John Wolczko

Story

I was born Zdzislaw Jan Wolczko on 8Jun1925 in Przemysl in the south eastern part of Poland. I spent my childhood in the town of Drohobycz, now in the south western Ukraine, & was 14 when the World War II began. I have had hair raising experiences under both the Russian and German occupations & when the Russians reoccupied Poland in 1945 I made plans to escape to the West, succeeding in 1946. I travelled through West Germany and Austria to Italy where I join the Polish Army led by General Anders. We were transferred to Britain in the same year & I spent two years in a Polish secondary School for soldiers who wanted to catch up on their studies lost to war. Afterwards I emigrated to Australia.

I sailed with some 400 Polish servicemen from Tilbury in the troop ship, Strathnaver, stopping at Valletta, Malta to pick 350 Maltese families also migrating to Australia. We made further stops at Alexandria, Port Said, & Aden after sailing through the Red Sea in very oppressive heat. From there to Colombo, Sri Lanka & to Australia reaching Fremantle in July. From there we travelled to Adelaide, Hobart, and Melbourne where the Maltese families disembarked. We finally arrived at Sydney on the evening of 10 August & were transported by train to Bathurst Resettlement Camp the following day.

For the next two years I worked as a cane cutter in Tully, North Queensland, as a labourer in planting the Toolara Forrest between Gympie and Tin Can Bay and finally at the Kingaroy Peanut Factory as bagman emptying the loads from the framers in to the shute for processing.

In 1950 I moved to Brisbane & gained employment as a clerk in the Austin Car Company at Rocklea. Early in 1951 I moved on to Sydney working as a clerk in the Sydney Metropolitan Board of works. After a few months I joined the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority in Cooma as Temporary Clerk Grade I in the Commonwealth Public Service until 27Oct1953. I found the place cold & miserable in the winter and returned to north Queensland where I obtained a job as a fettler on the Hughenden-Winton line with the base at Olio. I lasted only few weeks their and returned to Sydney in the late 1953 to work as a tram conductor an the dangerous ‘Foot-board trams’ connecting the eastern suburbs such as Bondi, Clovelly, Coogee, Maroubra @ La Perouse with the Circular Quay.

My life was unstable – I was missing my family and friends in Poland & I needed a family to settle down. I found one by joining the RAAF in 1954. Soon after I changed my name to John Rockney because my Australian mates were given me a hard time concerning my Polish name. I served for twelve years in administrative capacity reaching the rank of Sergeant. In 1966 I finally managed to gain Matriculation Certificate and was offered a place at Monash University but the RAAF would not help me to stay in Melbourne to finish my degree and with great reluctance I had to resign.

By 1967 I was an administrative assistant to the Chief Librarian at the new La Trobe University being built at Bundoora where I also transferred from Monash as a part time student in 1968. I completed a Bachelor of Arts in 1971 & Bachelor of Eduction in 1975. I began my teaching career in 1971 at the Lalor High School, transferring to the Christian Brothers\’ College in 1975 for one year as only way to get my two boys to study there. I returned to State Education Department teaching at Reservoir High School retiring in 1986 due to a nervous breakdown and being place on the Work Care until reaching official retiring age of 65 in 1990.

Towards the end of my teaching career I bought a ten acre property at Leongatha South, near the colourful coast town of Inverloch in South Gippsland. I restored run down land & established a well developed pasture for my herd of cattle sheep. I also established a vegetable garden & built sheds for my free-range chickens. I have also restored a neglected farm house to comfortable accommodation. It was a very peaceful countryside which help me restore my health. However, my age had caught up with me and the cold winters were very difficult to bear. As a result I sold the property and bought a two bedroom duplex unit at Studio Village, Oxenford on the Gold Coast in Queensland where I continue to lead a very quiet and relaxing life as a happy 84yo senior citizen.

While Poland will all always be my fatherland, Australia has become my precious motherland & I have become her faithful & happy son who will always be grateful for the opportunity to erase the terrifying memories of war years in Europe & grow a large Australia family of three children and, so far, eight grandchildren who are allwho are all dinky die Aussies all of them are loving cricket and Australian Rules football.

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