John McCully

Story

I travelled to Australia with my parents and two younger brothers. I was 12 at the time. Our father had worked in the shipyards of the Clyde river in Glasgow but he saw little future for us 3 boys in that part of the world. As it transpired he was correct. The shipbuilding industry is all but dead in Scotland.

We came by ship and the trip took 6 weeks because the ship (“Cameronian”) broke down and we spent a week in Malta for repairs. The voyage was an adventure. Ports such as Malta, Suez and Aden were beyond what any Scottish-born 12 year-old could envision. Life on ship was one discovery after another. Sleeping on deck coming through the tropics and having to get up and away before the crew hosed down the decks with sea water (they waited for no-one). Playing bingo organised by the crew. Table tennis on a moving ship. Meals served by someone other than your mother. All of these were part of a voyage of excitement. Our journey was through the Suez Canal (before the 1956 closure). The on to Colombo and finally, seeing Fremantle as the first glimpse of Australia.

Having come from a small village, seeing major cities like Melbourne and Sydney with buildings that seemed to go up forever was all new and exciting. I recall the “Shell” Building neon in Melbourne had somehow lost its “S” so it read “HELL” instead. Our mother, who never really took to life in Australia, apparently thought that was apt. Of all of us she was the one who stuggled most with the new world. Even so, she admitted she could never again live in Scotland and had to admit her quality of life was greater here than would have been in Scotland. Despite that, all members of our family have made a fullfilling and marvellous life in Australia. My parents are long dead now however, my brothers and I all have children to Australia-born ladies and we have all taken them back to the “Old Country” to see whence came their respective partners and it has given them a greater understanding of how brave our parents must have been to undertake such a journey with little money and a lot of hope.

We would all agree Australia has never presented a major problem to us. There are now, collectively, two more generations of McCully’s now born here and they, in turn, are starting to enjoy the benefits of the work that their respective parents have done here.

Regards

John McCully

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