Joan Southern
| First name | Joan |
|---|---|
| Last name | Southern |
| Country of Origin | England, UK |
| Date of Birth | 19.1.22 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1960 |
| Submitted by | Joan Southern |
Story
My name is Joan Southern, but I was born Joan Birchenall, in West Kirby, on the Wirral Peninsula, Cheshire U K. on January 19th 1922. Our family moved to Heswall in the same area in about 1930, and I was educated at the Heswall Council School, until 1936. I married in 1946, a returned ex serviceman Eric Victor Southern, who had been a prisoner of war in Changhi Prison and worked on the infamous Burma Railway. We met whilst we were both trainee nurses, at Walton Hospital Liverpool U K. Soon afterwards my husband rejoined the army, where he served until about 1959. He was suffering from post traumatic stress (a condition not recognized at that time) and continued to suffer the rest of his life. This condition made it difficult for him to settle into employment and family life.
In 1960 we decided to come to Australia in the hope that we might find a better life for us all.
My eldest sister, Maisie, had been a Queen Alexander Nursing sister during the war and was posted to Italy where she met and married Barnes Handyside an Australian pilot and moved to Queensland to live with him and their new baby. She was followed to Australia by my next younger sister Sybil, and she met and married an Australian and they settled in an area close to Swan Hill, Victoria.
My husband and I and our two children Linda Jacelyn and Graham John arrived in Australia in August 1960 and lived first in a migrant hostel, for a very short time, and then moved to Strathfield in Sydney for employment, until my husband, unable to settle into civilian life joined the Australian army.
Sadly our marriage ended in about 1969. My children married and I eventually remarried in 1977.
Now my daughter has two children and two grandchildren, and my son has four children and five grandchildren.
My youngest sister Margery, with her husband and two children followed us to Australia and soon after my parents arrived in Australia to live for the rest of their lives.