Celia Martinez
| Town/City | Madrid, Spain |
|---|---|
| First name | Celia |
| Last name | Martinez |
| Country of Origin | Spain |
| Date of Birth | 1953 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1962 |
| Submitted by | Celia Martinez |
Story
My parents Deogracias Martinez and Alfonsa Martinez migrated to Australia on the 29th of December 1961 taking me (nine years old at the time) with them. I suppose their main reason for leaving their homeland was basically the same as any migrant’s: to seek a better future. We returned to Spain in 1967.
Many Spaniards migrated in those days. The most likely destinations were neighbouring European countries close to the homeland as well as the South American continent where there was no language barrier. I believe that those few who migrated to Australia — a country at the opposite end of the world and whose language they did not speak– must have been driven by something more than the desire for economic betterment. They were true pioneers.
The flight to Sydney with QUANTAS took three days with stops at Damascus, Karachi, Mumbai (Bombay in those days), Singapore, Darwin and finally Sydney. We arrived in Sydney on the 1st of January 1962. It was a warm and bright summer day.
My earliest memories in Australia are from the Bonegilla Migrant Reception Centre, which I remember as a child’s paradise. But mostly, it is the people I remember. I will never forget the friends I made at the Sacred Heart School, in Darlinghurst: Elizabeth and Nati Dompedro, Elizabeth Astudillo, Linda Patrk (aka Patrick, Ljuvitza and Violet), Anne Chalker, and Lucilia Rosendo.