London gal leaves Blitz behind for new life in Australia

London gal leaves Blitz behind for new life in Australia

Gillian Bennett, Sally Conway, Micah Conway, Malachi Conway and Patricia Bennett pose for a five generation family photograph

There are 90 years between five-year old Malachi Conway from Struck Oil and his ‘Oma’, Patricia Bennett, who lives at the Gracemere Gardens nursing home.

She survived the blitz during World War II in London, and remembers the sound of bombs falling all around her family’s home.

Mrs Bennet sailed to Australia in 1952 with five children under the age of six, and went on to have three more. All her eight children continue to live around Queensland.

Patricia Bennett left England for Australia after the war

Her middle child, Gillian, recalls her parents moving to New South Wales to face life in a new country with no family or friends.

“My father was away a lot, working on the Snowy Mountains Scheme, so Mum had to make do on her own,” she said.

“We made our way up the coast until we arrived in Rockhampton in the 1970s, where my Dad worked at the then co-ed Rockhampton Grammar School in the manual arts department.”

Gillian raised her two girls, Sally and Leah, in Rockhampton and they have five children between them, including Micah’s father, Malachi.

Malachi and his wife Jesse welcomed another son SAmuel last week which brings Oma’s great-great-grandchildren count to seven.

The big, busy family - which includes Oma’s 24 grandchildren and around 40 great-grandchildren - catch up for Christmas, Easter and ANZAC DAY traditional celebrations.

“This generation really enjoys outdoors activities such as climbing and caving,” Sally Conway said.

“It must run in their veins because my grandfather was a climber in England and he used to take all his kids down the beach fishing to get them out of the house.”