Joseph & Jeannette Portelli

Story

Joseph & Jeannette Portelli, my parents, were British Subjects living in Turkey and had to leave their homeland as Turkey was neutral during WW2 and could not guarantee their safety. They together with my Sister Charlotte, 11months old, left Istanbul for Egypt via an island off Turkey. Here they stayed for a couple of days, three families in one room, one bed and a million fleas! From here they went by boat to Israel and from there by train to Cairo, Egypt. Here they were housed in a large sports stadium, which had a glass roof, this meant that everytime there was an air raid day or night everyone had to go outside for their ‘safety’. My Dad in the meantime joined the British Army, Montgomery’s 8th Army, and this meant Mum and my sister were alone in Cairo. Their air raid shelter during the German bombing raids was a date palm tree.

After 11months of this Mum and my sister were transported to India where they spent the remainder of the war. Mum contracted malaria and as quinine was in short supply suffered for quite a while till she received this medication. The British had also put a German doctor in charge of the health care of all the people in the camp! It was later discovered that he was selling medication on the Black Market and giving the people placebos!

My Dad spoke little about the war, but I know that he went from Bengahzi in Libya to Mombasa in Kenya. From the little he said I don’t think it was a time he wanted to remember.

My Maternal grandparents and aunt , Alfred, Elizabeth and Josephine Dimeck also were evacuated to India and managed to spend some time with my mother and sister. The Family spent time in Bharatpur and Coimbature. My Aunt Josie met and married Nicholas Portelli in Coimbature they had one daughter who died within days of being born from what we can only assume was heart failure. Both Mum and my Aunt married men with the same surname even though they were not related.

After the war Mum, Dad and Charlotte came to Australia on the troopship Manoora, arriving on the 21 August 1947. It was not an easy time for them as a lot of Australians did not like or want foreigners in their country. There was little or no assistance, even though Dad was an ex-serviceman. They settled in Adelaide for a couple of months and then came to Sydney. Dad left mum and my sister at Central

Station while he went in search of somewhere for them to stay. This was above a hamburger shop which was filthy. They slept on mattresses on the floor, had a small stove in one corner and commode in another as the toilet in the backyard was too filthy for my sister to use. Mum and Dad could only ‘shower’ once a week after they had emptied out the copper which was full of coagulated soap powder.

From here they moved to Garden Street in Alexandria. Opposite the railway workshops which belched out soot and smoke. This is where I was born in 1950 at Crown Street Women’s Hospital. Mum told me years later how lonely it was there as the Australian women would not speak to her, and she would greet Dad in tears everytime he came to see her. We fortunately had good neighbours in Garden Street, The Gehl Family who were to be lifelong friends. Uncle Harry Gehl insisting he drive Dad to the hospital to bring mum and me home. Eleven months after I was born Dad had a serious accident after scaffolding collapsed and he broke his hip. Mum had to leave me in the care of the grandmother. My grandparents and aunty and uncle came to Australia in l948, after having to leave Indian Independence and having spent 12months in Eretrea befor they could come to Australia.

Mum went to work to get us out of Alexandria as the house we were in was really a shanty. We moved to 193 Rodd Street Sefton and my grandparents and aunty and uncle to 195 Rodd Street, Sefton NSW in August 1954. Here we had good neighbours. Shaws, Duncans, Betts. Families.

There was a lot of unkind and sometimes nasty things said and done to these postwar immigrants. Mum worked at Bonds on three occasions and at onetime would be followed to the toilet by two teenage girls who would call her “Pig”- this was because she was a “New Australian’. Having a conversation in your own language brought about “You ‘re in Australia now, speak English”. Others were spat on.

There was a lack of sophistication in this country for people who came from Europe. Things we now enjoy such as al fresco dining were things they left behind 60 years before! Food was appalling. Yoghurt was almost non-existent . My sister had a standing order at David Jones’ Sydney for a quart or a pint each week as it took 2 weeks to come in! No olive oil, olives, salami, broccoli, capsicum,and so many other foods especially chesses.

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