Searching for Billie — an author’s quest to trace his mother’s history in Hong Kong

By Hugo Novales, FCC In-House Journalist

At the height of World War II, amidst Japan’s occupation of Hong Kong, author and journalist Ian Gill was conceived in a prison camp where his parents were forced to stay. After the war’s end in 1945, the couple relocated to New Zealand and Gill was born.

As Gill was growing up, his family split their time in England, China, and Thailand. After finishing his bachelor’s degree and starting his career as a journalist, he worked in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and even Hawaii where he furthered his education by obtaining a master’s degree through the East-West Center.

Curious about his family history, Gill returned to Hong Kong with his mother Billie in 1975 and was surprised to come in contact with Billie’s friends and colleagues from her life leading up to and during WWII. He discovered much more than she ever told him, which led him to embark on a journey to trace his family’s lineage all the way back to the 1840s and write Searching for Billie, his latest book that was published by Blacksmith Books just last year.

Speaking about his book alongside Professional Committee member Philip Bowing at an FCC Club Lunch, Gill gave a detailed presentation on his ancestors’ lives leading up to his own birth. Naturally, the majority of both his book and his talk focused on the life of his mother, Billie.

“I used to wake up in the middle of the night, you know, terrified thinking I’ll never finish this book on my mother,” Gill said.

Despite being so determined to chronicle his mother’s history from wartime Shanghai and Hong Kong, all the way to the day he finally gave her grandchildren and her later passing, Gill joked that committing himself to such a lengthy endeavour was foolish on his behalf. 

“And I said, ‘No, no, no. I’m not going to let go of this book until every word is finished!’ That was probably the most stupid thing I ever said,” he summarised.

Given his close relationship with his mother and her unique, once-in-a-millenium life story, Gill was asked if Billie herself had ever considered writing a memoir.

“She wrote. She had letters… [but] she wanted me to write it. I took too long, but there we are,” he concluded.

To watch the full discussion, please visit the FCC’s YouTube channel: