Berend Lok
| Town/City | Griffith |
|---|---|
| First name | Berend |
| Last name | Lok |
| Country of Origin | The Netherlands |
| Date of Birth | 16/02/34 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1953 |
| Submitted by | Libby Lok |
Story
My Opa whose name is Berend decided to emigrate to Australia from Holland in 1953 at the age of 19. World War 2 had decimated Holland and even though rebuilding the country was happening, times were hard. His father and elder brother had just returned from enforced slave labour building tanks in Germany, whilst another two brothers had returned from hiding underground and living in a haystack in a nearby forest and another from Poland who had been working with the Resistance. Coming from a family of eight young Berend had been called up for mandatory conscription into the Dutch Army and decided that the Army wasn\’t for him after living through the perils of war. So he decided to leave either going to Rhodesia to build a railway, or to Australia to join up with another brother and sister who had already migrated there. He chose the latter and with his parents buying his ticket he sailed on the vessel “Johan San Olden Barneveht”, for the cost of passage of about 10 guilders he shared a cabin with 6 other young Dutch men and endured endless seasickness on the five-week journey via the Suez Canal to Melbourne, then Sydney. He disembarked at Sydney where he was given 200 pounds by Immigration at the docks courtesy of the Australian Government.
Berends first impression of Australia was surprise as to how large and vast the country was compared to the Netherlands and how new it looked. He also enjoyed having money for the first time to spend all on himself.
His journey didn\’t end in Sydney. Young Berend then travelled from Sydney to Narrandera by train where his sister lived. He found it difficult to gain employment, as he didn\’t speak English. He quickly found farming work on a nearby station named Uri East with a couple of other Dutchmen who were already employed there and slowly taught himself to read English through cartoons in the newspaper. Berend went on to work as a truck driver through the North and Centre of Australia before eventually settling down back in the Riverina working again on a large Station where he eventually retired and has lived as a true blue dinky die Aussie in the area since.