OLIVE LOUISA BIRRELL (NEE BACK) (1893-1976)

Olive Birrell was a gifted musician- she studied music from 1908 to 1913 and attained an Associate Diploma in Pianoforte from the London College of Music in January 1913. She went on to teach many Fremantle and East Fremantle children.

Olive Louisa was born on 15 March 1893 in the home of her parents Edward William Thomas Back (1862-1945) and Mary Amelia Back nee Sweetman (1871-1950), on the corner of Point and Ellen Streets, Fremantle. Her father was a Customs Officer and a Landing Waiter in the Commonwealth Department of Trade and Customs at Fremantle, WA. Her siblings were Ivy Amelia Back (1891-1980) and Frank Tourner Back (1896-1968). 

At the age of 3 she contracted Typhoid Fever, which left her quite sickly and she never went higher than fourth standard at the Beaconsfield School. From at least 1903 until 1909, the Back family lived in Kelly Street, Beaconsfield. From 1910 the family home was at 85 (now 41) Lilly Street, Beaconsfield and her parents lived there until their deaths and Olive until her marriage.   

Olive led a sheltered life growing up, with her only activities being going to Sunday school, church, and singing in the choir. However she was very talented in music and learnt the piano privately at St Joseph’s Catholic Convent in Parry Street, Fremantle, where she also studied singing and painting. Her painting teacher was Mrs Elsie Cooke, the mother of Tiffie Cooke, the dancer. Olive painted still life, landscapes and later a painting of the ‘MS Kangaroo’ one of the ships on which her husband was to become a marine engineer.

Her music studies spanned from 1908 to 1913 and her exam marks were of honours grade. Olive attained an Associate Diploma in Pianoforte from the London College of Music in January 1913, which gave her the right to wear the Associate Robes of the London College of Music and use the letters A.L.C.M. after her name, meaning that she was an accomplished pianist to the standard of 2nd /3rd year undergraduate study today. Olive then taught pupils from home in Lilly Street. Her parents had bought her an ‘Albert Esche of Berlin’ walnut veneer piano on which to learn and on which she taught all her pupils.

On 20 March 1918, at Beaconsfield, Olive married a Scotsman, John Birrell (1888-1975), a mercantile marine engineer. John was born in Celladyke, Fife Scotland, at the home of his parents, John Birrell (1857-1935) fisherman and Margaret Tarvit (1865-1923). From 1909 he worked as an engineer on ships that travelled the world. He was the 2nd engineer on the maiden voyage of the ‘MS Kangaroo’, from London to Fremantle, Australia on 27 November 1915.

He was also on the ‘MS Kangaroo’ when it reportedly rammed and sunk a German submarine (U-63) in the Mediterranean on 5 April 1917. Michael Gregg from the WA Maritime Museum said that:

“Many sources actually claim that she rammed and sunk a German U-Boat in the Mediterranean, about 135 miles off Crete, in 1917- sadly, not actually true. She didn’t sink it by gunfire either but did however use her speed to outrun her attacker, and a shot from her poop gun landing nearby as the sub broke off the chase and submerged led to the claim that she had sunk the submarine.”

John was awarded the British War Medal Riband, Mercantile Marine Medal Riband, British War Medal and Mercantile Marine Medal. When the ship disembarked at Fremantle on 25 July 1917, he decided to settle in Western Australia.

Olive’s friend Douglas Ray McGregor, also a marine engineer, introduced John to Olive after church one day. John took his discharge from this ship in July 1917 and joined the SS Bambra as 2nd Engineer. From 1922 until 1924 John worked on the Bucket Ladder Dredges ‘Fremantle’ and ‘Sir William Matthews’ as Engineer-in-charge of Shift for the Fremantle Harbour Works. He then rejoined as 2nd Engineer on the ‘MS Kangaroo’. now owned by the WA State Shipping Service, servicing WA coastal ports but also trading with Java, Singapore, Sumatra, Port Swettenham, Penang, Saigon and Bangkok and Hong Kong on a regular basis. Special voyages were made to Colombo, Honk Kong and Shanghai, China. The vessel had luxury passenger facilities for 30 people. The 34 day round trip including Java and Singapore cost a mere 35 Pounds giving the ordinary person the opportunity to take an overseas holiday. She holds the distinction of being the first ocean going diesel engine vessel based in Australia. John brought back many presents for Olive from these voyages on ‘SS Bambra’ and ‘MS Kangaroo’.

