Lieselotte FISCHER

Story

Born Lieselotte KARGL in Wurzburg, Germany and raised in Landshut, Bavaria. Worked as a Certified Clerk doing shorthand, typing and bookkeeping for the Council Chambers. During this time she met and fell in love with my father Siegfried Fischer. After their 1st child was born they moved to South America where they married and had two more children. They learnt to speak Spanish fluently and enjoyed living there, especially in Maracaibo. These were their honeymoon years and they went to the beach at every opportunity and ate fried fish and chips. They were young and enjoyed a freedom of life they were not able to experience in Germany after the war.

After 7 years living in Venezuela they headed back to Germany in 1957 but after a couple of years they found it hard to live under German rules and regulations again after the freedom they had experienced in South America. Once again they decided to search for peace and freedom overseas this time in Australia but there was one little hitch, I was born in 1959 and couldn\’t travel until the age of 2. So we left for Australia on the Castel Felice 19 August 1961, from Bremen and arrived in Melbourne on 21 September 1961. Mum suffered from seasickness along the way and due to this was never tempted to do a cruise later on in life. She reminded us that in those days it was just a way of transport, not a luxury holiday like cruises are today.

Mum stayed at Bonegilla with 4 children and actually said it was a nice time because we had made friends with other families who had come over on the same ship. The only complaint I remember mum had was eating mutton, even the smell of lamb would remind her of it later. Dad meanwhile secured a good job in Sydney and they bought an old terrace house in an inner city suburb with views overlooking the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Mum\’s priority was always her children, she was involved with the school and never forgot the first time she met the Headmistress, she had blue hair. Our family outings on weekends included picnics at the Botanical Gardens. We attended street parades like the Waratah Festival, the Opening of the Sydney Opera House and did the lap around the Homebush Olympic Stadium. Mum enjoyed crowds and being a part of these big events like cheering for Australia at the Sydney Olympics. She never tired of the view of the city and the harbour, particularly all lit up in the evening.

In 1967 mum gave birth to her 5th child. That made our family complete because mum said every time we moved countries she fell pregnant, so we are staying here! Dad worked with the PMG Country Install Division which kept him away from home for weeks at a time. These were the hardest times for mum being home alone with 5 children, she would get homesick for family and friends in Germany and this was made even worse when she would stand by her upstairs bedroom window at night and hear the cheers of goodbyes from the Birchgrove Terminal as the Empress of Australia would leave for Tasmania. She would watch the ship sail out into the Harbour and be reminded of her farewell and those loved ones she left behind in Germany, her mother, brothers and sisters. On those nights she always cried herself to sleep.

As the 70\’s came, times got better. We moved to the outskirts of Sydney and purchased a lovely home, complete with a landscaped garden and a swimming pool. We now felt like we were in paradise. Mum loved gardening and was amazed by Australian soil saying you can grow anything here. Birds of Paradise were a favourite. BBQ\’s were on almost every weekend in this happy neighbourhood and by this stage my parents spoke fluent English with a German accent and had made many friends. With the house paid off, my father bought a little boat which he loved to take out on weekends on the Harbour and Berowra Waters. He also purchased a caravanette and we went on camping holidays as far as Queensland and South Australia, complete with our Maltese Terrier ‘Mopsy’. Eventually, they were able to do a number of trips back to Germany, firstly to visit the relatives was a priority and also just to holiday as tourists in Europe.

My parents were the pioneers for our family in Australia and I will always be grateful to them for the hardships they suffered to give us a better life. Sadly our beautiful and fun-loving mum passed away in April 2004 but wonderful happy memories of our journey through life with her will live on forever.

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