Telesforo Ybasco was from Camarines Norte, Philippines and came to Broome after 1901, working as a pearl diver until his retirement. Telesforo was also known as Broome’s first barber.

He married Theresa Marquez, who was of Filipino-Japanese heritage, in Beagle Bay in November 1917. Theresa was an orphan among the aboriginal group brought up in the Beagle Bay Mission.

Her mother was Omito Serotama, and her father was Basilio Marquez. Basilio is a Manilaman who was born in April 1861 and came to Australia in 1879, where he later worked as a diver in Broome. Telesforo and Theresa had twelve children. They later went back to the Philippines with their younger children, Annie, Theresa, Betty, Peter, James, and Rosie.

Magdalene, the narrator, is their sixth child. She recounted that her siblings got married and settled in the Philippines. Magdalene left
Broome when she was 15 years old and married a former prisoner of war, Camille Edward Van Prehn. They lived in Holland for 30 years
before returning to Australia.