John and Peggy Durbin recently celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary.
Camera IconJohn and Peggy Durbin recently celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary. Credit: Supplied/Emma Reeves

Love takes couple around the world

Staff ReporterNorth Coast Times

The Merriwa couple married in the UK and spent 28 years in Southern Rhodesia/Zimbabwe before following family to Australia.

Settled at Cambrai Village since 2002, they enjoy the company of their two daughters, six grandsons and 10 great grandchildren.

The couple met after WWII, marrying in Bristol on September 11, 1948.

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John, who had served in the Merchant Navy, set up his own building firm before serving six years with the Bristol Constabulary.

With daughters Susan and Trudy, they immigrated to Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia in 1957, arriving in the middle of a building slump.

Peggy became a school secretary while John worked his way up to a provincial secretary’s position in the federal government. He also served for many years in the Police Reserve and Army Reserve.

Due to unrest in the country, two ranches they owned were confiscated.

The family stayed on in the then Zimbabwe, living at Victoria Falls until two years of applications gave them a new life in Australia.

They celebrated their anniversary with family in the South-West.