Johannus Christianus and Jacoba Theadora Penders
| First name | Johannus Christianus and Jacoba Theadora |
|---|---|
| Last name | Penders |
| Country of Origin | Netherlands |
| Date of Birth | 19th Sept 1900 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | Mar-51 |
| Submitted by | Wilhelmina Penders |
Story
“Jo” and “Jacky” and their 3 grown up sons left the Netherlands for economic reasons and flew to Australia by KLM in a Constellation. The whole journey took one week as navigation in those days was impossible by night. They landed in Canberra via Darwin and Sydney.
They managed to find 2 rooms for accomodation in Hall ACT, and as this was too small to accomodate the whole family, the twins lived for 3 months in the Riverside hostel, the site for the present day lakeside apartments in Barton.
“Jo” found work straight away with the Department of Parks and Gardens, where he did the seminal work for the Botanic Gardens. His 3 sons found work in the building industry. His next most pressing need was to find accomodation for his whole family, and as he liked the friendly people of Hall he decided to build the family home there.
Both “Jo” and his sons worked every spare minute on the house and managed to finish it within 13 months of arrival, in time for their 25th wedding anniversary, which was duly celebrated by the whole village. Both “Jo” and “Jacky” enjoyed their life in Hall as both were keen gardeners. Despite the lack of water in Hall in the early years “Jacky” had a garden full of flowers and “Jo” had a vegetable garden as well as chickens and ducks, a small orchard of apples, pears, plums,apricots, peaches, loganberries, figs, nectarines, grapes, lemons and a variety of berries.
“Jo” Penders passed away in April 1974, and Jacky passed away in June 1992. They are both buried in the Woden Cemetry in WODEN ACT. Their 3 sons continue to live in Canberra.