Born 27/10/1932. Died 3/12/2019.
She was proudly a nurse and proudly Scottish. She was a traveller. She had cheeky sense of humour which came out most with her beloved grandchildren. She was so loving and caring.
Marion was born at 7pm at home at The Hollies, Larbert, Scotland on 27 October 1932. She was by all accounts a cute child who got away with a lot more than her elder brother.
She went first to the local school and then went to boarding school at Rothsay House in Edinburgh. She was behind in some subjects which had not been taught at the local school but did well enough and had a close group of friends. She wanted to be a doctor until a family friend told her that for a woman at the time it was very hard unless she was exceptional academically. Instead, she decided to become a nurse in spite of her parents being opposed to the idea.
Marion did her training at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary (1950-54) – something she was enduringly proud of. She told of being offered a job later by a doctor whom she had only just met and when she asked why he would offer the position to someone he didn’t know he said “I may not know you, but I recognise that pin [her pin from Edinburgh Royal].” She was registered as a nurse on 23rd of July 1954. In 1955 she completed her midwife training at Queen Charlotte’s hospital in London.
She worked in several places including a stint at Collins the publishers in Glasgow. She liked working in maternity best. She became a sister and then a matron.
She then became a nurse on a cruise ship. There she met and eventually became engaged to George Weyland. In September 1961, she followed George to Australia, accompanying a group of children from Quarriers Homes; but then broke off the engagement. She stayed in Australia working as a nurse.
In 1961 She met Zlatko Predavec at a party. They were married on 2 August 1963 at Scots Kirk in Mosman. She stopped working as a nurse and took to helping in Zlatko’s company Maps & Models – she always particularly talked of making trees for models.
Evan was born in 1966 and in 1968 they all moved to Malta as Marion was getting homesick and Malta was closer to both Scotland and Zlatko’s Jugoslavia. Malta proved a disaster and they moved again only about six months later to Scotland. There Martin was born in 1969.
Marion and Zlatko started a pottery which eventually became Kilmun Pottery – a significant industrial pottery. They bought a series of houses but lived at first in the flat at Appin Lodge above Marion’s mother’s house, and then at Cregandarroch, a huge former hotel which absorbed Zlatko’s time and energy for years.
In 1978 (??) Zlatko was offered a job by his brother Vlado in the Isle of Man and they sold up and moved to Derbyhaven to a house Marion always said she disliked. Four years later they moved again, this time back to Sydney – although Zlatko at first worked in Saudi Arabia leaving Marion alone with the children for extended periods of time. Eventually he returned permanently and they set up Decor Ceramics.
Marion was involved in a series of charitable endeavours. She was chair of the Manly Hospital Auxiliary and worked at the Lifeline shop. She liked playing cards and occasionally playing the pokies – both more because of her friends than out of any interest in the activity itself. She always seemed to come out ahead in her gambling, especially after one large win from a scratch lottery ticket.
After Zlatko died in 2006, Marion moved to Dee Why Gardens. She made a new group of friends and travelled often with her greatest friend Marta Weyland. They took many cruises together and never seemed to run out of patience with each other. Marta would phone Marion daily from Israel.
Throughout most of her life (Zlatko would say she couldn’t boil an egg before they married) Marion loved cooking. She was a fabulous cook – her hazelnut meringue and her shortbread were particular favourites.
