Joyce Bull worked as an airline stewardess on BOAC’s international flights. She helped Evdokia Petrov board the Lockheed Constellation that was to fly her to Darwin on the first leg of her trip back to Russia.
Air-hostess Joyce Bull in her BOAC uniform, 1956. Image courtesy of Miss Joyce Bull.
Miss Bull witnessed the extraordinary scenes of protest as the crowd at Mascot Airport pulled the stairs away from the plane while the Russians boarded.
Onboard, Miss Bull tried to make the distraught Mrs Petrov comfortable and lent her a pair of shoes, as one of Mrs Petrov’s shoes had been lost at the airport.
Later, Miss Bull had a number of conversations with Mrs Petrov in the privacy of the ladies’ lounge of the plane. Mrs Petrov confided that the men accompanying her had guns.
Miss Bull relayed this to the Captain Davys, the plane’s pilot. He passed this information to Colonel Spry of ASIO by radio.
On arrival at Darwin, Mrs Petrov and her escorts reluctantly disembarked while the plane was refuelled. They were met by Darwin’s Acting Administrator and a group of police. Her escorts were disarmed and Evdokia Petrov was offered asylum in Australia.
On 4 April 2004 Miss Bull spoke at the media event held at Old Parliament House to commemmorate the anniversary of the Petrov Affair, where she retold the fascinating story of her experience fifty years ago.
| Joyce Bull remembers. Old Parliament House collection.
Click icon to play 170k audio file |
Fergan O'Sullivan, Press Secretary to Dr Evatt and author of Document H. O'Sullivan is seen here during a film night at the Soviet Embassy, standing behind Mrs Petrov. This picture was taken before the defection. Image courtesy of the Mitchell Library.
Image courtesy of the Mitchell Library. State Library of New South Wales.
The journalist Fergan O’Sullivan was Dr Evatt’s Press Secretary for two months leading up to the events of April 1954.
O’Sullivan was the author of Document H, a series of brief and colourful biographies of members of the Press Gallery.
The purpose of this document was to provide the Soviets with an indication as to which members of the Press Gallery, if any, might be sympathetic to the communist cause.
Given O’Sullivan’s position in the office of the Opposition Leader, the security implications of this were enormous.
The Petrov Affair exhibition was shown at the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House in 2003.
More information is available on the exhibitions page.