Ludwig Folger
| Town/City | Canberra |
|---|---|
| First name | Ludwig |
| Last name | Folger |
| Country of Origin | Germany |
| Date of Birth | 7/25/1935 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1958 |
| Submitted by | Marilyn Folger |
Story
Ludwig Georg Folger was born in Cologne, Germany 25 July 1935, the 3rd of eight children of Jacob and Margarethe Folger nee Forsbach. Despite WWII their life was allright until winter 1944 when they were forced to evacuate from their Brueck home to Bavaria where life was grim. The family returned to Deutz, Cologne in 1950 and Ludwig became a painter. Cologne was a large city with unlimited work as post war reconstruction was underway.
Four friends who lived in Mathilden Street in Deutz decided they wanted adventure. Migration seemed a cheap easy way to find it. One went into the Canadian Embassy in Cologne, but they were out of forms, so he went on to the nearby Australian Embassy and picked some up. They duly sent them off, never expecting to hear any more. A short while later along came instructions for the things they needed and their departure date from Bremen.
On 9 March 1958 they took the train from Cologne to a ‘camp’ in Bremen where many migrants were waiting to be processed. They left Bremen on the Skaubryn on 13 March 1958, on to Southampton to pick up Scandinavian and English passengers, then on to Malta for more migrants, then to Port Said. In all there were 1288 passengers and crew on the 9786 ton ship, on its 7th voyage to Australia.
The next port, where they would at last be allowed on land, was Colombo. They had eagerly changed their money for the shore visit, but it was not to be. They were approximately 3 days out from Aden, in the Indian Ocean 365 miles from land when the ship caught fire. It was about 9 o\’clock at night and the 1st of April. This was no joke though, they took to life boats and all was not orderly. It was a frightening experience, Ludwig could not swim, not that it would have helped!. Luckily there was only 1 death, an elderly German had a heart attack in a life boat. After some hours paddling in the lifeboat they could see the lights of the City of Sydney, a merchant ship, coming to the rescue. The Skaubryn was well alight with port holes blowing out, but it did not actually sink until a few days later when it was under tow in a salvage attempt. They climbed up a rope ladder to board and the next day they transferred to the already full Roma which took them back to Aden. There they were given the choice of returning to Germany or continuing on to Australia. The four friends decided they had survived that adventure and would continue.
In Aden they were dispatched to the British Military Camp at Little Aden where they were well looked after. Families and women were housed at the recently built Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Aden was an interesting exotic place, sometimes dangerous, like nothing they had seen before. This did not worry the four friends, they thought they were immune to danger after the Skaubryn.
About 10 days later they continued their journey on the Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, a gracious old ship that had been a former Dutch Royal vessel.
They disembarked at Melbourne on 4 May 1958. A rickety ‘cattle’ train took them to Bonegilla migrant camp near the Hume Weir. Thankfully the stay was short. The four friends were separated when Ludwig with 6 other Skaubryn migrants were told to go to Canberra (the other 3 ended up in Sydney). A drunken official from the camp drove them to the Albury railway station and told them ‘not to forget to change in Goulburn’. With limited English and no idea of where that was, they didn\’t get much rest that night!
They arrived in Canberra about midday 14 May and sat in the train waiting for it to go to the central railway station Ð this was the Capital after all and they were sure they were only at the outer suburbs. Canberra had a population of 28.000 in 1958. It was a culture shock Ð Ludwig felt he had gone back ten years in time.
He stayed at the Hillside Hostel (now the site of Parliament House). One unpleasant experience remains in his mind. When he was painting for a contractor at a house in Manuka he was asked to leave the job once they realised he was German. There was still ill feeling from WWII and discrimination against ‘New Australians’.
He found it strange to see that the Hotel Canberra had such a huge long bar and that pubs closed at 6 o\’clock in those days. It was such a different atmosphere to German pubs. The shops closed at 11.30am on Saturdays and the city was dead. Cologne was alive at night and especially at the weekend. In those early days the street lights went off by midnight and buses stopped after the ‘pictures’ finished.
He gradually got used to the lifestyle and settled happily with friends and extended family, following his interests and hobbies. He met his wife Marilyn in 1959 and decided when his obligatory 2 years were up that he would stay in Australia.