When Shirley met the love of her life at age 19, Australian society didn't allow her and her soulmate to be together.
Shirley Sidhu didn't expect to meet the love of her life when she moved from Western Australia to Adelaide in 1956 to pursue a midwifery degree.
While Shirley said Sid was the "most gentle, kind, intelligent and polite man" she had ever encountered, convincing her family and friends was another story.Shirley's best friend alerted her family back in WA of their relationship, and her family acted fast. "My father said to me, 'If you carry on with this relationship, as far as our family is concerned, you are dead'."It wasn't just Shirley's family who disapproved of the relationship.
"Nobody wanted people of colour in their families and I think a lot of people thought about the White Australia policy," she said.Aware of Australia's views on immigrants and people of colour, Sid was cautious in Shirley's company."Some people on the street would say to me, 'My god, what are her parents thinking?'"
It wasn't until 25 years later when Shirley separated from her husband and moved back to South Australia, the pair finally reconnected through mutual friends.The first day Sid and Shirley saw each other after she moved back to South Australia."My dearest, I love you and it's easy and beautiful to say that to you and mean it and enjoy it," Sid wrote in one of his letters.Shirley Sidhu still reads Sid's letters to this day.
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