From 1923 to 1926, he was employed doing mechanical work at a service station at 20 Queen St, on the junction with High Street, Fremantle, opposite the old Oriana Hoyts Theatre. From these premises he ran a taxi service, with Mr Meyers called Metro Hire or Trade, between Fremantle and Perth with Hudson taxis and parlour cars-seven seaters. He made little money from this venture because he did not have tickets and some people would get on and off and not pay. From 6-16 April 1926 The Navigation Service WA Branch appointed John as Engineer and Ship Surveyor aboard the MS Kangaroo. After this he worked at Atlas Engineering Works in Queen Victoria St. In 1931 John started work as an engineer looking after the equipment at Mills and Wares Ltd  biscuit factory, South Fremantle, where he was well respected. His wage was 7 Pounds a week. He used a Fremantle Municipal Tramways Workers’ Ticket to get to work.

John and Olive rented houses at 174a Hampton Rd, South Fremantle, and Cleopatra St, Palmyra, WA. In 1921 they boarded at the Bay View Boarding House Albany, for a year whilst John was working on the Bucket Ladder Dredges at Albany Harbour. From 1923 to 1927 they lived at 6 McCleary St, South Fremantle, and from 1927 to 1933 they rented a house at 21 Lilley St, South Fremantle.

 In May 1933 John bought their first home at 30 Windsor Rd, East Fremantle, where he and Olive lived until 1975. Their four children lived there until their marriages. This was a War Service Home on which they paid a deposit of 10 pounds and repayments of 17 shillings and sixpence / week out of a wage of 7 pounds. The average wage was about 4 pounds at the time. Olives brother Frank Tourner back (1896-1968) lived nearby at 34 Windsor Street from 1933-1968.

Olive did not continue teaching music after her marriage, as she had four children and a husband to look after, as well as her brother-in-law Wilfred Birrell from Scotland and a non-paying boarder for 7 years, whom John took pity on during the depression. As Olive was often unwell, she had live-in domestic help. Even though John was on a higher than average wage, the budget was tight with this large household, and the children often had to wait to get new shoes, clothes or school books. (In the mid 1950’s, Olive and John also looked after their grandson for 5 years, as he had won an entrance to Perth Modern School and his father was transferred by the army to South Australia.) 

Olive had her driver’s licence and did all the driving. In 1927 Olive's first car was an Essex (Reg no 16617) and then a larger Essex Tourer (Reg no 22063) in which the family had outings to Mandurah and holidays in Kalamunda.  

Olive and John had 4 children:

The first- Olive ‘Margaret’ Birrell was born on 10 January 1919 and attended the Beaconsfield School and Princess May High School. As a child she learnt dancing (from Tiffie Cooke then Myrtle Crellen) and piano. At 14 years old Olive was a dressmaking apprentice to Mrs Jehns in Queen Victoria Street, Fremantle, and then worked for family - Eileen and Frank Back at their shop in Kings Street, East Fremantle. Later, Olive was a shop assistant at Coles in Perth, a window dresser at Coles in High Street, Fremantle where she became head girl in 1940. In 1941 Olive Margaret Birrell married Alfred George Kilminster (1908-2000), a farmer and soldier and bought a house at 77 Birdwood Circus Bicton, living there from 1941 to 1955, then in SA from 1955 to 1959, returning to 77 Birdwood Circus, Bicton from 1959. Alfred and Margaret had three children and Olive Margaret Birrell died on 21 December 2008. 

