Gordon O’Brien

Story

My Mother & father decided to come to Australia for a better life – they had 5 children and work in Scotland was getting scarce because of the strikes. It was getting bad so this was the reason we came to the lucky country.

Our Journey from England to Australia was wonderfull, we came over on the Greek Ship “The Ellinese” and we stoped in Los Palmas, Cape Town & then Fremantle.

Fremantle was very quiet as it was a Sunday and in those days none of the shops were open, so we caught the bus to Perth. We were very excited as Perth & Fremantle are both beautiful cities and were so clean. Our cities in Scotland were old and dirty from the starlings as they hadn’t cleaned the buildings up then – that was some time later. We were only there for the day and we then set sail for Melbourne then Sydney. We had to stay in Sydney at an immigration Hostel for 2 weeks as my youngest sister who was only 2 years old got the measles on the ship so we went into quarantine. It was awful as no-one spoke English, and the European migrants had to stay there for up to 2 years but that is another story. We were going to Brisbane which was very large and warm but we settled down in Inala, got ourselves jobs and settled into our new life. We had been in Brisbane for 3 years but dad worked in Mt Isa in the mine for two years to save money to buy a house. When he came home mum booked a holiday for them (I was in Melbourne) down Karumbin in the Gold Coast. My sister took her friend – anyway they were down the beach all swimming when my sister came running saying her friend was caught in a rip. Dad jumped up and so did my brother. My dad ran in the water and helped the little girl but he disappeared under the water. The lifesaver looked for dad but could not see him. Then mum noticed something quite far out. The young man swam out and brought dad back to shore but they could not revive him. He died saving the little girl. There was a citation for bravery and he is buried in the lawn cemetry in Mt Gravat .

My mother and 3 sisters and brother went back to Scotland a year later. It was just too painful for them to stay here, but I did and I have lived all over. I married, had three beautiful daughters and 2 beautiful granddaughters. We live in Darwin. I love this country and have produced 2 generations of Australians. I am very proud and I am so glad I stayed here with my dad the unknown Hero.

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