Josef ZORC
| Town/City | Hobart |
|---|---|
| First name | Josef |
| Last name | ZORC |
| Country of Origin | Slovenia |
| Date of Birth | 3/7/1932 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1956 |
| Submitted by | Danijela HLIS |
Story
After the end of WWII, where I lived in SOCA, the living was very poor; no work and a political regime;no freedom, very little food. I decided to try my luck, crossing the border into Italy. I succeeded and was placed in Freschette refugee camp. I waited there for four years before I was finally offered a place in Australia and a two year contract.
I left Italy on the SS Flaminia” in March 1956. After one month on the ship with 1100 mostly young men, I arrived in Melbourne and went by train to Bonegilla. I was there for approximately one month and was offered work with the Tasmania electricity commission, building tunnels and dams in the central highlands.
I arrived in Tasmania on the Taroona, went by bus to the Hydro camp at Wayatinah, a long slow journey, with no food from the time I left Bonegilla until about 2 pm the next day when I had some food at the camp.
I stayed in Wayatinah for four years, living in a damp, cold, unheated one room hut, however I ate in the camp mess and the food was good. Later, after I learned some English, I was able to make other arrangements for myself
Some friends I had made in Wayatinah left there and went to work in the tin mine at Stoney’s Creek in the north-east of Tasmania and convinced me to join them there. The pay was nearly double I had with the Hydro. I was still living in a hut, but we could cook, have a fire and showers. Eventually I bought a little cooker and a fridge and became fairly comfortably independent. I stayed in Stoney’s Creek for five years and then went to another mine at Luina near Waratah on the north-west of Tasmania but only stayed there for approximately nine months before leaving for Central Norseman in Western Australia to work again in a mine, this time for gold. After 3 months, due to illness, I returned to Tasmania and found work with a drainage contractor where I stayed until 1997 when I retired.
My first impression of Australia, at Bonegilla, was good but after arriving in Wayatinah in the middle of the wet, cold,snowy winter, I began to wonder what I had come to. However, I have never been sorry that I migrated to Australia and although I never married I enjoyed a long lasting relationship with my partner until she sadly passed away.
I now live comfortably, have good friends, a full stomach and a warm home.