Ethel Mary Birrell  was born on 27 May 1920 in South Fremantle. Ethel enjoyed painting and piano. She also worked at the Mills and Wares factory in the office. She joined the Australian Air Force during WWll and afterwards worked in communications at the Perth Post Office and in Wagin. In Wagin she met and married Leonard Ball (1924-2015), a farmer, on 21 February 1951.Len and Ethel had two children. Ethel died 15 January 2005.

John Edward Birrell was born on 2 February 1926 at 6 McCleery St, South Fremantle, WA. John would have attended the Richmond Primary School, as the family lived opposite the school. John worked as a carpenter. On 27 October 1951, he married Mona ‘Doreen’ O’Meagher, (1930-2012), a nurse. They lived in Narrogin and Walpole. John and Doreen had three children. John died 27 July 2012.

Glenis Joan Birrell was born on 31 July 1931 at Sister Bathgate’s Hospital and went to Richmond Primary School. She later worked at Edinger’s Pharmacy in East Fremantle. On 24 May 1952 she married Eric Ronald McKay (1927-2015) then a WA Railways porter/ signalman. They lived in Armadale, and had two children. Glenis died 5 December 1998.

John qualified in a course in Air Raid Precautions on 24 June 1941, from the Civil Defence Council- Certificate No. 2128.

John worked at Mills and Wares Ltd until a heart attack in 1950 caused his early retirement at the about the age of 62. From the Mills & Wares Ltd Employee’s Benefit Fund Trust he received a monthly payment of 18 pounds. To supplement this he kept busy earning by repairing lawn mowers and shock absorbers and making thousands of brass nozzles for fire extinguishers for Wormald Bros, using the metal lathe that he bought from Mills and Wares Ltd.

John Birrell died on 30 January 1975 at Fremantle Hospital, Alma Street, Fremantle, WA, Australia.  

‘’My Grandpa Birrell was a kind, sociable man who had a good sense of humour, with a joke and a smile always for his grandchildren. He was very intelligent, inventive and able to come up with solutions to practical problems. Well respected professionally, his employers and masters of ships described his conduct and ability as very good. He was a loving husband, who provided well for his family, a strict but devoted father, who valued honesty, ethical actions and generosity.’’

Olive Louisa Birrell nee Back died on 6 November 1976 at Carinya Nursing Home, Bristol Avenue, Bicton. 

‘’My Nanna Birrell made the most of the limited opportunities available to women of her time, studying painting, piano and singing. Having gained her licence early in her marriage, this gave her some independence, as well as facilitating family holidays and outings. She encouraged her daughters to learn the piano and dancing, as well as skills useful for family life. Olive was a quietly sociable person and was generous to her grandchildren and was always interested to see us practicing our music and encouraged me to draw and paint, being the two areas of talent in which she excelled. Even though she was unwell for most of her life, she created a comfortable home environment for her husband and four children, even though the budget was tight during the depression’’.

This information was compiled by Dianne Margaret Dench in February 2020, from certificates and documents of Olive Louisa and John Birrell, birth, death and marriage notices, genealogy research and interviews with Alfred George and Olive Margaret Kilminster nee Birrell, and from personal experiences with her grandparents.

Further genealogy- Olive Louisa Back was well connected to the early pioneers of WA. She was the granddaughter of Mary Ann Tourner (1844-1899) and of Edward George Back (1839-1907), Police Inspector, Fremantle, WA; and the great-granddaughter of Captain Edward George Back (1815-1886), Acting Harbour Master at Fremantle 1842 and 1844. In 1845, he was appointed the first official full time Pilot based in Fremantle and then at Rottnest Island from 1848-1857 and acted as Nominal Master of Vessels at the port from 1865 for 19 years. See http://fremantlepilots.com.au/history/ for more information on him.

Olive was also the granddaughter of Amelia Davis (1852-1940) and William David Sweetman (1842-1919), who established the first dairy in Fremantle; and great-granddaughter of Emma Mould, servant to the Bussell family and Thomas Robert Sweetman (abt.1815-1899), schoolmaster at Guildford, York and the Fremantle Convict Establishment, as well as publican, trader and watchmaker and First Class Chief Clerk at Gaol’s Department at Roundhouse.