Ellen (Nell) Amenda Baker was born in England on 15 January 1896 (and died on 18 May 1975, aged 79). John (Jack) Albert McPhee was born on 1 December 1896 in Dunolly, Victoria (and died on 23 November 1965, aged 68). The McPhee and Baker families began their enduring connection when Jack, who was working at his father Robert McPhee's bakery in Terang, Victoria met Charles Baker who migrated from England to Melbourne, arriving on 13 January, 1913. Charles had worked his passage as a ship's baker, he was 21 years old and had four pounds to his name. Charles worked at the McPhee family bakery, lived with the family and he and Jack became friends. Jack enlisted in the Australian army during World War I. Charles suggested Jack visit his family in Southampton where he met Charles' sister Nell Baker. Nell worked as a scullery maid for a shoe and slipper manufacturer. Nell's mother asked her to reply to letters Jack was sending to the Baker family when he went to the battlefields in France, and the relationship was kindled. After the War ended, Jack remained in England and he and Nell married on 12 April 1919. The couple boarded the SS Demosthenes at Southampton on 26 July 1919 and landed in Melbourne on 14 September 1919 where they initially lived with Jack's parents in South Melbourne where Robert (Jack's father) had opened a bakery. The McPhee and Baker families remained friends and their descendants are still close.

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