Erwin Beckmann

Story

My wife Ida and I left Germany in 1954 with our three children, aged from 9 months to 6 years. We could not see any future for our children in our town & we wanted to better ourselves. I had finished my Middle School in 1948. My job as a plumber was secure but the lure of adventure was too great. Ida went to the agency for the Immigration forms. We sent them completed to the Australian Embassy in Hamburg. The request came for an interview. We hired a VW car and all five of us went to the Embassy. Within a few days we received an answer, together with our travel itinerary.

We packed our travel bags, sold our belongings, took the train to Bremen to our transit camp. After 3 days we boarded the “Castel Felice” and left Germany. The tour went through the Bay of Biscay & the Straights of Gibraltar. Our first port of call was Pireus, Greece, then on Port Said, through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea into the Indian Ocean. We loved every minute, because our next destination was going to be the Australian harbour Fremantle.

We were broke, but with our only money, a Half English Crown, I bought six oranges for the childen. Our first impressionwas very pleasant, but we missed the kangagroos. The Australian Bight was rather rough, but we made it safely to our final destination, Melbourne on the 11/11/1954.

The ship was unloaded and we went by train to our migrant camp, Bonegilla. It was quite a new experience, due to the strange vastness of the countryside. Out three week stay at Bonegilla was also something different as expected.

Early December we went by train to Sydney. At arrival the families were split up, men to Villawood Hostel and wives with children to Skyville Hostel. This was hard for all of us until we were reunited after three weeks, on the 23December 1954. We liked the new customs and especially the environment. I used my school English to find employment at Lysaght in Chiswick.The work was dirty, hot and hard, but the pay was good. My workmates were from all different countries, but the comradeship was excellent.

After three months, I passed my trade test as a plumber and was employed as leading-hand pipe-fitter until we moved to North Narrabeento to rent a temporary run down shack. I was lucky and found a job in Dee Why the next day. Sometime later I was able to buy, with a small deposit, an old Oldsmobile car which I needed for transport. I bought an oxy-acetylene set.

I noticed in 1956 an advertisement for “supply and install” pipe handrails to the Rehab Centre in Mt Wilga. Because of my prize, I ended up with my first metalworks contact, but to make enough money for my family I worked a few more years as a leading-hand plumber at the Housing Commission Project in Dundas Valley.

With a few saved dollars we were able to pay a small deposit on a 5 acre property in Quakers Hill. My brother-in-law and I worked on weekends & evenings to build poultry sheds & our 12×24 ft temporary dwellings for my family of five. Not big, but comfortable!

In 1958 we decided to start our own firm as “Metalworkers”. We built a shed with only two sides and a roof, bought an electric welding machine and taught ourselves to use it. Our first fabrication contract came from the Navy at Darling Harbour, which we completed with a work force of three men. This contract opened an “important door” to several Government and Building Contracts. We bought an industrial property & had to employ many more men, as well as apprentices. We started as E. Beckmann & Co, which later became E. Beckmann & Co P/L. Over the years we had an average of 25 to 35 tradesmen employed. Some of the projects in Sydney were the 33 storey Commonwealth Centre, the Reserve Bank Building, the Internatiuonal Airport Sydney, the 40 storey St Martins Tower, Pitt Street Telephone Exchange, Westmead Hospital, NSW State Office Buildings, Institute of Technology as well as the Parklea Prison; also many Westfield Shopping Centres & their Head Office building and many more. In Canberra we worked on the High Court of Australia, Mint Building, part of the new Parliament complex and many more.

I Feb 1985 I had to “throw in the towel” because my wife was very sick & I had heart problems & other illnesses. I had had enough, I could not go on any more; I had to close our factories due to ill health. We landed in Australia without any money in our pockets but when we closed the business, I was proud to be able to pay all employees their dues, including their super contributions. All suppliers were paid, and I had someting left over for ourselves. I had retired, but now I had a full time job looking after my wife & myself. I bought my first computer in 1994 & started our famiy history, manly for the children. I published “Our Life in the Sun” & had 110 copies printed.

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