GROWING UP
- Bruce was born in 1948
- Bruce started Primary School in 1954. He went to Preston East Primary School
- In the late years of primary school Bruce joined the St John’s ambulance
- Bruce then went to Ivanhoe Grammar for years 7-11.
- In form 2 Bruce joined the school army cadets and during the 3-4 years he was involved he reached the rank of corporal. Bruce’s main interest in the cadets was signal.
- Bruce left in year 11, did not like the idea of studying, and decided to leave school.FAMILY:
- Father: Harold Owen – called himself Bill which was a nickname that stuck.
- Mother: Eleanor Owen – called herself Gwen which was her second name
- Wife: Joan Owen – Bruce met his wife in 1979 at the Macleod Repatriation Hospital where his dad was staying. Joan was nursing Bruce’s dad and when they laid eyes on each other it was love at first site and they soon got married in 1981.
- Son: Matthew Owen – Bruce’s first child aged 33 years’ old
- Daughter: Melissa Owen – And his younger daughter aged 31.
WORKING LIFE
- At 17 years old Bruce got his first job at the taxation department in Melbourne city. Starting off as filing clerk he then moved into the correspondence section as a mailing clerk.
- During that time Bruce joined the CMF RAASC (Army Reserves) in South Melbourne depot as a truck driver. He stayed there for five years driving trucks full of soldiers, equipment or supplies and in 1971 Bruce left.
- In 1974 Bruce started working at Honda Australia as warranty clerk then onto shipping manager (import & Export) all equipment, cars and bikes. After time in 1991 Bruce was made redundant from Honda.
- In 1992 Bruce started working at BHP (BlueScope steel) and stayed there for 21 years! In 2013 Bruce retired and has never worked since. INTERESTS & HOBBIES:
- Don’t play sport – don’t follow sport
- Likes bike riding – rode a Spanish Bultaco 175cc
- Likes projects – building yachts – has built a mirror 12-foot yacht, sold it and bought a 16-foot quick cat catamaran yacht also enjoyed canoeing and owned a 16ft Canadian canoe
- Likes motorbike riding
- Also loves flying gliders- Bruce started to learn how to fly in 1974 and in 1976 he bought a brand new standard class glider with 5 mates.
- Woodwork
- Welding & tinkering but his main interest is looking after his family!
Bruce Owen interviewed by Brandon Nardone Year 12 Eltham High Student of 2016 apart of the stories of my life project.
