Ian Murray
| Town/City | ACT |
|---|---|
| First name | Ian |
| Last name | Murray |
| Country of Origin | England |
| Date of Birth | 11.02.1947 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1957 |
| Submitted by | Susan Jolley |
Story
Early in 1957 my father, Jim Murray, came home from work one day and said that Gillette, his employer at the time, had decided to open a factory in Australia and were asking for applicants from various departments. It sounded such a huge undertaking and so far away to us, although when Dad was asked if he would take on the position of Quality Controller, the chance to have a new start in a young, and to us ‘exotic’ environment where the sun shone all the time & endless golden beaches, was too good to refuse.
Finally the much anticipated day arrived – the 18th of February 1957. Being freezing cold and such a special occasion we were all rugged up in our winter Sunday bests, completely unprepared for the four day epic journey the five of us, Dad, Mum (Betty), Myself, Robert & baby Andrew where about to undertake. The flight left Heathrow at 4pm on the Monday, traveling via Switzerland, Turkey, Karachi, Calcutta, Singapore, Indonesia and Darwin, before landing in Sydney at 7am Friday morning to see early morning Sydney already shimmering in the heat.
After such a long journey, Mum and Dad were not impressed to arrive at our temporary accommodation to find that we were all to stay in a single room annex out the back of Oatlands House, a residential Hotel at Dundas. Much worse was the fact that it contained only a double bed that sagged to the floor, two single beds and a cot which fell apart whenever Andrew was put down.
Much to my parents delight after a couple of days a small house was found for us and we moved into relative luxury. It was in this house that we were introduced to the function and schedule of the ‘Dunny Man\’ which proved to be endlessly entertaining to Robert and myself.
Despite trying to acclimatize to these ‘sub-tropical\’ conditions, for quite sometime my Mum was determined that life should continue as normal serving our main meal at lunchtime as we had always done in England. It wasn\’t until Dad pointed out that nobody in Australia ever had a hot meal in the middle of the day and that nothing dreadful would happen to us kids if we broke with tradition that she gave in to the ‘Australian\’ way.
After much searching, on the 3rd of May 1957 we moved into our brand new home featuring our very own indoor toilet, with its ‘press button\’ flush, and began unpacking our long forgotten treasures from EnglandÉ..Our new life had begun!