the morning till late at night, for years, and had hundreds of children who called them "mum and dad" due to their having been separated from their own parents sent to other destinations. At this time, United Nations sent in a film crew to film the operation, and the Premier of the Province wrote a letter saying that it was a model for work between church and state.
A true superstar, my dad retired in Vancouver, BC, in Canada; until his death on Feb 28th, 2002. Mum continues to live in the Lower Mainland of BC, and presently lives in an old folks home there.
~Spiritwind~
posted by ~Spiritwind~ at 2:06 PM
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