Bill and Yvonne's story

I have to drive him to Bunnings everyday

Bill and Yvonne Trenear moved to the Tweed in the early 2000s after travelling the country in their caravan and falling in love with the place.

Bill’s first encounter with the Tweed was on a holiday with three rugby league mates at a Greenmount guest house in the early 1950s - the first time he’d been out of Sydney. At the time, he was struck by the beautiful scenery, cane fields and the river and recalls an idyllic holiday “burnt black and blistered, mostly wearing shorts and swimmers and no shoes.”

Bill and Yvonne know each other from their youth: when Bill was 15 he saved Yvonne, then 13, from falling off a cliff. Yvonne had slipped over the edge and was clinging to a branch when Bill pulled her up. Yvonne remembers recalling often over the years “this is where Billy T saved my life”.

But their lives followed different paths. Bill returned to Sydney, married, raised a family of five and built a successful business career. Yvonne married at 16 and lived much of her life in Woy Woy where she raised a family.

Fast forward four decades and in her 60th year Yvonne got a phone call, “remember me, Bill Trenear?”

The rest, as they say, is history. Together for 20 years and married for 17, ‘Evie’ is now returning some of the lifesaving care Bill showed her all those years ago - including driving him to Bunnings almost every day! 

Bill and Yvonne's interview

In 2016, as part of the Untold Stories: living with ability project, the Tweed Regional Museum undertook a series of oral history interviews.

The following excerpt is transcribed from the audio recording of the interview with Bill and Yvonne Trenear on 13 May 2016.

In the interview, conducted by Suzi Hudson, Bill with a little help from ‘Evie’, talks about growing up in Sydney, and holidays at Woy Woy where Bill and Yvonne first knew each other as teenagers before marrying others and raising families of their own before. They talk about finding each other again forty years later, marrying and moving to the Tweed. Bill talks about the loss of his eyesight through Macular Degeneration and the changes this brought. 

We never forgot each other

Since Bill lost his sight, Yvonne has become his carer, lovingly helping him with all the little and big things he can no longer do.

The brief but powerful bond that Bill and Yvonne formed as teenagers is captured in these photographs.

This framed photo of Yvonne was taken when she was 16, around the time she knew Bill, and just before she first married.

The wedding photo of Bill and Yvonne was taken more than 40 years later at their wedding in Woy Woy.

A true Boy Scout

Bill Trenear’s Scout years, between the ages of about 8 and 18, were formative. Bill says the lessons and values learnt guided him throughout his adult life, including during years in business.

Bill has kept the Scout items displayed here all his life. The 1935 pennant marks the first southern hemisphere gathering of international members of the Scout movement. It was given to Bill by one of his Scout Masters. The scarf was worn throughout Bill’s Scouting days.

Scout values may also have helped Bill overcome a sudden loss of sight. About nine years ago, driving home from the shops, “something strange happened. It was like somebody was pouring oil over my eyes, and from the bottom up I just lost my sight.”

Bill found he could no long bait a fish hook, or drive a car or boat and he remembers that adjusting "was a terrible time". He wouldn’t have coped without ‘Evie’.