Mum's 21st birthday (1968)

Mum had two 21st birthday parties – one for family and the other for friends, as they couldn’t fit everyone in otherwise. This film contains footage from both parties. It was originally filmed on 8mm with no sound, but I’ve now added a commentary by Mum. Among other things she names all the people there who she remembers, many of whom are her friends from the East Kew Baptist Church. The parties were held either in her parents house (my Gran and Grampy) at 40 Belford Road, East Kew in Melbourne Australia and at the church hall.



Family included are Kevin & Nola, Ken, Aunty Evelyn & Uncle Garvin, Grandma Olga & Grampy Lindsay Hunter, & “Da’, my great grandfather.

Mum’s friends who came included: David Lawrence (who taught Mum how to film), Ian & Sue Ponton, Marg Hall, Sue Herald, Angela & Gavin Finlay, John & Geoff Woods, Libby Church, Ian & Andrew Gillard, Sue Black, Norm Cobain, Helen Stephens and Penny Price.

Mum & Dad in Guam (1969)

My Mum and Dad used to live on Guam. Here's some film they took which we’ve just unearthed. It was 8mm film, so no sound, but when we watched it for the first time I gave Mum a microphone to record a commentary. It makes it a little more interesting when you know what’s being shown! Unfortunately I messed up on the volume levels so you’ll have to turn up your speaker to the max to hear it.



There’s a real mix of footage here, including:

***Mum and Dad’s house – the outside area and inside. They lived right near the Bayview Baptist Church and the serviceman’s club which you can see in the footage.

***A social picnic / volleyball game – organised by the club & church.

***Lovely white beach, near Anderson Air Force Base

***Driving round the island on Dad’s motorbike. This includes driving through the capital Agana… overall, the whole place seems very unspoilt and beautiful.


In terms of timeframe, the film is in 2 parts.

The first section is various footage taken during the second half of 1969 (June onwards). My Mum and Dad - Dawn and John Webb - had just been married in Australia and returned to Guam where Dad was based (he was in the US Navy during the war). For the first six months or so of their marriage they lived on Guam. Mum then returned early to Australia at the end of 1969 when she was pregnant with me, and Dad stayed on until he was let out of the military and then came to join us.

The second section is footage from Mum’s visit in early 1969, when Mum went to Guam to meet Dad for the first time. I didn’t switch the order because it would have messed up the commentary, but this is at least 6 months earlier than the first section. It’s an amazing story actually… Mum and Dad were penpals through their churches and Dad proposed to Mum in a letter before they’d even met! Mum went to Guam from Australia to meet Dad before she accepted properly and this is that trip, which was a pretty intrepid thing to do in those days. I think my favourite bit of this footage is of Dad shimmying up a palm tree, obviously trying to impress Mum!