I was 19 years old, born and growing up in Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg, when ads about Australia like: “Australia the land of the future, Australia needs young people “etc. appeared in the local newspaper. I was totally convinced that Australia…

Erika Tomczak, Germany, Jan-60

Geoffrey Speldewinde is the 9th, and last, generation in a line of Dutch Burghers. He was born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1953. He arrived in Australia in September 1954 with his parents Charles and Christine, having learnt to walk on the rocking …

geoffrey speldewinde, ceylon, 1954

My mother Valda Malvina, and my sister Velta escaped the impending Russian advance. They were evacuated by the Germans who provided 2 ships which left Riga bound for Germany. The Russians bombed the ship, but did not sink it. The ship put into port …

Andris Branka / Ford, Latvia, 1949

My name is Inge Koettig nee Griese, born in Berlin, Germany, 1925. Together with my older sister and younger brother my childhood was happy and comfortable. We lived in a flat but had a large garden (like an allotment) where we grew fruit, vegetables…

Inge Koettig, Germany, 1951

Paul Koettig born 1925 in Sudentenland, an Austro-Hungarian region absorbed by Czechoslovakia in 1919. A 17th century Austrian king invited Germans to the area promising land for army service. The Sudeten Germans kept their language and culture…

Paul Koettig, Germany, 1951

Thomas Hebbert Boykett came to Adelaide with 3 adult sons of his first marriage and 2 maiden sisters. His ship was the Gipsy, which left Southampton on 15 May 1853, and cast anchor near Port Adelaide the following 15 August. The reason he gave, in a letter…

Thomas Hebbert Boykett, England, 1853

Our country was experiencing a very hard time socially and politically, not many opportunities to young families to progress and specially to have security with limited health and education issues.

Having a sister in Australia for the past four…

Luis Alberto Lopez Medina, URUGUAY, 1974

Reason for leaving homeland – I was unemployed and Australia made a lot of advertising and I travelled on the ten pound scheme from Trieste, Italy. I was a young man of twenty-two.

We travelled on the Fairsea. We sailed through the Suez Canal …

gRAZIANO Smotlak, Italy, 1955

After WW2 my parents wanted something better for their children as far as living conditions and quality of life was concerned. They decided to migrate to Australia to fulfil their dreams. Their dreams were realised and were not sorry that they came…

Geert & Froukje Topma, Holland, 1953

We left for freedom, a better life and opportunities for our family. I grew up with my Grandparents on a property called Gradinje. When I turned 11 my mother and stepfather took me to Buje where I joined my siblings (Anita (9), Anton (5) and Mary (3)).…

Darinka Ballat (nee Abramovic), Yugoslavia, 1962

Reason for leaving homeland – Saw no future for himself in postwar Europe, having been all over the world until the onset of World War 2.

About the Journey – Wonderful month-long sea voyage on the Sibajak with wife and 2 daughters, aged…

Johannes de Regt, Netherlands, 1951

Early in 1943 the Norenbergs family fled their native land Latvia to escape the Russian invasion. With forged papers Father Herbert, Mother Erna, sons Zigmund and Ullis (now known as Eddie) and Ernas father Ernesto Eigners travelled by fishing …

Herbert, Erna, Zigmund & Eddie Norenbergs, Latvia, 1948

Thomas Harold Bowman and his wife Catherine.

Thomas Bowman was born on June 19th 1829, being the 5th son of Edmund and Hannah Bowman of Askham, Westmoreland, England. This is in the Cumbrian area in the north-west known for its Lakes, Wordsworth and…

Thomas Bowman, England, 1855

Smith-Owen Smith and Mary Ann Smith Ð parents of the stump-jump plough inventors.

Owen Smith was born in Surrey, England in 1807. He became very skilled as a carpenter and builder while also displaying an interest in business endeavours. As there…

Smith-Owen Smith, England, 1837-38

I left England in July 1958 with my father and four siblings. I was seventeen years old at the time. We came as ten pound poms. My father’s reason for wanting to leave England was to get away from the horrible weather. He was a school teacher and …

Gillian Baldwin, England, 1958

Olgerts homeland of Latvia was invaded by USSR. He was staunchly anti-communist. Also he was on the wanted list by Russia for having fought against them during the war and he was part of the “privileged” educated class of Latvia. Most…

Olgerts Dreimanis, Latvia, 1948

After 1922, Fascism in Italy gradually grew to the point where Slovenians were ordered to change their names and speak Italian in public. Most Slovenians were content to be a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire for eight hundred years, but Italian…

IVANKA SKOF, SLOVENIA, 1966

GIUSEPPE MANCUSO

Giuseppe Mancuso was born on 20th September 1925 in Rocca Di Caprileone, a small town in the province of Messina, Sicily.

He was the second son of Natale Mancuso and Carmela Paparone.

He married his wife, Carolina Vitanza in October…

Giuseppe Mancuso, Italy, 1956

I arrived in Australia in March 1971 with my parents and two brothers. I’m not sure why my parents decided to go to Australia, I think it was the promise of a new life and an ad my father saw in the newspaper saying “come to sunny Australia”.…

Jeanette Rapp, Germany, 1971

My father Giuseppe married Itala, my mother, in the Friuli region of Northern Italy, after returning from the front. My father was born the illigitimate son, to my paternal grandmother Amalia. He was conceived whilst my grandmother cared for her…

Joseph Salvador, Italy, 1961

William Painter, England, 1839

Arriving in Sydney in 1951, during the hot month of February, I boarded the train for Brisbane. There were six people in the compartment , I noticed there was one carafe of water and one glass on the shelf. Settling back to enjoy the view I was shocked …

Leonard Englert, Germany, 1951

Maria Guminski (nee Sonntag) was born on 12.04.1922 in a town called Kurshin in Czechoslovakia.This region was called “Sudetenland” by the Germans and was reclaimed by Hitler in 1938.When W.W.2 broke out, Maria was taken as slave …

Maria Guminski, Czechoslovakia, 1952

Jozef Guminski was born on 18.09.1909 (however some records suggest that it was actually 1906) in Drzewoszki Poland.

Jozef was a Lieutenant in the Polish Army and was captured by the Germans on 28.09.1939. He spent the duration of the war in various…

Jozef Guminski, Poland, 1952

Dad (George) joined the British Army in 1931 (14 y.o.a) but was dismissed underage. He rejoined at 15, served in Germany during 1939-45 war and BAOR post-war to join the ARA (at Australia House, London). A paratrooper in 16 Para Brigade he intended…

George Jackson, England, 1953

Having lost my parents to Tuberculosis at a very young age of five, I was a self made man. I completed a Masters degree in Organic Chemistry in India and was working as a Research Chemist in a pharmaceutical firm. My ardent desire was to complete a doctorate…

Jayant Bapat, India, 1965

Ludwig Georg Folger was born in Cologne, Germany 25 July 1935, the 3rd of eight children of Jacob and Margarethe Folger nee Forsbach. Despite WWII their life was allright until winter 1944 when they were forced to evacuate from their Brueck home to…

Ludwig Folger, Germany, 1958