Mrs Gladys Jones — the Pearl of the Pacific
With mementos of her life carefully positioned around her room at Resthaven Marion, Mrs Gladys Jones is something of an international citizen.
Born in Fiji, the great-granddaughter of a Tongan princess, Gladys has on display a Fijian fan, made from the fibre of coconut trees, an Irish cross to signify her Irish Catholic upbringing, as well as an English coat of arms bearing the name Barrowdale – her mother’s maiden name. Her ancestors hail from Tonga, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Jamaica, England and Australia.
Family photos show seven siblings standing with Gladys, as well as handsome images of her parents. But it is the photos of her late husband, Mr Reginald Bert Jones, that are the most cherished.
‘We met in Fiji when I was 14,’ Gladys says. ‘It was 1956 and I was working as a telephonist and typist. He was 18 and had just arrived from Australia as an employee of the Bank of New South Wales.’
Gladys laughs: ‘He said he wanted to take back a live souvenir! He called me his “Pearl of the Pacific”.’
The couple began courting and it wasn’t long before Reg approached Gladys’ father, got down on one knee, and asked Gladys to be his wife.
‘He presented me with the whole regalia!’ Gladys says. ‘An engagement ring, wedding ring and an eternity ring. He was showing me how serious he was.’
Glady’s father, who had relatives in Sydney, made some enquiries to ensure Reg was of ‘good stock’ and the wedding went ahead in 1959.
Family tree and royal blood
Gladys’ father, Bobby, was the manager of a grocery store. His parents had moved from Australia to Fiji, which was where he was born.
‘My dad’s family worked with the Colonial Sugar Refinery (CSR) and my grandfather’s job was to attend to the Indian cane farmers who were working there,” Gladys says. ‘He spoke Indian, as well as Fijian, and English.’
Gladys’ mother, Annie-Marie, has the royal blood. The gun dealer Robert Dunn sold guns to the king of Tonga for their war against Fiji.
‘As part of the deal to secure the purchase of the weapons, Dunn demanded a wife, the eldest daughter of the king of Tonga – she, Anna Marie Tea Tupou, was my great-great-grandmother, a princess of Tonga,’ Gladys says.
From Fiji to Australia
Not long after she and Reg were married, Gladys fell pregnant.
‘We wanted to make our family home in Australia, so we filled out the paperwork, booked our flights and headed to the airport with our suitcases, ready to start a new life,’ Gladys says.
However, when they arrived at the airport (Gladys heavily pregnant), they were told the Australian government had not agreed to let them in.
‘The White Australia Policy was still in place, so there were extra hoops to jump through,’ Gladys says. ‘It was a huge shock, and we had to go back home and wait to hear what would happen next.’
Several days passed and word came that Gladys would be allowed to enter Australia.
‘We were relieved, but we also wanted Mum and Dad to migrate as well,’ Gladys says. ‘I remember we had to visit Mr Downer (Sir Alexander Russell ‘Alick’ Downer, Immigration Minister at the time) and plead our case. Reg was very persistent, and eventually, we were able to secure their positions.’
After arriving in Australia, Reg began working as an accountant. The couple’s first daughter, Kathleen, was born, and six years later, their second daughter, Julie, arrived.
When a job came up for an accountant at St Agnes Brandy in Renmark, Reg applied, and it wasn’t long before the family moved to the Riverland.
‘We had a lovely big home on the vineyard called The Anchorage,’ Gladys says. ‘It had a beautiful long driveway and large windows, overlooking the vines.’
Reg stayed in that position for seven years, and then the family moved back to the city, where he took up a position as an accountant at Rupert Murdoch’s News Ltd newspapers.
Gladys worked at a number of jobs, including as a baker at Manningham’s Bakery at Hove, at a towel weaving factory, at Christensen Diamond Products manufacturing parts for oil drilling rigs, and then at Flinders Medical Centre as a pantry hand and kitchenhand. Her position before retirement was as Ward Clerk at Flinders Medical Centre working with Dr Henschke in gerontology.
Meanwhile, Reg studied to be a lawyer and then used his qualifications to work for a time with the South Australian Government’s fisheries department, and then with the South Australian Ombudsman.
Gladys has been back to Fiji twice in her lifetime, to show her girls the place where she grew up. She now has two grandsons in their 30s and one great-granddaughter.
‘It has certainly been a life to live,’ Gladys says. ‘I have been truly blessed.’