Perth Voice Interactive

ALFRED MARSHALL died in 1947 but you might still see him after you’ve downed a few shandies at the Queens Tavern in Highgate.

His ghost is rumoured to haunt the pub, where he’d perished at the age of 64 after falling down the back stairs. His body wasn’t found till the next day.

His wife Myra used to pick him up but she was visiting family in Denmark at the time and learned about his demise on the radio.

The spooky tale is one of many interesting stories to be told about Alfred’s life in the forthcoming documentary, Alfred Loves Myra, to be made by great-granddaughter Eleanor Bunter.

Despite no previous movie-making experience, Bunter is one of three to win the Vincent film award.

Based on her idea for the documentary she was awarded $4000 cash and $1000 in-kind equipment hire from the Film and Television Institute.

The 33-year-old will get help from FTI staff to shoot and edit the film later this year.

“I’ve heard from a few people that Alfred’s ghost still haunts the back stairs at the pub, but the hotel manager denies it,” she laughs.

“Alfred had such an amazing life: he married Myra, who had an illegitimate daughter, in the 1940s, which was unheard of at the time, and fought in World War I.

“He had a policy never to smack children, which again was very unusual for the time, and every morning would stoke the fire and bring my great-grandmother a cup of tea in bed.

“In many ways he was a progressive and ahead of his time.”

Alfred worked as a French polisher in Povey’s on Newcastle Street and was awarded medals for his service in the Great War.

The coupled lived in a little semi-detached on Lincoln Street in Highgate. After Alfred’s death, Myra moved to Barlee Street where she lived to 97.

Alfred Loves Myra will include interviews with Alfred’s two daughters—now 80 and 76-years-old—and archive footage: “My nana’s a bit nervous she won’t know the answers to the questions,” laughs Bunter, who is mother to seven- and five- year-old girls.

“I said ‘You will, it’s your history!’”

The film will be shown in Hyde Park as part of Vincent’s annual summer concert Series.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK