Bernhard Mittelstedt

Story

For my father Australia meant employment, a free six-week voyage, adventure, owning a house, and safety should the ‘Cold War’ heat up.

Walter Robert Mittelstedt, his wife Ruth Hildegard, my sister Gilda, and myself departed Hamburg in April 1954. I remember, as the Anna Salen left the wharf, tearfully waving to my grandparents and my father saying, ‘You will never see them again.’ I answered, ‘When I\’m grown upÉ’, and he responded, ‘That will take twenty years.’

For a five-year-old the voyage was monotonous. Distractions included the weekly on-board movie, wandering all over the ship and frequently being chased away, watching the African coast, and several trips to shore with my parents. My mother often described an Arab\’s attempt to buy her and the haggling over the price.

We arrived at Bonegilla migrant reception centre (Victoria) in winter and felt constantly cold. My father rigged up a bar radiator, suspended it from the ceiling, and powered it from the light-switch wiring. He attended English lessons and proudly announced the first word he remembered , the word ‘thousand’. In the cafeteria I first encountered a toaster, and regularly sneaked back for more toast.

Next we went by train to South Australia and stayed at Woodside migrant hostel. After that it was the Adelaide suburb of Mansfield Park.

My father built a wooden house in nearby Wingfield and recruited me, then aged 6, to find misplaced tools, straighten bent nails, and do general tidying. He paid me three shillings (30 cents) which bought enough confectionary to last a week. We moved in for Christmas 1955.

My other memories include: Scanning the night sky with binoculars in 1957 for Sputnik I; Planting trees at school on Arbor Day; Saturdays at the Ozone movie theatre in Port Adelaide; and Collecting Australian stamps. In 1959 when television arrived a neighbor often invited me for viewing. The Starline Drive-in theatre, Mansfield Park, had also opened: I often watched movies from outside the fence and helpful patrons turned up the volume of the nearest speakers.

My father did electrical work. He worked for Kelvinator or Holden during the warm months, and in Northern Territory or Queensland from May to October. He returned to Germany in 1963.

My mother worked as nurse-aid and driver for the Spastic Centre. She remarried in 1969 and died in 1993.

Myself, I worked for the Railways but resigned after 2 years to combine travel with temporary jobs. I saw much of Australia and visited many other countries. Including, after exactly 20 years absence, Germany and found both my grandparents still alive.

In 1976 I returned to school via the Mature Age Matriculation Scheme and borrowed to buy a house. At University my finances ran out, but I remembered my childhood stamp collection, and selling stamps got me through.

My sister was intellectually handicapped and went to Hillcrest Institution and Minda Home. In her thirties she learned to read and write, overcame severe stuttering, learned normal behavior with help from the Lutheran Church, and now lives with me.

After our mother\’s death our father visited from Germany and helped me establish a holiday house on Kangaroo Island. He then came to Australia every summer to travel around, and stay on KI with me. This continued until 2006 when he was 84.

My parents\’ decision to live in Australia turned out correct. It\’s doubtful our lives would have been as good anywhere else.

< Back to the Stories