Patricia Frei
Resident of Canberra with family connections to Acton
Born: 1947, Canberra
Maiden Name: Patricia Jones
Interview: With Ann Gugler, December 2013
“My name is Patricia Frei, and I was born in Canberra in 1947. My father was Mervyn Jones, who began as assistant manager of the Civic Theatre from its inception in 1935, and rose to be the general manager of both the Civic and Capitol Theatres (cinemas). Both cinemas are now demolished.
Dad's father, and my grandfather, Major (later Lt.-Col.) Harold Edward Jones, lived at 28 Balmain Crescent in Acton. Harold was appointed the ACT's first Chief of Police, the position beginning in Canberra on 1 September 1927, and one that ran concurrently with his primary employment as Director of the Commonwealth Investigation Branch, operating from East Block, (now the National Archives of Australia). Both positions came under the Attorney General's Department.
D.R. Tate, the builder of the timbered residence at 28 Balmain Crescent, purposely built the house for the Jones family, as it was required to take my grandfather's large billiard table, trucked to Canberra from Melbourne where they were living. My grandmother, Millie, and her two sons, Alan and Mervyn, moved to Canberra three months later, in December 1927. Their father was staying at the Hotel Acton, so the rest of the family moved in with him as 28 Balmain Crescent was still under construction. The family finally moved into their new house in January 1928. The couple's only daughter, Beryl, was in South Africa visiting an uncle at this time, so when her brothers arrived at the new house they rushed inside to choose their bedrooms, leaving the one nearest the bathroom for Beryl, since, they said, she spent the longest time in there!
