Esme Van Der Westhuizen

Story

The Van Der Westhuizen story begins in ‘Deo Volente’ meaning ‘God willing’, Kaiser Avenue, Crawford, Cape Town, Republic of South Africa.

We lived in Cape Town. From the age of 19 Edward worked for the Cape Electricity Department prior to transferring to the Tramways Bus Company as a Bus Driver during the late 1950\’s prior to their marriage. Esme\’s father was a minister in the Methodist Church and through him from 1948 onwards she became very involved in the politics of the country. Edward and Esme were married on 2nd April 1960 and moved to Crawford where they had a house and lived with their four sons Ð Eugene, Seamus, Nathan, Dominic, and one daughter, Edwina. Edward and Esme had a strong social conscience and thus became very involved in the struggle for social justice through the philosophy of the African National Council (A.N.C.). The Security Police watched every movement of Edward and not only did they keep a record in his file; but a record was placed in Esme\’s file at the Education Department (Esme worked as a Primary School Teacher). Our phone was tapped and our calls were listened to and our letters between us and Donald, (Esme\’s brother in Australia) were screened. It became very frightening because we were now regarded as being part of the communist movement and we found out that the security police were following us wherever we went.

Having five children under the age of eleven scared us because we thought if we were arrested and sent to jail or Robbin Island what would happen to our children. Donald Braaf, Esme\’s brother in Australia suggested we migrate to Australia and that he was in a position to sponsor us. On October 23rd 1972 we sailed on the Achille Lauro from Cape Town arriving in Fremantle on November 9th 1972 and in Melbourne on Monday 13th November 1972.

Esme received registration with the Public Education Council, however, the State System would not register her because her teacher certificate stated that she had a ‘Coloured Teacher Certificate’ and the administrator felt that it was an inferior qualification because he could not understand what ‘coloured’ meant. In South Africa people were ‘classified’ as being either White or Coloured (anyone without white skin).

During December we bought a house in South Blackburn, the name of the house was Aboriginal Ð ‘Billenya’ meaning ‘satisfaction’ and on 16th of February 1973, we moved to South Blackburn within walking distance of St Luke\’s Catholic Primary School. Whilst at St Lukes, South Blackburn, Esme discovered that married female teachers were not allowed to belong to the Superannuation Fund. This really upset her, so she lobbied for recognition and with the help of the School Consultant, at the time was successful in getting all female teachers and staff working in Catholic schools to be able to become contributors of the Superannuation Fund. Esme later completed some further studies obtaining a Bachelor of Education; a Graduate Diploma in Education (Religious Education) and a Graduate Diploma in Social Science. She retired at the end of 1994 after 40 years of teaching.

Edward found employment with Ventura Bus Company in Burwood. Some time later he found employment as a linesman at State Electricity Council (SEC) later to become the Box Hill Electricity Department. Later Edward was offered early retirement which he accepted and retired from the work force in 1997.

There are currently eight grand children Ð two grand-sons and six grand-daughters. The newest grandson is due to be born in May 2010. God has been very good to Edward and Esme and their extended family; we have been extremely blessed with our life in Australia. The hardships we endured and the turmoil we had to go through to give our family a safe and secure life outside of South Africa was definitely worth it all. Our children have been given the opportunity to be the best they can without prejudice and injustice holding them back. We are extremely grateful that we ended up migrating to Australia for it is truly ‘the best country in the world’.

< Back to the Stories