She recalls her early childhood as unsettled.

“I grew up during the war. It all broke out when I was not quite three; I was about 9 before the war ended.

So, all my young life was during the war. [I was living] in England, in Northolt, which was near an RAF aerodrome. So, they were trying to bomb the aerodrome all the time. Once, when a bomb dropped in the street next to us, [the bomb hit the] back of a double-story house, and the back just fell off. Because we knew the people, we went around to see the house. And I can still see it in my mind's eye. It just looked like a doll's house with the furniture sitting there.”

Thelma lived with her mother, father, and sister. They slept in an Anderson shelter, which was an air raid shelter made from corrugated steel to shelter them from bombing. “…The double bed was in there, and mum, my sister and I slept in the bed. And there was a fireplace in that one, because we couldn't show any light or anything, the windows had to be blacked out.” Thelma recalls that her father was often away due to the war, “Dad came home, and he's standing in the doorway of the bedroom, and I'm thinking, who's this? I didn't even recognise my own father.

At the end of the war, we had a party in the street.”

Thelma was nearly 14 when her family decided to relocate to Australia in 1950.
“We always lived here [In Tasmania]. When we came here, we were supposed to go to Melbourne or Sydney, but there were strikes on, trains and buses, and everything was on strike. So, dad went to Australia House in Melbourne to ask where we could go, and they said, “The only thing that isn't on strike is planes. You can go to Tasmania.” And he said, “That'll do.” And so, we ended up in Tasmania, and that was it.” Thelma has now lived in Tasmania for 76 years.

“I loved it [Living in Tasmania]. I can remember long, hot summers on the beach, because we lived in Taroona at that time.”

Thelma went to Albuera Street school for her final year of schooling; however, she was keen to leave school and begin working. “I originally wanted to be a hairdresser. And so, my mum wrote a letter to the education department to get an exemption, so I did, because I was 15. I didn't have to wait until I was 16. I went to school that day, and I can still remember showing the teacher. “There's my letter, I can leave school.” So, I got off the bus that day, went to the shop, and it was shut. I thought, “That's funny, why is the shop shut?” So, I went back home and came back the next morning. The lady [salon owner] was having twins, and so she sold the business. So, I said to the lady the next day that I had an apprenticeship to start there. And she said, “Sorry, I've already got an apprenticeship. You can go back to school.” And I said, “No way will I go back to school.”

Thelma then became a monitor, now called a teacher assistant, at several schools including Kingston Primary School and worked in a shop. Sometime during this, she met her husband, Ray, a self-proclaimed ‘Tasweigen’. At the time of recording, the day before would have been their 70th wedding anniversary. “[We met] at the Royal Ballroom, dancing. And it was rather funny the way we met, because I lived in Taroona at the end of the bus route, which, in those days, they thought was a long way. And boys would come up and say, “Can I take you home?” When you say, “I live at the end of the bus route”, I never saw them again. So, when Ray asked me, I said, “Oh, yes.” And he actually turned up to take me home. And it turned out to be he'd had a wager with his friends if he could take me home.” Ray and Thelma would go on to have four sons.

Thelma began working at the Family History Society in Tasmania as a volunteer and still belongs 44 years later. She tracked her own family history back to after the 1500s and became a professional researcher for 30 years. In this role she researched the history of other families. She would go on to write four historical books.

Thelma's star sign is Libra, which she says makes her want things to be balanced. “I've got 10 grandchildren. Five boys and five girls. I've got four sons, four daughters-in-law, five granddaughters and five grandsons. Now I've got one of each of my great-grandchildren. So, they're keeping it equal for me!”