Penny grew up living at the Derward Hotel on the corner of Pier and Murray Streets, which was managed for more than 30 years by her mother, Marjorie. Perth was her home and her playground. She knew the gardeners in the Government Gardens (now Supreme Court Gardens), the policemen on point duty and the firemen at the Central Fire Station in Murray Street. Her mother loved to take her to Queen’s Gardens by tram, to the Zoo and to Kings Park. All of these (including the Derward roof garden) were venues for her birthday parties. Education began at St Mary’s in West Perth and continued at Presbyterian Ladies’ College, to which she travelled by bus from Newspaper House in St George’s Terrace. Tertiary education spanned three institutions: Claremont Teacher’s College (now ECU), UWA and WAIT (now Curtin University). After teaching at several WA schools, Penny retrained as a corporate librarian and worked in that capacity for CRA/Rio Tinto for 21 years. Penny did however earn her first pay packet at Bon Marche store in Hay Street, opposite the Town Hall, during the summer holidays. Penny is a wife to Tom, a mother to two beautiful daughters and grandmother to three wonderful grandsons. In her film, Penny describes life in the 1940s, with Perth as her playground.
