Kurt Gahler

Story

I was born on the 19th June 1939 in Pratteln at the outskirts of Basel Switzerland where I spent the first 22 years of my life. After high school I served an apprenticeship as an electrical fitter at Schindler Waggon Company, they were manufacturing trains and trams. I finished my apprenticeship with Schindler in 1958 . In 1959 I did my compulsory army training then moved to Geneva to learn French for 12 months.

In 1961 I got itchy feet and I wanted to go and see the world especially visit that ‘far away land’. I emigrated to Australia, left family and friends behind and had a wonderful passage on the P&O Liner Oriana which arrived in Fremantle on the 25th August 1961. The first two years I spent in Sydney working for an elevator company and learning the language and getting used to the Australian way of life, once I was pretty good at it I bought a car and took off around Australia working here and there doing all sorts of jobs including fettling on the South Queensland Railway .

I really fell in love with Australia but I was still too young to settle down and I wanted to see more of the world. In late 1965 I left Australia and emigrated to South Africa where I worked for Otis Elevators in Cape Town and Johannesburg, after three years in South Africa I wasn\’t really happy with the apartheid system so I left and emigrated to Canada where I had a fabulous time until winter came along which just got too cold with Ð40deg C freezing. I dreamt about the beautiful beaches in North QueenslandÉ

One day I hopped in the car and drove south through the United States, Mexico, Central America to Panama. Bad luck the Panamanian border was closed since the army had just overthrown the government and the silly buggers were shooting at each other. After 11 days hanging around the border they let us through. I got rid of the car for a bunch of coconuts Éand after a failed attempt of crossing the jungle into South America I returned to Panama City where I caught a plane to Medellin in Colombia and with local buses, trains and hitch hiking I went through Ecuador, Peru through the Andes into Inca country followed by Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil once in Rio De Janeiro I had to make a decision. I didn\’t have enough money to return to Australia I just had enough to re-emigrate to South Africa. When I applied for the re entry visa the Ambassador asked me what my profession was, I said I was an Electrician and he said ‘I don\’t believe you , you are a professional immigrantÉÉ..’ I had to be nice to them and tell them how I missed South Africa and allÉ..well he let me in and I got my job back with Otis Elevators in Johannesburg.

After 12 months I applied for a re-immigration visa at the Australian Embassy in Pretoria and I was very excited when they put the re-entry stamp into my passport as it was my dream to come back to Australia eventually. I returned to Sydney worked for Otis Elevators and I met Helen Smart of Minto who made sure I am not going to travel any further by myself and 6 months later we were married and after 12 months in Sydney we moved to Perth in 1972 and built a house in Morley settled down and had a family of 2 girls, Michelle and Monique and a boy, Glenn. On the 28th September 1972 I became an Australian citizen and I am proud of it.

From Otis Elevators I changed to Elevators Pty Ltd. in 1973 which was part of the Lend Lease Group. I started on Tune & Test then became supervisor and in 1979 I became Service Manager. I left in 1982 and I started working for myself. In 1987 I went back into the lift game with Johns Perry Lifts which became Boral lifts. In 1990 I went back to Elevators Pty Ltd. which became Kone Elevators. I worked on Tune & Test . I retired in July 2001 and joined the great volunteer group at the Historical Tram Society at Whiteman Park in Perth. In 2007 we made a sea-change and sold our house in Morley and moved to the fabulous retirement village of Novacare in Busselton.

On my lonely roads around the world I used to sing this great song of Slim Dusty:

Let\’s sing a song about Australia

The more I travel the more I know it\’s worth

Let history turn and toss

About this Land under the southern Cross

My friend, it\’s just the grandest place on earth

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