Note from the Editor:
This article was kindly written for the SDC by member @Doctor Alan.

As we sit in our beautiful home in Queensland surrounded by all the ‘mod cons’ and the comfort of a beautiful climate and excellent standard of living, I can’t help harking back to the early days when we first arrived in the ‘lucky country’.

I emigrated from England with my parents and an older and younger brother in 1955 when I was 11 years old. In England I’d just passed what was then called ‘The Common Entrance Examination’ to allow me to attend a Grammar School. When we arrived in Australia, having spent 5 weeks on the P&O ship Orsova we were put first into ‘transitional’ accommodation in Marrickville, then into a ‘housing settlement’ at Bradfield Park near Lindfield in NSW.

Because my father was a teacher, we didn’t have to live in the ‘Hostel’ part of Bradfield Park but had part of a self-contained gable-roof hut to make our home for the next few years. We had our own kitchen and sewered toilet – the huts had been constructed for the RAAF, and that service always looked after its personnel a little better than the Army or Navy (the new houses being built nearby had a septic system for toilets!). The Hostel part of the ‘camp’ had a communal dining room and public toilets, so we were very lucky.

My Uncle Don’s cartoon of our arrival in ‘Sydney’ in 1955! Image source: Alan G

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[beachgoer]

I so enjoy reading your articles

 

[lonelyasacloud]

Great story, thank you. I think we are known as “ping pong poms” because we emigrated and re emigrated 3 times. No regrets, it was fun

 

[Pommyoz]

I was a ten pound Pom. Had to reside here for two years or pay the fare back. The transport I had was airplane, and really wished I went by ship, what fun that would have been, better than being held at gunpoint, items confiscated by Tehran police. That was terrifying for a newly wed 19 year old. Memories of that flight are etched, yet many people still don’t believe me.

 

[Reet]

I was a ten pound pom in 1966 together with my husband and two children,. My son was 3 years old and my daughter was four and a half months old. We were treated by the chinese crew in the dining room on the ship as if we were less than human and would be ignored instead of being served with meals. Luckily one of the waiters who was not assigned to our table noticed what was happening and served us himself.

When we got to the hostel at East Hills we were alloted a quarter of a nissen hut with very little room to move around. The hot water was in a tank on stilts without a top and when it came down to the bathroom nearby the water was black with soot-like particles in it. Some of the kids on the ship had measles and the rest, including my kids, came down with it after leaving the ship. Luc kily my sister was resident nearby with her husband and family and we were able to go to her several times per week for a decent home-cooked meal. We also found that when we went to shops to purc hase anything we were treated with suspicion and asked if we had money to pay for the items. This was because other poms prior to us had bought things without paying up front and left the hostel still without paying and without leaving a forwarding address.

Altogether our time in the hostel was a nightmare.

 

[Macarj]

I so enjoy reading your articles

We came as 10 pound poms in 1961 and we lived in those half round tin sheds for 3 years in Berkeley NSW

 

[maggiej]

I came to Australia in 1948 on the Asturias with my parents and two sisters. I loved the journey out because my mother and one sister were seasick so being almost 10 years old I had the run of the ship. When we arrived in Fremantle my mother"s cousin met us as he had a car and took us to her Aunt"s place via Kings Park. We were staying with them a few miles from the city but it was a shock to our mother as the toilet was the type you had to empty and bury yourself. In the Uk we had not long moved into a new house with all mod cons of the time. My Dad got a job and he eventually converted a large shed/ garage into a 2 bed rooom accommodation for us but he wanted to do better so we moved to the country. I met my husband in a country town he was a child migrant so he has an interesting tale to tell. We have just recently celebrated 68 years of marriage. We have been back on holidays to Uk as he still has relatives in the Uk

 

[maggiej]

I enjoy reading Alan's stories

 

[Pommyoz]

Just remembered: we stayed in the Orana Hostel, Annandale, NSW., and because my husband had a job transfer, we left after a week and a half. Well!!! we were told we had no brains. Live here like us and save up for a deposit on a house. Bragging they had lived there off the government for 7 months, and nearly saved for their deposit. I never have or never will bludge off any Government.

 

[Hollingworthlake]

I was a £10 Pom arriving with my husband and 3 year old daughter in Adelaide in 1965. We went to Finsbury Hostile (as my husband called it) and our experiences were as horrific as was Alan’s. Hideous toilets where I was frightened to death of the legendary Australia spiders and snakes (but never saw any). We had to take our and crockery to the main dining hall and I got a taste of what it must be like to be a displaced person. Our three year old got very sick with Chicken Pox which she had caught off the Castel Felice in which we had sailed. But things did improve and after staying in Adelaide for twelve months we decided to come to Western Australia where there were better job opportunities for my husband. I’m 1969 our son arrived and we never looked back. I’m so glad we made a decision to come here and after all it was quite an adventure. My children both did well and I completed a degree and worked in a field that I enjoyed so much. I am retired and am so fortunate to have had several years of travelling and caravanning around Australia. I think I have been very lucky even though I have outlived two husbands. Thank you Australia

 

[starrysnan]

My Mum and Dad decided to move to Australia and we had the very stringent medicals before we were accepted and the doctor was amazed that all three children still had their tonsils! It was a time when a bad sore throat would see you in hospital having them out. We sailed on the Fairsky leaving England on 24 November (it was snowing) and headed straight into a bad storm in the Bay of Biscay. I was seasick for 3 days straight and thought I was going to die. We went through the Suez Canal which was amazing and finally docked in Sydney on 26 December. We were fortunate that my Uncle had his own business and sponsored my Dad to work for him temporarily. He also organised a flat for us so we didn't have to live in a hostel. Mum and Dad both got jobs soon after, my older brother got an apprenticeship as a butcher, I was in 2nd form at high school, and my younger brother was starting primary school. Coming to Australia was a good thing for us - Mum and Dad bought a house on the Central Coast when they retired and they said they could never have afforded to buy their own place in England. The kids have all carved out careers, married and settled and none of us could imagine going back "home".

