Jenny Chats With Mary

By Jenny Phillips

A biography of Mary Fiorini-Lowell, (nee Mary Bourke), applauding her creative life.

How did a young Mary - from southwest Victoria's country town of Koroit - attend a garden tea party at Buckingham Palace with the Queen; sing Waltzing Matilda at 2 am with Al Grassby, gain employment dubbing for the famous Gina Lollobrigida; pe

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jenny Phillips
• Release date: Jun 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9780645083415

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Copyright © 2020 by Jenny Phillips

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author or publisher, except in the case of extracts in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses (including private study, research) permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the author, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator at the address below.

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Author’s note:

During the years I have researched to the best of my ability in order to confirm the stories and dates mentioned by Mary to ensure flow and authenticity.

However, I apologise if something was missed or incorrect at the time this book went to print.

All photographs are courtesy of Mary and Frank Fiorini-Lowell, otherwise as noted.

First Printing, 2021

ISBN   978-0-6450834-2-2 (print)

978-0-6450834-1-5 (ePub)

CONTENTS

Photos

About The Author

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Preface

Chapter 1     Where It All Began

Chapter 2     What Made It Stick?

Chapter 3     Mary Joins The Professionals

Chapter 4     Life Beyond Koroit

Chapter 5     A Whole New World

Chapter 6     That’s How You Meet People

Chapter 7     The Influence Of A Permanent Income

Chapter 8     Everything Flowed

Chapter 9     Adventurer At Heart

Chapter 10   More Important Than Material Things

Chapter 11   A Blessed Life

The Humble Spud

To Dance And Sing

PHOTOS

All photos are photographer unknown unless noted otherwise.

Chapter 1     Baby Mary

Chapter 2     Mary’s Graduation

Chapter 3     Mary in Costume

Chapter 4     Headshot for Performing

Photographer Athol Shmith

Chapter 5     Headshot for Performing

Chapter 6     Mary in Rome

Chapter 7     Lui and Mary’s Wedding Day

Chapter 8     Mary in Rome

Chapter 9     Mary in Costume

Chapter 10   Frank and Mary’s Wedding Day

Chapter 11   Mary with the County Cork Flag at the Irish Festival Courtesy of The Warrnambool Standard.

Photo by Anthony Brady

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jenny is a creative who started off as a painter, and then discovered photography, which in turn introduced her to the world of filmmaking. For the past thirty years Jenny has studied and worked in film and theatre, in both production and acting roles. A highlight of this time was producing a short film which was accepted into the Cannes Film Festival. Having written a full-length film screenplay and numerous short scripts, and now a biography, it’s very likely that this will not be her last writing project. The time spent with Mary, and the subsequent research and writing of the book, has been a very special time for Jenny.

FOREWORD

Jenny and her family became close friends of ours when the Phillips’ family walked into our lives as new neighbours fifteen years ago.

She was captivated by Mary and her colourful life and wanted to record it for prosperity. With Mary’s approval she agreed to write her life story.

Jenny took on a very difficult task with all the research required for writing the book. She is a very artistic person and despite her busy life as a loving mother and business owner, she still found time to take on the arduous task of writing Mary’s story.

I believe that once you start reading it, you won’t put it down. I hope you enjoy it.

Frank Fiorini-Lowell, December 2020, Koroit

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to thank Mary for entrusting me with writing her life story. I am honoured and grateful for her friendship, and thankful to have spent many hours chatting with, and getting to know Mary.

Writing and putting it all together was an enormous task and I now have a newfound respect for biographers worldwide. The information in this book has come directly from Mary while she was alive. Having said that, confirming dates and events was an ongoing task even after her passing, therefore I would like to thank the following people.

To my wonderful family Ted, Max and Jasmine, thank you for all your support and encouragement. Our family life has always been busy but the love, care and respect we share for each other has always sustained us.

Mary’s husband Frank Fiorini-Lowell, who has been a tremendous help and most accommodating in providing anything I have needed to ‘fill in the gaps’ so to speak. Mary and Frank would often say they were lucky to have such good neighbours, but I think we’re the lucky ones.

Michael Bourke, Mary’s nephew who was always happy to help. Thank you to the Bourke family whom Mary loved with all her heart for the use of the family photo in this book.

Janine Cowie and Edwina Palmer, for your support, feedback and encouragement.

As a first-time biographer and self-publisher, I would like to thank Christin Quirk for her (last minute) editorial advice and for her guidance and help.

Yan Connolly for permitting me to quote from his biography Highway to Paris, which painted a clear picture of Mary in her younger years, along with dates and events.

Guy Tranter at ABC Archives, Joy Phillips, Lorna Junck, Barbara McKenzie, Marilyn Homan, Anthony Brady, Adele MacDonald, Felix Meagher, Andrew Cook, Wendy Murley, Pamela and Anthony Dowling, who have helped in various ways with this book.

