Colin Page
| Town/City | Adamstown |
|---|---|
| First name | Colin |
| Last name | Page |
| Country of Origin | England |
| Date of Birth | 19/08/46 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1/19/2014 |
| Submitted by | Colin Page |
Story
After the 2nd World War my father decided to migrate to Australia away from Europe. That was his excuse but I am sure that after being in the Royal Navy for 10 years including the war years, Dad could not settle down and still had the travelling bug so he packed up and paid for the 10 pound passages for his wife and 3 sons and sailed to Sydney.
We sailed from Southampton on the S.S. Esperance Bay – the ship was an old cargo carrier and the holds were converted into cabins. I was only 4 years old at the time and do not remember much but we did sail through the Suez Canal to Aden and broke down in the Indian Ocean for 3 weeks till they got the ship going again. We called at Colombo in Ceylon and the Ceylonese came out in their boats to sell us wooden elephants and other goods.
We arrived in Fremantle WA and I could not go ashore because I was in hospital with the measles and wasn’t allowed to leave the ship. We sailed to Melbourne and then disembarked in Sydney. From Sydney we caught the train over the Blue Mountains down the Lithgow Zig Zag railway to a hostel in Bathurst. Being in the middle of summer we found it very hot after the cool climate of UK.
From Bathurst we caught the train and travelled to Sydney to a hostel in Rooty Hill . Dad worked for the Harbour Trust. Mum and Dad struggled in those early years with a few tea chests packed with all our belongings and starting out in a new country. But as it turned out it was for the better for our family.