I am taking part in a discussion this week about the Ten Pound Pom scheme (assisted passage) that operated from 1945 to 1982 to encourage Brits to move to Australia.
I imagine quite a few people from Teesside went.
Has anyone any personal experiences of going or clase relatives etc that went - thyat they are willing to share?
I am currently working on a section called what the Ten pound Brits thought of Australia and what the Aussies thought of the Brits.
I know my parents got the forms in the 1960s, but my Dad didn't want to leave Teesside.
My parents, sister and myself were ten pound poms on two occasions.
The first time we set sail on the Strathmore in 62. I will never forget the colourful streamers that the passengers threw overboard
to their loved ones below or the tears as the streamers snapped as the ship pulled away from the dock.
A young girl aged about ten then started to sing Somewhere over the rainbow which ensured that everyone was in tears except
for me as I was only eight years old and didn't understand the circumstances or the situation that was at hand.
The tears didn't stop after we disembarked in Perth.
We were sent to a hostel on the swan river and it was several months before my parents found work and we moved to suburbia.
Each and every night after all us kids parents returned to the hostel after another day of trampling the city and suburbs for work,
we kids witnessed our parents crying and singing songs from our homelands and questioning why the Australian government had
brought us to this country, which was to only bring more tears.
We moved to Sydney 18 months later and things started to fall into place for us all but the decision had already been made to return
to England once our three year stay had been fulfilled. Apparently, if one didn't stay for the three years, one would have to repay
the Oz gov't the cost of ones fares.
It was within a few months of being back home and having caught up with family and friends that my parents questioned themselves
about their return to England and why? when things had been go so well for us in Sydney.
My parents reapplied to be given a second chance but to no avail.
Instead, they applied to emigrate to America which was accepted and off we went again when I was now thirteen.
It was due to the death of my Nan that my mam returned to England to bury her mam and she decided that she didn't want to
come back to the US. She rang my dad to get me and my sister on a plane home as soon as he could get the money for the fares.
One day after we had all been reunited for a couple of years, my dad came home from work and asked "how would you kids like
to go back to Australia?"".
My parents had again applied to the Oz gov't to be ten pound poms and this time they were successful as my sister and myself
were now of working age and in demand.
I have literally hundreds of stories about our experiences and could go on and on for hours but apart from my dad who didn't
settle and returned to England alone, the rest of us did and have led very happy lives here in Oz.