Charles CIANTAR
| Town/City | Abbotsbury NSW |
|---|---|
| First name | Charles |
| Last name | CIANTAR |
| Country of Origin | MALTA |
| Date of Birth | 24.02.1943 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1954 |
| Submitted by | Charles Joseph CIANTAR |
Story
I was born on the 24.02.1943 at Qormi MALTA right in the middle of World War 11. My father Carmel was in the MALTESE NAVY during World War 2. After the war he worked as a butcher for 6 pounds a week till 1954. One day his boss told him that things were bad and he was going to reduce his wage by 2 pounds. He was so mad he made up his mind to migrate to Australia. Within a matter of weeks the whole family, my mother & father and 6 children were given the ok to come to Australia. My father arrived in Sydney in April 1954 and started a new life for the Ciantar family. Some 6 months later we arrived on August 1954
We left MALTA around 5th of August on the SS Sydney. At that time I was 10 years old. I remember the the trip well. The voyage took 21days & we stopped at Port Said, Aden, Colombo and the first Australian port was Fremantle WA, then on to Melbourne where half of the Maltese disembarked and 2 days later we arrived in Sydney.
I remember as we come in through the Heads all the green trees and how wild it looked; then I saw Garden Island and most of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. On that day we took the train from Central to Fairfield. As we were on the train I saw the stockyard at Homebush with all the animals. When we arrived at Fairfield we took a taxi to Smithfield. We arrived at 764 the Horsley Drive Smithfield. Smithfield was like a cowboy town, one paper shop and there was a one pump service station and bush everywhere you look, but the biggest shock of was when looked at the living quarters. It was a chicken shed turned into a 2 bedroom and kitchen bangalow with no bath and worst of all no toilet. But we lived happily thereafter and as a man I started my own business as a motor mechanic.
At the age of 29 I met and married Angela Goddard. Angela came to Australia in 1970 and we married in 1971. We had 3 good looking children – 2 boys and a girl; Adam, Jason and Joanne who are now all successfully in business together.