 

[June E]

My husband myself and 2 children arrived in 1968. We came by plane and were treated like royalty, we were met at Sydney airport by a limo ! BUT then we arrived at Bunnerong hostel and came back to earth with a huge bang it was awful. Dozens of long Nissan huts, we had two tiny rooms, a bedroom for the kids the other one we lived and slept in on a plastic sofa bed. The bathrooms were way way down the bottom of the Nissan hut and were disgusting. I wanted to go home and cried for weeks but once hubby got a job and we got out of there it was great.
One heartbreaking thing happened there that I’ve never forgotten was 2 little boys from the hostel got off the school bus directly outside the hostel but on the opposite side of the road, they were hit trying to cross the road and were both decapitated. Those poor parents came for a new life and I can’t imagine how they coped with that

 

[Jillie]

I came to Australia in 1950 as a 5 year old with my mother (my father arrived 6 months before) on the "Esperance Bay" one of 99 children. It took 6 weeks to get to Australia. What I remember all the kids had fun on the ship. My mother made friends on board including a couple of negros. When we arrived in Perth they all went to a pub to celebrate but wasn't allowed in because of the Negro's, so they all walked out. The ship's captain jumped overboard during the journey, and at one stage ran aground and got a hole in the side of the ship near Celyon. We arrived in Australia Anzac day 1950. I have been in Australia ever since.

 

[Reet]

My Mum and Dad decided to move to Australia and we had the very stringent medicals before we were accepted and the doctor was amazed that all three children still had their tonsils! It was a time when a bad sore throat would see you in hospital having them out. We sailed on the Fairsky leaving England on 24 November (it was snowing) and headed straight into a bad storm in the Bay of Biscay. I was seasick for 3 days straight and thought I was going to die. We went through the Suez Canal which was amazing and finally docked in Sydney on 26 December. We were fortunate that my Uncle had his own business and sponsored my Dad to work for him temporarily. He also organised a flat for us so we didn't have to live in a hostel. Mum and Dad both got jobs soon after, my older brother got an apprenticeship as a butcher, I was in 2nd form at high school, and my younger brother was starting primary school. Coming to Australia was a good thing for us - Mum and Dad bought a house on the Central Coast when they retired and they said they could never have afforded to buy their own place in England. The kids have all carved out careers, married and settled and none of us could imagine going back "home".

What year did you come to Australia? We came on the Fairsea in 1966 which was a sister ship of the Fairsky and had a fully equipped surgery on board together with a first class surgeon and staff. The weather was also bad in the Bay of Biscay and no-one was allowed on deck because of the weather. Unfortunately before the doors to the deck were locked a girl aged about ten had gone out on deck and when she tried to get back in the door slammed on her arm. Just as well we had a good surgeon on board as he managed to save her arm. My sister and her family came on the Fairsky a few years before us in 1958 but my brother-in-law had a transfer in his job together with a promotion. We spent Christmas Day off Fremantle as the port authorities were on holiday but were allowed off for the day on Boxing Day. On Christmas Day the ship held a party for all the children on board and the children were given presents by Santa. The person on our ship playing the part of Santa was the younger brother of Stan Laurel the actor.
I had clerical qualifications but my husband was a jack-of-all-trades and my qualifications were ignored when he was interviewed for jobs before the ship reached Sydney where we left the ship. They obviously were of the opinion that women stay at home to look after the kids!

 

[Ezzy]

Enjoyed reading your story Alan. Thankyou for sharing with us. We often hear second hand about conditions at some of these hostels but you have shared this direct.

Thankyou to all other members who shared their harrowing memories of life in these places. All experiences here are certainly nightmarish & l feel not something new families should have had to endure.

My brother & his wife lived in a Nissan hut when he worked @ the WEST AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT RAILWAY WORKSHOPS in Midland W.A. I know when we visited them in summer with our heat, the conditions were terrible. The only good part about this for them was the cheap rent offered.

 

[Rujam]

We were 10-pound Poms, we left Liverpool on 27th Oct. I was 23 my hubby was 30 on the ship and my eldest was 3 and my other son celebrated his 2nd birthday on the ship too which was the Fairsea. We arrived in Fremantle on the day of Pres. Kennedy's assassination. We caught a bus into Perth and I will never forget the newsboys calling out "Kennedy dead". We arrived in Melbourne and were taken with another family to Nunawading Hostel, Nissen huts again, and stayed there for 18 months till my husband was offered a job in Albury NSW. We were glad to get away as the flies and mosquitos were dreadful and we had no fly door or screens. I lost my 1st Aussie baby in 1966 then had a daughter in 1972.