Christopher Ricardo

Story

I am the great great great great grandson of David Ricardo, the English founder of ‘political economy’. He seems to have used up most of the family success genes. After graduating from Reading University in England in agricultural science and having no clear idea of a career, and having already explored America and Canada while at university, I decided to take up the Australian government’s offer of a single ticket out for 10 pounds, conditional on a 2 year minimum stay. I became a 10 pound pom.

I took the opportunity to travel as far as possible, so I could work my way back over the next 2 years. This meant flying from London to Sydney, being met by my aunt and her friends who put me under a shower, before putting me on the flight to Hobart.

I was determined to avoid family contacts and try and find my own level in Australia. However, as a concession to my mother, I agreed to stay a week or two with a friend of my step-father, a Colonel Parker, his wife Claire, and son, David. They lived in a neat suburban brick bungalow over-looking the Cadbury chocolate factory. Claire, possibly justifiably, was obsessed with the dangers of catching hydatids from dogs, and I found it strange to have to wash my hands every time I touched their little dog.

Hobart gave the impression of being the home of a few big colourful fish in a small pond, at least in regard to the intelligentsia. In the real Tasmania, the Hydro-electric Commission seemed to control the government, in a way I had not seen performed by an unelected body before. The building of a new dam seemed to be as inevitable as night following day.

After 3 happy months with the Murrays on a returned soldier’s farm at Ouse, I temporarily cut all ties with ‘contacts’ and with a car and very little money, I drove north to see what fate would throw my way.

Eventually, I moved to N.S.W.., became a nurse, married, and had 4 children.

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