The Other Half of the Family
The only family Mary Circenis knew she had were the three younger sisters who accompanied her to Australia from an orphanage in England. In Australia, the four girls lived together at St Joseph Orphanage in Subiaco. Many years later, she was to discover that she also had a brother who had since died and that her mother had had a further five children from a second marriage. In 1997, Mary had phone contact with her half-sister Marcella whom she met for the first time on a return visit to the UK in 2001. This is Mary’s story, told to Sjoukje for C-BERS Ex-Press.
I was placed in a Nazareth House in Birmingham. I do not know how old I was at the time. I left there when I was 12 years old. I cannot remember bad things from my time there apart from the fact that the war was on. When we left we were told we were going on a holiday overseas.
On arriving in Australia my three younger sisters, Eileen, Noreen, Joan and I were placed at St. Joseph’s Orphanage in Subiaco. Each of us left the orphanage when we turned 16. Life was very hard for me and my sisters at the Orphanage. I did receive some schooling. I didn’t enjoy school very much so I left and worked in the kitchens till the time I left at 16. I worked as a clerical assistant and switchboard operator at the Public Works Department until I married. We had two sons Wayne and Grant.
When my sister Joan turned 21 she went back to England to try and trace my parents. She did find our mother and discovered that she was married when she had the five of us. We also had a brother who remained in England and has since died.
Joan told me she had found out that my mother was 15 years old when she had me and had five children by the age of 19. Our parents divorced and both remarried. My mother had a further five surviving children from her second marriage. It meant that we had half-sisters and brothers living in England, one of whom was called Marcella. At that time this news overwhelmed me too much, I just could not connect with it at all and stored it away in my mind. Over the years, my sister Joan also lost touch with Marcella.
In 1997 I had the opportunity to travel to England and Ireland with a group of 40 former Child Migrants on “The Sentimental Journey”, organized by the Sisters of Mercy. On the fourth day, before our departure to Ireland, I received a telephone call from the Immigration Department telling me that a lady had called. She had heard about “The Sentimental Journey” and felt that someone within this group belonged to her.
This person, unbeknown to me, was my half-sister Marcella. I dismissed the information. In the meantime, the Immigration Department checked their caller again and discovered that Marcella indeed had four half-sisters living in Australia. I was contacted once more with the news that my sister was looking for me.
With great apprehension I made a phone call to the telephone number given to me thinking in might even be Joan - but no, it was Marcella, my half sister. She told me she had been frightened to try to trace me before, thinking that I might reject her1
Unfortunately, as the time of our trip had run out, I could not meet Marcella there and then and had to return to Australia with my group. But we did keep constant contact for four years until I was able, with the help of I.S.S., to travel to the UK with my second husband Syd to finally meet with my half-sister Marcella, her two daughters Suzanne and Terry and her grandson Mitchell.
Syd and I left Perth on Sunday 24 June 2001 at 4 pm arriving at Heathrow airport on Monday 25 June at 7.15 am We were met by my sister Joan who was still living in the UK and her husband Dalby.
On June 28 we went to Peterborough where, at last, I was to meet with Marcella. From the moment we met it felt as if we had known each other all our lives. We talked non-stop for five days! I will never forget this wonderful experience.
Unfortunately I was unable to meet my other half siblings. Apparently it has been too difficult for them to accept the fact that their mother had had five other children.
To make our trip even more eventful, Syd and I flew from the UK to Latvia, which is Syd’s homeland, to visit his family.
We arrived in Riga and were picked up the next day by two of his relatives who took us to their parents farm where Syd met his father’s twin half-brothers whom he had not seen since he was 5 years old sixty years ago. Altogether, including their grandchildren, we met about 30 relatives. They took both of us to their hearts and we spent several wonderful days there.
On July 11 we flew back to England, spending the rest of our precious remaining days with Marcella, sightseeing in London, Cambridge and Dover. We arrived back in Perth on 25 July. Truly an unforgettable trip!!
Mary Circenis with sisters Joan and Marcella
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During her time here, Joan met with nearly 70 former Child Migrants reviewing with them the ways in which their families may be found. 
C-BERS welcomes its association with Sr Flo O’Sullivan who has recently taken up the Child Migrant position formerly held by Sr Tania de Jong at the Catholic Migrant Centre, Victoria Square. Over the years Flo has worked as a teacher and administrator in schools throughout the state and overseas and more recently in hospital administration. Flo is a people’s person and in her new role is keen to be of any assistance she possibly can to former Child Migrants. Sr Flo can be contacted on 08 9221 1727.