Diane Fary and Wendy Carter from the Koroit Historical Society who, along with others do a wonderful job at recording Koroit’s history and Janet Macdonald who does the same for the Warrnambool Historical Society.

The Warrnambool Standard – which has published many wonderful articles about Mary and her life adventures – as well as supplying me with the photo of Mary holding the County Cork flag at the Irish Festival.

I would like to forward on Mary’s acknowledgement, gratitude and appreciation for those who have supported and helped her throughout her life.

Lastly, I would like to thank all who have helped me in my journey by confirming facts and events mentioned by Mary and keeping her memory alive.

PREFACE

Originally, I came to know Mary and Frank as my warm and friendly neighbours. I had heard that she was a performer, but not much else. With our common love of the arts and performing we began to share a deeper bond. With a long history of working in the entertainment industry I have come to understand the nuances of performing and the challenges an actor faces before, during, and after. Hence, I was able to wholeheartedly connect with Mary on a creative level and have approached her story as a celebration of her artistic life.

It all started on one occasion while listening enthusiastically to her stories, when I was saddened by the thought that they would naturally be lost over time. I mentioned to Mary that she should write an autobiography to which she replied she had been told that many times in the past. I offered to record some of our chats and before I knew it, I was locked in. I was writing Mary’s story.

When it was convenient for the both of us, I would walk up Scenic Drive to Mary’s quaint little cottage, and chat with Mary at her dining room table.

Mary lived until the ripe old age of ninety-four and had an incredible memory. During our chats she would tell me her stories out of order, and so I had the wonderful task of piecing it all together. I like to think of it as the equivalent of an engaging 1000-piece puzzle spread far and wide. With the help of Mary, historical facts, and previous articles I was able to arrange what I understand to be an orderly timeline.

Mary was part of a wonderful family and was adored by many. She loved her hometown of Koroit and the community spirit it embodies and took great pleasure in her frequent visits from friends and family. For those who knew her I hope this does help keep her memory alive and for those who didn’t, I hope she inspires you to follow your dreams and never give up.

I took on this community project as a way of preserving her memory and the era she lived in. I hope this book inspires you to record someone’s life adventures because as time goes by, memories fade and what better way to be remembered?

This book is only a glimpse of her life, but I hope you discover as I did – that there was so much more to Mary than her achievements.

I hope you enjoy the read.

CHAPTER 1

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

How did a young Mary – from south west Victoria’s country town of Koroit – attend a garden tea party at Buckingham Palace with the Queen; sing Waltzing Matilda at 2am with Al Grassby, the Minister for Immigration; gain employment dubbing for the famous Gina Lollobrigida; perform around 300 radio plays; and confidently hitchhike around Europe?

How did she stay true to her creative path and achieve all these things and more when she was born in an era where she would have been expected to stay in the country and marry a local man?

These are the questions I pursue as I chat with Mary. I believe to answer this I need to start at the beginning because as I know – now, more so than ever – our childhood shapes us into the adult that we become.

Things were done a bit differently in 1925 when Mary first opened her eyes. It was common for births to be performed in people’s homes – and The Koroit Hotel was the home of the Bourkes. With accommodation upstairs and the hustle and bustle of the bar downstairs, one can imagine her father manning the bar while waiting anxiously for the arrival of his second child – with her mother labouring upstairs. Mary describes the details:

There was a separate wing for the family, which was our private area and full of antiques. Dad used to block off the wing at the High Street end opposite the Post Office for mum when she was about to give birth. She had room numbers 1 & 2 for herself and the baby, room 3 for the nurse and room 4 for the doctor. We had the whole wing to ourselves.

Dr Bourke – who was of no relation – said it was the best hospital he’d ever worked in. Dad would book a midwife from Southern Cross. Nurse Skilbeck was at the birth of Jeanette, Sheila, and Mick, and I had Nurse Lane from Koroit. My sister has a cheque book with payments of our arrivals. Ten guineas for Mary and Sheila and Mick but only nine guineas for Jeanette. They must have stayed a few nights as ten guineas was quite a lot in those days.

As I chat with Mary, I discover that her father had a heartbreaking start to life. She recalls:

My generous, honest, and much-loved father Edmund (Eddie) Bourke had a loving mother and father who owned a hotel in Warrnambool, near the station. Tragically, both his parents died within six months of each other, leaving seven children under the age of twelve. My father was only seven years old.

One of my aunts said she could remember the Sunday afternoon in the hotel where all the friends and relatives had gathered – crying and dressed in black. One by one the children were taken off in a buggy, gig, or jinker to be looked after by a relative or a