Sheila Mary Florance (24 July 1916 – 12 October 1991) was an Australian theatre, television and film actress. She played numerous roles in the Crawford Productions before playing Dossie Rumsay in the rural series Bellbird but became best known internationally for her performance as elderly, alcoholic convict Lizzie Birdsworth in the television series Prisoner.
Florance, born in Melbourne, Victoria, married an Englishman in 1934 and sailed to London. She spent World War II in England. Her early career was based on the London stage. Her first husband died in action following the 1944 Normandy landings.
Returning to Australia in 1948, where she started performing locally as a theatre actress, before entering films and television series. Florance had a reputation as a teller of extraordinary stories and in the 1950s she was known for her house parties. Florance died in 1991 from lung cancer, a week after receiving the AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her final film.
Biography
Early life
Florance was born on 24 July 1916 at 42 Carrington Grove, East St Kilda, Melbourne. She was the eldest daughter of costumier Frances Josephine (née Lalor) and school teacher James Horn Florance. Sheila had at least one sibling, Peter John Lalor Florance (1923-2008).
Educated at Presentation College, Windsor, she left school aged 15 and with her father's support she began to take an interest in acting. To further her theatrical ambitions she took small parts with the Melbourne Little Theatre at St Chad's in South Yarra.
One of her first successes was in February 1935 when she appeared in John Hastings Turner's play The Spot on the Sun, which was staged by and starred visiting English actress Ada Reeve.
First marriage and move to England
On 19 April 1934, at the age of 17 and following a whirlwind romance, Florance married visiting Englishman Roger Lightfoot Oyston at Holy Angels Catholic Church, Balaclava. The following year, Florance and Oyston had a daughter, Susan. The family travelled to England, where they lodged briefly with Roger's parents in Deepdale Avenue, Scarborough, Yorkshire, before moving to a house in Shaftesbury Avenue, Bridlington. The couple's first son, Peter, was born on 20 May 1938.
With war in Europe looming, Roger enlisted in the Green Howards as an officer cadet and received his commission to the 2nd Derbyshire Yeomanry in July 1941. Florance joined the Women's Land Army and moved to live and work on a farm near Bempton. She often recounted a tale in which she had a second daughter, Bridget, who was blown out of her arms during an air raid on Bristol in 1941, leading to Florance requiring psychiatric care. No record of Bridget's birth or death has survived, and her eldest son Peter was never able to confirm the story.
In 1942, Susan and Peter were sent away to boarding schools but later returned to Mill Farm. In June 1944, Roger Oyston, now a captain in the 2nd Derbyshire Yeomanry, was second in command of C squadron. He landed in France as part of the Invasion of Normandy and went missing in action around Escoville near Pegasus Bridge on 19 June 1944. Florance was informed that her husband was missing but she did not receive the telegram informing of his death until the following year. The couple's second son, Philip Michael, was born in September 1944. After returning to Australia, Florance often told stories that while in Britain she had worked with Emlyn Williams' company British Drama League, the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA) and the Oxford Repertory Company.
Second marriage and return to Australia
After the war, Florance met Polish airman Jan Adam "John" Balawaider who had served in the Royal Air Force with 158 squadron until he was badly injured during an attack on Wanne-Eickel on 2 February 1945. On 3 September 1946, he and Florance married at Holy Cross Church in Hucknall, Nottingham.
The couple decided to leave Britain for Australia. There were complications; having married Balawaider, Florance had acquired Polish nationality and was classified as an alien. Balawaider had war service credentials and was able to fly ahead to Australia, but Sheila Florance had to deal with official obstacles before she and the three children could embark on the Aberdeen & Commonwealth Line vessel Esperance Bay on 6 March 1948.
Upon arrival in Fremantle, Peter Oyston recalled his mother "ran down the gangplank ahead of everyone else and against the orders of the Captain or the crew, and knelt on the soil in the port, and then grabbed a handful of gravel and started eating it, and saying, 'Oh, Australia, Australia, I'm home, I'm home. My lovely country."