Loss of Memory

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 4, 6 January 1937, Page 9

Loss of Memory

STRANGE SYDNEY CASE GIRL MOURNED FOR DEAD SYDNEY, Dec. 24. A remarkable case of amnesia has come under notice here. Whilo relatives were mourning the death of Brenda Quinn, a 22-year-old dressmaker, was found working in a hotel at Maroubra, several miles from where she was last seen. Her mind seemed clouded and she could not recognise her mother and brother. After a swim at Bondi Beach, Miss Quinn left a girl friend, saying that she was going back to the water to wash the sand from her costume. Two hours later she had not returned to tho dressing room, and finding her clothes untouched, the friend reported the disappearance to the police. Miss Quinn’s mother was preparing, several days later, to go into mourning, when a friend of tho brother brought information that he had seen Brenda working in the Maroubra hotel. Lapses of Memory. "From the first,” said Mr. Quinn, ‘'l was unable to believe that she was drowned. I went to her dressmaking shop and started to make inquiries. Those in the shop said that for the last few weeks Brenda had seemed to suffer temporary lapses of memory. When my friend told me he had seen Brenda, I went by car to the hotel, and I knew her, at once, but she had no recollection of me. I just picked her up in my arms, took her to the car, and brought her home. It was, of course, a great shock to my mother. She still does not know how she left the beach, and before she went to sleep that night, mentioned several times, "I want to go back to my job.” Injury in Motor Accident.

It appears that several weeks ago Miss Quinn was in a motor-car which overturned, injuring her and several others. She suffered head injuries, which, it is though, have caused er state of amnesia. She is now being attended by a specialist. After she left the beach, Miss Quinn, it is believed, wandered until she reached her shop, and there secured two frocks. It is also thought that she applied through an agency for a position, and thus secured work at the hotel. And all the time she was not aware of her real personality. She actually denied her identity to a man who thought he recognised her as Brenda Quinn, and said that her name was Buckley.