Mavis was born in 1915 while her father, Charles Metcalfe was serving in the Australian Imperial Forces at Broadmeadows.  After serving overseas, Charles along with his brother Tom took up adjoining land in Gippsland, through the Soldier Settlement Board.  Mavis and her parents lived on the land in their pioneer tents but in February 1920, while Charles was away, his pregnant wife Elsie suddenly died.  A few months later Charles also lost his brother Tom, who had served at Gallipoli.

In April 1921, Charles and his daughter Mavis left Australia on board R.M.S. Niagara, to join his family, on the prairies of Saskatchewan, Canada.  Mavis started gardening with her grandpa Edward Metcalfe from that time and learnt to play cards, before she started school, with her grandma Mary Metcalfe.

In 1926 Charles remarried and Mavis gained a difficult stepmother and two older stepsisters.  Life was often turbulent and Mavis was made to feel guilty, of what she didn’t know.  In 1936 when the family were living in Vancouver, Mavis’s eldest stepsister Ivy, eloped and later sued her mother over her inheritance.  When the case was settled it was decided that the family would leave Canada and return to Melbourne.

Mavis talks about her experiences during the Second World War at the Maribyrnong Explosives Factory and her subsequent transfer to Australian National Airways, where she met new challenges and her destiny.