John Gaibor
| Town/City | Bowral, NSW |
|---|---|
| First name | John |
| Last name | Gaibor |
| Country of Origin | Austria |
| Date of Birth | 20th November, 1936 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1955 |
| Submitted by | John Gaibor |
Story
In 1955, my name was Johann Gaisbauer and I left Austria because of dissatisfaction with employment prospects there and an eagerness for adventure elsewhere in the world.
I was the youngest, (18 yrs. old) in a group of 7 young men who had all grown up in Frankenburg in Upper Austria. We travelled from Salzburg to Trieste by train and then from there to Sydney on the Sitmar line ship “Fair Sea” via the Suez Canal. The sea journey was approx. 6 weeks, reaching Fremantle first and then onto Sydney where we disembarked on 3.8.1955.
I will never forget arriving in Fremantle. It was just as I imagined the “wild west” to be. I was excited and impressed with the harbour on arriving in Sydney, but we were promptly transferred to Greta by bus to the immigration camp there, where I spent several days until a job in Canberra was offered to me. After spending approx. 8 or 9 months working there and in Cooma, I then moved on to Sydney and my life progressed in the Sydney region from there on.
In 1965 I married an Australian girl, Jill Zillman, and in 1966, on becoming naturalised, changed my name to John Gaibor. We moved to the Blue Mountains in 1968, where our children Jacqueline and Jonathan were born. After several years employed by the Dept. of Main Roads at Milson’s Point, I resigned so that I could establish my own business as a landscape gardener.
Jill and I both graduated from Ryde School of Horticulture in 1973, the year that we purchased the Pottery Patch Nursery at Wentworth Falls. Our successful landscaping business was combined with the nursery, becoming Gaibor’s Nursery. In the mid 1990s the nursery won best garden centre awards, both at a state and national level. The nursery was sold at the end of 1996 and I retired from John Gaibor Landscapes in 2002.
I never imagined on leaving Austria as an eighteen year old, that I would never again live there as a permanent resident, instead living the whole of my adult life in Australia, where I achieved a happy and successful life beyond my hopes and expectations. I still enjoy visiting Austria, to see relatives and friends, and the countryside and culture I grew up with. I enjoy even more returning to my life and family in Australia, which has grown to include our childrens’ partners and our four grandsons.