70th wedding anniversary

By Kate Taylor

It’s a wedding anniversary that very few couples will see – but Bacchus Marsh’s Marie and James (Jim) Ginnane are about to celebrate 70 years of marriage.
The traditional gift is platinum (a precious silvery-white metal), however many charts on the topic do not even extend beyond the 70-year mark.
For Marie and Jim, it all started after having met at dances in Frankston and Mornington – before the war took James overseas in the army.
“Jim was quite a good bloke, so good in fact that he caught up with Marie as soon as he could when he arrived back in Australia,” says son John, reading from family papers on the couple.
John is one of the couple’s four children – with eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild – his parents married on 29 July 1947.
Marie and Jim had moved to Coimadai, eventually moving into Bacchus Marsh, where Jim was heavily involved with the RSL and Maddingley Football Club and Marie worked at the local milk factory – also volunteering for St John’s Ambulance, and with Independent Living Assistance Group.
“Mum was in the Arts Society, and she still paints, both were active community members.
“They still live independently in the house in Bacchus Marsh where us four
children grew up, and they are often down the street in their buggies doing their shopping etc,” John said.
The 70th anniversary was celebrated with a family lunch at Stoney’s Bistro.