Anthony De Pyper
| Town/City | Redlands |
|---|---|
| First name | Anthony |
| Last name | De Pyper |
| Country of Origin | Netherlands |
| Date of Birth | 26thMay1940 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1959 |
| Submitted by | Anthony De Pyper |
Story
Came as a family group with Theo and Nellie De Pyper and sisters Rita, Trudy and Wilma. Father who was a tailor was told that machines would take over his job very shortly so the whole family came. l had just been called up for National Service but as l was only 19years old and my parents said l had to come with them and that’s what happened. We come from Venlo Limburg which is near the German border. We left all of my parents’ family in Holland which was extensive – one of the hardest things for us all to cope with. The only English words which we had been taught were YES, NO, PLEASE, THANK YOU, which made life really hard for us all.
We left Rotterdam in June 1959 on the M.S.SIBAJAK which went to Southhampton in England then through the Panama Canal – New Zealand – then Sydney then arrived in Melbourne on 7th August 1959 at 8pm. We didn’t embark till the next day when friends of my father met us and took us to a house in East Ringwood, Victoria.
First morning in Australia was woken up by the laugh of a Kookaburra wondering who was laughing at me. We went outside to suddenly realise that l couldn’t communicate with anyone because of the language barrier. First train trip l had to go to Melbourne then on to Batman where l had to change trains; didn’t know it wasn’t called Melbourne but was called Flinders Street, just one of the very many difficulties of settling down in a new country. l know my father never really settled here, but my mother was determined to make a go of it.
My parents went back to Holland in 1972; when they came back my father said it was much better here. l took my wife and first daughter back in 1974 and like my father realised that life here is so different. My wife and l and our two beautiful daughters moved to Queensland in 1978 and haven’t looked back. We now have four beautiful grandchildren and live in one of the beautiful bayside suburbs.
This year in August l will have lived in Australia for 50 years for which we are having a reunion in Victoria in August.