Franz Pirchmoser (Part 2)

Story

Part 2

The storm lasted for a week or so – I was told if we\’d slowed down & synchronized the ship\’s speed with the waves, the heaving & shaking would have been less. Most passengers including myself were sea sick. I believe I got sea sick as soon as I boarded ship as the smell of fresh paint upset me. Looking at the ship from a distance at Fremantle Harbour, large rust coloured marks below each porthole & around the railing told of passengers suffering over previous days. At Fremantle we were allowed ashore. On the pier stood a caravan converted to a bank where I exchanged English pounds for Australian pounds & bought apples & other fresh fruit.

2 or 3 days later, in July we arrived in Melbourne Harbour – it took all day to be processed by immigration officials. At dusk we boarded a train for Bonegilla. We stopped about half way in the middle of the night at some town for refreshments. There was a funny smell & everybody kept asking ‘what is that funny smell’. It turned out to come from a barbeque set up on the siding where mutton sausages & chops were being cooked. Most of us had never smelled or tasted mutton but we were hungry & game. In Bonegilla camp, mutton was a common fare & we all got used to it. We slept on upturned farm gates with five issued blankets & we were cold.

On leaving Bonegilla we were given a small blue passbook into which we were to enter our addresses from every place we went during the 2 year stay & have it stamped each time in the local Post Office. I was in Bonegilla about 3 months waiting for a placement – 6 of us were sent to Ford Motor Company in Geelong. The company did not know where to use us so they put us all on the motor assembly line. My position was a roving one, replacing absent assembly line workers. When we started, 19 to 21 V8 motors were produced & some time later the production was about 90 motors a day. It was a sweat shop – no toilet doors & clothes locked up until knock off time.

I was with Ford 6 months until my English improved then went to a machine shop in Geelong as a milling machine operator that produced parts for the Commonwealth Aircraft Factories. I tried to find work in my field but there was none. Nobody seemed to know what a Scientific Instrument Maker did. I remarked about this on the Austrian Government answer sheets & soon after skilled migrants were stopped from coming here.

I traveled & worked in different parts of the country including North Queensland. Advised to join the Australian Military Forces for possible recognition of my qualifications, I joined the Army & enlisted for 3yrs. I had to hand in my Austrian Passport to immigration & I became a 13 star rated instrument craftsman in the Corps of RAEME. I experienced some discrimination from some superiors.

In 1957 I met my present wife; we married in 1958 & had 2 children, Karl & Lisa. I welcomed the expiry of the enlistment but was forcibly encouraged to sign up in the reserve for a further 5 years. I\’d completed my evening studies of electronics in Brisbane & begun correspondence study with BIET (British Institute of Engineering Technology) for membership of IEE Aust.

In the Brisbane Telegraph; April 1, 1958, the front page headline was ‘BIG LINER SINKS, 1100 saved after Skaubryn Blaze. The 9,786 ton Norwegian migrant ship Skaubryn caught fire & sank in the Indian Ocean today. All passengers & crew had been rescued by the 7000 ton British ship, City of Sydney etc. So the ship I came out on was now at the bottom of the ocean.

1961 – I joined Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Authority as a Laboratory Officer with the Electrical Test Centre. For 13 years I was active in most areas of engineering but specialized in testing & commissioning large electrical & mechanical plant & was promoted to Senior Technical Officer. With my family I lived for 7 years in Cabramurra, then Cooma & the last 3yrs in Talbingo. In 1974 we purchased the Squash Courts & Caravan Park at Tumut NSW. The complex incorporated a flat & house where we lived.

After selling the business at a great profit we moved to Sydney but didn\’t like the traffic, lack of parking space & general crowding. We moved to Canberra in 1981 where we have lived since. I became a contractor/consultant for some large companies who serviced the Commonwealth & local public services. I was engaged for 4yrs on construction of the Lower Molonglo Water Quality Control Centres (LMWQCC) & for 5 years setting up computerised Building Operational Maintenance Management System (BOMMS) at the new Parliament House. We own our home, & have traveled extensively in Australia & overseas &, I have been credited for my military service by the issue of the defence medal.

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