Too Good to Lose Thread, Whinging Poms...

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Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."~ Mark Twain,

Oddly enough I've just been reading that, I believe that a lot of people were mislead by both governments, but then again, perhaps people had to high an expectation of life down-under.

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You can take the kid out of Brum, but you'll never take Brum out of the kid.

As a teenager and young man I was enamored by all things Australian. I read everything I could get my hands on, and it all seemed so romantic. I think it was an ad in a magazine that led me to inquire about immigrating to Australia. That was probably in the early 60's, because I wasn't married at the time.

It seems that I would have been given a 2,000 dollar allowance,(more if I brought a wife) accommodations, job or skill training, job placement, and a free trip.

That is my recollection, and it was hard to resist. It was family, friends, and loyalty to country that won out in the end.

I don't think I would have been unhappy in Australia, and I thoroughly understood they were recruiting for a workforce, and thus I would be expected to contribute to that, which an American wouldn't have questioned at the time anyway. We still had a solid work ethic.

My family were Ten Pound Poms who arrived in Australia on the Fairsea back in January 1958 and none of us ever regretted it. My father took the attitude and impressed it on us all that we were not leaving home but going home, we were not allowed to speak of 'back home', and I think this was what made the difference. My mother was apprehensive as to what we would find here and I remember her saying to my sister and myself as we walked through the gate to catch the boat train in London that if we didn't want to go to tell her NOW - the guard at the gate said - Gee, Mrs. you've left it a bit late !

We too, were housed in Nissan huts on a hostel at Fairy Meadow, a suburb of Wollongong, and while the accommodation was just what my parents expected it to be, the food was indeed terrible. I have never known so many names for mince - it was called shepherds pie, fish (?) pie, potato pie, vegetable mince........the names went on and on. Hot food was served on cold plates and desserts like jelly were served on hot plates, if you were lucky you got your breakfast eggs and bacon together hot, but if not then either your eggs or bacon were served a good 20 mins apart ! We didn't like having to go for a shower in the ablutions block either since there were no doors or shower curtains to them so Mum fixed up a make shift shower curtain from a sheet. We would often find that the laundry tubs had been used for washing up greasy cooking utensils, too.

After approximately 3 months, my father left the Lysaghts Steel works, which he hated, and managed to get a job with the agents of his old place of work in England maintaining packaging machinery. We moved from Fairy Meadow to a small unlined temporary dwelling on a half acre block of land that my parents bought in Smithfield, an outer suburb of Sydney, and over the next few years, my father turned it into a four bedroom house.

My mother did miss her family but after a trip back to England in 1978 when she found that all the old arguments and squabbles that had been going on when we left were STILL going on, she really settled down then in Australia. My sister and I were happy - we had a horse each which we would never had had in England and although we had left all our friends behind we soon made new ones in the new country.

I have had 3 trips back to the old home town now and I can honestly say that while I enjoyed them, Australia is home - and not just because of the weather.

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Be crafty

Hazel, I wish I had done it years ago, when I too could have got there for a tenner. ( a bit like Ryanair really!)
The weather here is lousy and has been for an eternity.
I have to wait 3 months before I can find a bit of sun in the sleepy town of Ceglie Messapica, where life stops still and the bars never close.
Good on yer. ( this expression, I sought from an English/Strine dictionary)

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Stop at 42, its a good age.

TC, if my sister was ever teased about being a Ten Pound Pom she used to say that in her case she was a Five Pound Pom - they were so pleased she came here that they gave her a discount.

She was 12 years old when we migrated so she came half price.

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Be crafty

Hazel, I've just had the pleasure of reading your post regarding your experience of emmigrating to Australia. I read the link to to £10 Poms that was supplied by Lottie and it made interesting reading. The Australia that awaits would be emmigrants today is far removed from those days long ago, (well the cities are anyway). I note that a letter at the bottom of the BBC article from an Aussie living in the UK puts a different perspective on the view of Australia that we tend to have in other parts of the World. The heat, insects and general differences in culture are not normally thought about.

I had the opportunity to leave the UK and live and work in Australia in 1984, (long time ago now). For a number of reasons I chose not to go and must confess, for a year or so afterwards I had some regrets. Today I'm happy as I am. Life is full of choices and path decisions. I chose to stay here and as such have done things I'd never have done and met people I never would have if I'd taken the other path.

A lot depends on how people adapt to new places and situations as to how well they settle in to their new locations. You obviously did and you were lucky to have a father who quite rightly, in my view, called Australia "home" from the start. I think it's the only way to settle in and also to be accepted by "locals".

Broley, we found that some of the people who travelled on the Fairsea with us and were in the same Hostel didn't even bother unpacking their belongings other than their clothing. They had decided on the very day that they disembarked that they were going 'home' ! In my view that is not giving a new life in Australia any chance at all.

Yes, it is hot here during the summer, yes, there are insects, snakes, etc., but you can cool down by jumping in the pool or the surf and now air conditioning is fairly common.

As for snakes, I have seen some in the wild - about 2 or 3 in 40 odd years. Obviously, those living in more remote parts would see more. A friend of mine living on the Sunshine Coast of South East Queensland had a brown snake chase her across the garden (a 2 acre garden!) once and in spite of the environmental beliefs she holds, she got her husband to shoot it. With grandchildren visiting she wouldn't take any risks at all.

Insects can be a problem but I have yet to see the most dangerous spider, the Sydney Funnel Web, which can kill in a very short time indeed. There is an anti-venom for this now if you can get to the hospital in time. We have had Red Back Spiders on our front patio but not in the house. Cockroaches are the ones I hate so every year I have the pest company come in to spray for them so all I ever see now are dead ones.

Taking it on the whole, I think we have gained so very much by coming to live here rather than staying in England.

As far as culture goes, this depends on the person. If you are interested in only sports (and sport is a culture here ), then this is a paradise but if it is the Arts you are more interested in then these are also available. Another of my friends, who trained with Joan Sutherland and knew her before she went to the UK the first time, was a member of the Australian Opera and also appeared in many of the stage Musicals in Sydney and the other capitals. One of her daughters-in-law started her show business career as a member of a duo with Olivia Newton John; another is a teacher of the cello, violin, piano, etc. and specialises in working with disabled children on whom music has a very beneficial effect. There are Libraries, Art Galleries, Museums, live theatre and, of course, the Opera House. With migrants from a diversity of countries living here now there is a difference in what was available when we arrived and what is available now.

Like any place, you can find what you want if you look for it.

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Be crafty

Hi Hazel.

Your latest post sums up completely the two poles of people who travel anywhere. "Some of the people who travelled on the Fairsea with us and were in the same Hostel didn't even bother unpacking their belongings other than their clothing. They had decided on the very day that they disembarked that they were going 'home' ! Contrast that to, "Like any place, you can find what you want if you look for it." My beliefs certainly fall into the latter category. I'm sure that if I had gone to Australia all those years ago I would have enjoyed the experience and have been very happy there. Circumstances at the time meant that we stayed here. As I said I don't regret it and I believe in making the best of what you have and enjoying what Life has to offer.

I shall watch the BBC programme tonight that depicts the £10 Poms. I didn't realise that the £10 scheme stopped as late as 1982. I thought that it had ceased in the early 70's.

I think it is fair to say that if my marriage hadn't started to go rocky with finally an end to it, I may well have been writing this from New Zealand. There was a similar scheme for NZ in the seventies and myself and now ex were planning on going. It fell through when the marriage problems surfaced.

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I think I am OK. Apart from the usual discomfort of being awake.