Love is strong 50 years on
Boxing Day 1966 was a red-letter day for Mary Addie Lui — it was the day she fell in love and met the man she would go on to marry. The 21-year-old had just flown to Cairns from Thursday Island to visit relatives. “I didn’t know Cairns and wanted to see the place. It was the holidays, so my cousin and I went window shopping,” she said.
BOXING Day 1966 was a redletter day for Mary Addie Lui – it was the day she fell in love and met the man she would go on to marry.
The 21-year-old had just flown to Cairns from Thursday Island to visit relatives.
“It was the day I arrived,” she said. “I didn’t know Cairns and wanted to see the place. It was the holidays, so my cousin and I went window shopping.”
But the shops didn’t even come a close second to the striking young man she spotted in town – Patrick Michael Daniel O’Shane, better known as Danny.
“He happened to go by with his friends and brother.
“We got introduced and it was love at first sight. We couldn’t wait to see each other again. We started dating. We went out to the movies.”
An electrician, Danny was working in Gladstone and was home in Cairns for Christmas.
“When it was time for him to go back to work, I saw him off and he said he would write to me.”
But as Mary continued her travels to Townsville and then Lindeman Island, working as a waitress, Danny’s letters went to the only address he knew, her grandmother’s.
“My grandmother didn’t know where to send the letters. She didn’t know where I was.”
When Mary eventually rang Danny, the romance truly blossomed.
“Danny proposed to me in May 1967 and we got married at St John’s Anglican Church in Townsville in June 1967.”
Mary’s late uncle, Abiu Lui, walked her up the aisle, her cousin, Alice Lui, was bridesmaid and Danny’s brother, Tim, was best man.
“It was a beautiful afternoon,” Mary says.
“We didn’t want a big, flash wedding. We just wanted to get married and that was it.”
While Danny’s family drove from Cairns for the wedding, Mary’s immediate family was unable to attend.
“I rang my mum and introduced him over the phone. She couldn’t afford to come down to the wedding. She finally got to meet him the following year and liked him.”
Mary and Danny – now 71 and 72 respectively and still both working – have four children, 14 grandchildren and six great grandchildren, some of whom organised their golden wedding anniversary at the Railway Hall in Macnamara St on June 10.
“We’re still good mates,” Mary says.
“It’s not a smooth road to walk when you’re married that long, but we get on really well.
“We like to go fishing, watch the footie and dig bush foods. We teach our kids about what we’ve been taught.”