This is a 104-year-old love story of a young boy who wouldn’t let geometry or geography stand between him and his true love. I told a version of this story live on Darling Downs radio 4AK.

On the day before Anzac Day, Monday the 24^th of April 1922, a thirteen-year-old boy John Warren was reported missing from his home “Marathona” on Oriel Road, Clayfield, Brisbane. He was a pupil at Brisbane Boys’ College (BBC) at Toowong.

His father was Charles Warren an engineer and Brisbane tea merchant. His granduncles were John Cameron and James Crombie, both graziers, bank directors, and members of the Queensland legislative assembly for a decade.

Young John left home on his Rover bicycle on the Monday morning, allegedly for the purpose of visiting the new steamer Sophocles which was berthed at Teneriffe having just arrived from England on her maiden voyage. When his disappearance aroused alarm, there was a suspicion that he might have tried to stowaway on the ship.

This, however, proved baseless, and a search of metropolitan Brisbane was undertaken by the police. But it was not for another four days on the Thursday that John was discovered at Glengallan outside of Warwick. He had cycled from Brisbane to the Darling Downs, a journey of more than 150 kilometres.

John negotiated a condition of his return home be that French and geometry be struck out of his school lessons, because both those subjects got on his nerves.

This is a remarkable story, especially when it’s discovered that John’s brother Charles was later charged with unlawfully killing a plain clothes policeman.

John himself became a war hero and was awarded a Military Medal for bravery at Milne Bay in New Guinea during the Second World War. In 1942 in combat against the Japanese, John led his platoon fighting at close range and under heavy fire, advancing across open ground, and despite being wounded continued to lead with determination and complete control.

And if you think Oriel Road at Clayfield sounds familiar, that’s because last year a teenage boy was stabbed there when around 100 gate crashers showed up at an end-of-school party. And on the same road, a teenage boy was arrested for fatally stabbing a man at his house with around thirty partying teenagers.

But there’s far more to the story of John Warren than this.

Back in 1922, the thirteen-year-old John cycled 150 kilometres to get as far as the Darling Downs was not to escape French and geometry, but because of a girl.

A further 60 kilometres down the road living at Stanthorpe was a thirteen-year-old girl by the name of Patricia Denyer. Her father was the retired solicitor Wallace Denyer who moved to Stanthorpe hoping for a cure to his tuberculosis. When he died, his wife Rose and their daughters opened “The Caves” boarding house.

John, as soon as he was able, moved to Stanthorpe himself and set up as an orchardist at The Summit. In 1939, John and Patricia got married at St. Paul’s Church of England in Stanthorpe. Patricia wore a century old diamond brooch that had been passed down through her family. Two years later, John enlisted and became a war hero.

The headline here of course is the love story of a thirteen-year-old boy who cycled to the Darling Downs in a bid to be with his girlfriend. John passed away after they were married for fifty-eight years. Patricia lived for another fifteen years and passed away at the grand old age of 103. They rest together in Warwick cemetery.

And what beautiful lives they were, highlighted by that cycling adventure.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO A VERSION OF THIS STORY TOLD ON RADIO 4AK.

Photo credits:
The Boy Who Cycled 150 Kilometres for Love – Harold Peacock with Copilot.
John Cameron and James Crombie at the Second convention of the Pastoralists Federal Council of Australia, Sydney, 1891 – State Library of Queensland.
The Aberdeen Line turbine steamer Sophocles c1922 – Australian National Maritime Museum.
John Warren – Telegraph, Brisbane, 27th April 1922, page 7 – repaired with Copilot.
John Cameron Warren WW2 enlistment photos – National Archives of Australia.
Wallace Denyer retired Stanthorpe solicitor – State Library of Queensland.