Dennis Braddon

Story

We had two young children back in 1972, one of whom is a son who would have automatically, at the age of eighteen, be called up for National Service to fight on the Borders. We did not want him to be sacrificed for a lost cause and felt that the future of the kids lay in a safe and better country.

We left Port Elizabeth by steam engine to Cape Town which took two days but so exciting as these engines were eventually replaced with diesel powered engines. We embarked on the Italian passenger vessel “Marconi” for another exciting journey of about fourteen days to Fremantle. The kids had a good time and the food delicious.

I personally was very homesick but was impressed with the cleanliness of Fremantle Harbour and, the layout of the two parallel quays reminded me so much of the Harbour in Port Elizabeth but not as clean as Fremantle. We were met at the Terminal by a kind gentleman with whom we had been corresponding with for a year and, he took us up to our hotel in Perth in his car. We all gaped at the clean streets and buildings with the Swan River flowing through the City and were suitably impressed and have never looked back since then.

< Back to the Stories