I haven’t thought about her for years. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m going to visit Greece, maybe I’m getting old. Perhaps it’s just walking along this path above Leighton beach in North Fremantle on one of the first days of summer. I notice the reminders of people who have walked along here before.

The name Marina Gregorious rolls off the tongue with its regular rhythm, connotations of the sea, spirituality and Ancient Greek meaning: “watchful/ alert”.

But there is also that long ago photo of the two of us, young girls in the East African sun; no hats, flimsy strapped sun dresses, already freckled faces, cuddling a cute rabbit.

I was going through old photos, arranging and culling. I found myself back in my African childhood, in small bush stations and then in the school room at a gold mining township in Tanganyika ( now Tanzania). I think she was one of my two friends in the small, isolated settlement in Geita, the administrative centre of Lake Province. The mine school was a long drive away. I travelled grumpily and unwillingly to school each day over bumpy, sandy roads.

It was also a place I looked forward to at weekends. My family were popular members of the Mine Club. The Club was the hub of social life, and for my brother and me that was Schweppes soda and Smiths crisps, weekend bribes. Jumping off the diving board into the swimming pool, our parents safely inside at the bar.

I think the photo was taken in her garden when I went to play at my friend’s house after school. On the back of the photo is written Neville found this in one of Buster’s drawers in the office. Neville was my father’s boss, the D.C (District Commissioner), and the message is from his wife. The date is unclear but I presume was found in the desk my father occupied during his last posting. That was in 1957/58 when we left East Africa and returned to England as Independence approached. Three years later, December 1961, Tanganyika gained independence.

Now I look at the photo again, I see that Marina is holding the rabbit very firmly. I’m sitting next to our dog Dandy. Interesting that my memory is that it was me with that rabbit. ( Was I holding it before or after the photo was taken)?

Gregorious. A Greek root, and a German/ Dutch name. Not one of the British crowd who formed most of the Colonial Service world of 1950s East Africa. Perhaps her father was one of the skilled workers/bosses imported from South Africa. Perhaps a Dutch Afrikaner to manage the 2000 African workers in what was then the largest gold mine in the region. Geita mine in the late 1950s with its tight, white, social circle, school and hospital, is a whole other story.

It’s her name I remember. Marina Gregorious. The joy I felt that afternoon as I sat with her and the rabbit,

Now of course my parents are not around to ask about places and friendships. But it’s enough, surely, to recall the joy of having a friend, holding that rabbit and the music of her name .

So Marina Gregorious, wherever you are, you are remembered with joy.