Deeper meaning for Strathdale local on VP Day’s 80th anniversary

TODAY, the eightieth anniversary of the end of WWII in the Pacific, otherwise known as VP (Victory in the Pacific) Day, holds extra significance for Strathdale resident Dr Sandra Tunley.

That’s because this very day also marks her parents’ 80th wedding anniversary, having tied the knot barely one week after meeting in person at Melbourne’s Spencer Street Station for the fateful first time.

Noel and Joy had been corresponding via letter for the final four years of the war while Noel was serving in New Guinea, and first came face-to-face, in another coincidence, the day the US bombed Hiroshima.

Drawing from a collection of those letters, which have been closely held by the family over the decades, Dr Tunley said she wants to tell her parents’ tale to commemorate what their generation faced during the conflict.

“People need to understand some of the sacrifices that people made (in order) for Australia to be safe,” she said.

“When we hear about what’s going on in the world at the moment, many people are vulnerable. We’re privileged in Australia to be so safe.

“I think the community needs to know about this – it’s a unique love story.”

Dr Tunley’s father joined the army in 1939 and was deployed soon after.

“The word was the Japanese were going to land on the west coast (of Australia) so a lot of troops were sent to Perth. Then, (information emerged) they were going to be landing in the north, so they went by ship to New Guinea.

“My mum lived in Melbourne with her family and during the war there were a lot of requests for pen pal relationships.

“They started writing to each other, and my dad said he learnt more about my mother in those letters than he could have face-to-face.”

When the pair finally met, the war had ended in Europe while the Pacific War ground on.

“My father (obtained) leave from New Guinea and disembarked in Newcastle, then went by train from Sydney to Melbourne,” Dr Tunley said.

“He arrived at Spencer Street Station (now Southern Cross Station) and hid behind a pillar as my mother came down the platform.

“The meeting was what they thought it would be. By the sound of things, it was romantic.

“They went home to her parents in Coburg – I’m sure it would’ve been fairly daunting for my father – and were married in the Presbyterian church in Brunswick nine days later.

“There were lots of celebrations in the streets on VP Day, but of course theirs was the greatest celebration because they were getting married after years of correspondence.”

According to Dr Tunley, the values found in her parents’ correspondence were passed down within the family, and have ultimately led her to tell this evocative story.

“It was a house with a lot of conversation,” she said. “We were never told a child was seen and not heard.

“In fact, we were encouraged to say what we needed to say.”