15/04/2024
We just had to share this fabulous story from Lynn, Terri & Angie
9th - 11th April 2024
To the owners,
Thank you so much for allowing us the opportunity to stay at Ventnor
We just wanted to let you know that this visit held such special significance for us as we walked in the steps of where our mum lived during her formative years of life from birth to approximately 6 years old.
Mum (Phyllis Baker nee Bellamy), was born in 1937, with her parents, Laura and Frederick Bellamy, running Ventnor as a boarding house for local workers. As World War Two began, my grandfather and many of the boarders answered the call to serve. Eventually, the remoteness of the island and lack of guests made it unsustainable for our nanna and her five children to remain, forcing them to leave Ventnor around 1942/1943.
Our beautiful mum spoke so fondly of Bruny island and Tasmanian. She always considered herself a true Tasmanian, even though at the age of 17 her life's journey saw her move to the mainland of Australia, where she travelled the countryside working for a Hobart Fashion House as a sales rep. She eventually met our father and for a huge part of their lives, lived in a small Mallee town called Sea Lake, where they raised us girls, before finally retiring to the Mornington Peninsula.
Our mum passed away in 2019 and it has been a true honour for us to stay in her childhood home. She would have been thrilled to know we're embracing her past with such love. We are immensely grateful to you for sharing Ventnor with us and allowing us to have this profound experience.
The photos that we have left are of mum (posing ever so cutely on the right) with her sister Nancy, which was taken out the front of Ventnor in approximately 1940, and mum and Nancy on the back of one of the local's dray.
Kind regards, Phyllis's daughters,
