Irmgard Kraly

Story

The war had ended and Germany was not in a good state. We had escaped to the west side of Berlin but our home and business had been in East Germany so there was not much keeping us there. In addition, the Russians were all around and we were concerned they would invade and take over all of Berlin.

Many people were emigrating to Australia and Canada. We were not sure which was the better destination but the Canadian ‘rep\’ was at the hairdresser so we spoke to the Australian ‘rep\’. He showed us pictures of Australia, including one of the Royal Flying Doctor Service. My husband, Alois, who was into aviation, was very impressed and decided that Australia was the country for us.

We first flew to Frankfurt to take the train to Schweinfurt, the emigration camp, before going to the American camp, Crohn, in Bremerhaven. In Schweinfurt, our then 7 year old son Claudius, tired from all the travelling, asked ‘Are we almost in Australia?’ Little did he realise how far from Germany it was.

We were emigrating as Yugoslavians as my husband was Croatian. On the Fairsea, a former troop carrier, there were many Germans as they had just started to be allowed into Australia. The ship to Australia took 5 weeks going via Naples where many Italians came aboard. After Naples, there was a distinct aroma of garlic on board! We were able to take English lessons which my son didn\’t like. He kept on throwing his pencil overboard to avoid studying. Our daughter, Christa, fortunately had a much better attitude to learning.

After our long journey, we were looking forward to disembarking. Unfortunately, as it was ANZAC day, we had to wait moored at the dock until the next day. At least we will never forget the date of our arrival.

We took the train to Bonegilla. Looking out the window we thought a bushfire must have destroyed all the forests as there were dead trees everywhere. We found out later that what we saw was typical Australian bush. Bonegilla was a large camp with dormitories for men and women. The supervisor told us to be careful when going to the latrines because of snakes and red back spiders. We were terrified. The buildings were made of corrugated iron which were not wind proof and were very cold. We were beginning to regret our choice of country!

After the camp we got a single room in a house in Wodonga and my husband got a job in Bandiana while our children went off to boarding school in Geelong. We had a tiny kerosene stove on which we cooked our meals. Life was hard and we could not afford to buy fruit. After I got a job in the wool mill things got better. We visited our children in Geelong riding on our two BSA Bantam125cc motorcycles.

One day my husband was asked to go to a government office to have work arranged for him. He went to the office and explained he had a good job in electronics in the army but the office insisted he cut cane in Queensland. He was lucky they let him stay.

We then moved to Seymour and into a whole house. The children came back to live with us. Alois worked with the army in Puckapunyal during the day and I got a job at the knitting mill.

Our next home was a ‘Fibro\’ in Tallarook. We were able to buy it because a kind acquaintance lent us the money without any collateral. We really enjoyed life out there in the country.

After many years, we moved to Melbourne to live in a freshly built brick veneer house. We arrived in Bulleen with all our possessions in a semi trailer only to find the house was not finished. Fortunately many of our kind neighbours helped us out until the water and electricity got put on. We had our third child, Desiree, there.

We started up an electronics and TV business. Later we were able to build a holiday house at Lake Eildon which was close to Mt Buller. The summers saw water skiing and swimming, the winters saw us snow skiing.

We had a wonderful life here; Australia gave us that opportunity.

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