David REEDS

Story

My Father, Terrence Sidney REEDS (born 1936) & Mother, Josephine Ella (born1938) decided to emigrate to Australia with their 4 children, me, the eldest, David Martin (born 1960) my sister, Mandy Susan (born 1962) my brother, Stephen Kevin (born 1964) & my youngest sister, Carol Pamela (born 1965), because they felt it would offer a brighter future & better opportunities for them & their young family.

Dad had been in & out of work & recently a neighbour’s daughter had left school & had trouble finding work in our area. My parents pondered that if it was hard to find work for 1 child, how much harder was it going to be for 4? In the mid 60’s the English papers were writing a lot about Australia, young families were especially encouraged to migrate, so Mum & Dad went to the library & wrote to Australia House for leaflets which would help them to see what life for a young family would be like. The only recollection I have of this time, is of a picture of a child coming home from school, jumping in a puddle, under a bright sun, I thought it looked like fun.

We departed England as ൒-Bob Tourists” from Gatwick airport, I remember my Grandparents, Aunties & Uncles at the airport to farewell us & I recall a few pound notes being shoved in my Dad’s top pocket at the last minute. We boarded a Qantas V-Jet 707 at about 4:30 pm on the 26th July 1968 & arrived in Sydney at about 6:30am on the 28th after fuel stops along the way, where we had to remain on board; 1 stop was in Bahrain where the authorities came on board & sprayed the plane with some foul stuff. When we looked outside there was just sand & soldiers with rifles, my brother & sisters & I thought it was all very exciting, but Mum & Dad couldn’t wait to fly out of there. We were allowed off the plane in Singapore. My only recollection of the flight is playing with a matchbox car in the aisle with my brother.

On arrival , my 1st impression was that it was cold & overcast, I recall seeing a balloon sail up into the sky between some high rise buildings. Mum & Dad have since told me that as we were coming in to land the captain announced it was the coldest July morning for 10 years & we had just left a very nice English summer. We had to wait in a freezing bus while they found a lost Yugoslav family, we then drove through the back streets of Sydney, past grubby little houses, some with no front gardens. Mum & Dad looked at each other & said “Oh what have we done”, but from then on it was all good.

On arrival to Cabramatta Immigration Hostel, we were allocated our accomodation. In those days it was like old army huts made of corrugated iron & looked like a long large cylinder cut down the centre and laid on the ground.

7 days after arriving in Australia I celebrated my 8th birthday & Mum & Dad presented me with a battery powered robot that they had bought in Singapore & managed to sneak on board without me noticing.

I have fond memories of our 18mth stay at Cabramatta Hostel, I recall getting up early so I could get to the food hall and ask the ladies serving breakfast for the free plastic toys that came out of the corn flakes packets, I think they were called camel train. I also remember making friends with boys from German, Italian, Greek & Turkish backgrounds as well of course other Poms, Scots & Irish lads.

We eventually moved to a rented house in Kingswood then onto a Housing Commission home in Whalan (near Mt Druitt) until Mum & Dad built their own home in South Penrith, we moved there in 1972 & Mum & Dad still live there until this day.

Like a lot of Pommie migrants Mum & Dad’s main circle of friends were fellow immigrants from the United Kigdom but there was also a good support group to help them through what must have been difficult times. I cannot imagine myself traipsing off to another country with 4 young kids aged 2-7.

The only regret would be that my siblings & I missed out on our grand parents, but we have all enjoyed the open air living, the weather, the great camping holidays, the relaxed friendliness of the people, the lack of class distinction, & Mum & Dad reckon they would not have been able to buy a house had we stayed in England.

Today the family is spread along the East coast of Australia from Penrith to the NSW Central Coast, Port Stephens & the Gold Coast in QLD. I married a beautiful Australian Girl, Jennifer Louise Lyons (born 1962 in Maitland) & we adopted 2 fine sons, Jordan Robert (born 1995) & Ben Isaac (born 1998).

All 6 of us Pommie migrants have since been naturalised Aussies. Mum & Dad have 8 grand kids. Over the years I have travelled the World but cannot imagine living anywhere else; this country offers space, freedom & beauty unsurpassed. It is truly the best country in the World to raise a family

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