Maria Johana(Ria) Barden ne. Meijerink

Story

My parents Geertruida van Schaik & Egbert Meijerink were married during the second world war, the weddding brought forward because the Germans occupying the Netherlands at that time were transporting single men to Germany.

The hardships endured by my parents during the war and after, included the loss of 2 baby girls thought to be from abmormalities from malnutrition during pregnancy and for being involved with the undergeound Dad was gaoled by the Germans & narrowly escaped execution.

I was born in 1946 and my sister in 1949 with another 2 baby boys dying in 1948 & Jan.1952. With the Dutch government encouraging post war migration my father attended a seminar on immigration and decided the family would have a better life in Australia, and in early december 1952 we embarked on the Fairsea arriving in Sydney 8-1-1953

To me at the age of nearly seven it was a great adventure I remember leaving in the cold all rugged up in coats & hats with my Grandparents, Aunts & Uncles giving us St. Nickolas goodies as it was that time of year. The ship went via Bremehaven then back to the Mediterranian & the Suez Canal across the Indian Ocean to Australia. I remember the traders of Aden wearing red fez hats trying to sell items to the passengers from little boats, making the exchange of goods & money via baskets attached to ropes over the railing. The on-board swimming pool was the first I had seen & was filled with sea water & we children were allowed in till the water level became too deep then it was adults only. It also played a large role in the crossing the equator ceremoney with Neptune arriving in a small boat and many of the men ending up in the pool.

But for the adults especially the women with children it must have been six very difficult weeks living in massive holds converted to dormitories with row upon row of bunk beds with women & children in one section & men & boys in another even the bathrooms were large multiple showers & steel tubs for bathing children, no privacy & no family routine possible.

We arrived in Austalia first stop Fremantle were it was hot, we were allowed off the ship for a few hours & Mum & Dad found out about men only bars. Then on to Melbourne & rain. Then Sydney where we disembarked into a huge corrugated iron shed for customs which I now know were the Woolomoloo finger warves. Family friends met us and took us to accommodation they had arranged in Manly a shared house with bedrooms for us and shared use of kitchen, bathroom & laundry. Dad had difficulty finding work in his trade as his qualifications ( electrician ) were not recognized here, but eventualy he found work in Holsworthy army barracks ( near moorebank) as a mechanic. This involved travelling by ferry, train & bus morning and night with us children only seeing him on weekends.

In February I started school and the adventure ended as I suddenly realised I was a stranger in a new land and had to learn to communicate causing my class mates much hilarity. After 8 months we moved to Moorebank closer to dad’s work. We again shared accomodation this time an enclosed verandah with a laundry doubling as kitchen and bathroom and I changed schools to Liverpool were I became part of a large migrant population of numerous nationalities. By now I was speaking English and school was less of a hassle.

In 1955 mum and dad bought land in Glenfield but were unable to get a loan to build a house due to their age. So dad built a temporary dwelling consisting of a timber floor and frame on pier footings, a large canvas tent they had brought with them was the outside walls. Inside was lined with fibro, a shed next to it became the kitchen bathroom and laundry. Here we lived while dad, while working full time, single handed built a double brick three bedroom house, from digging the trenches, pouring foundations, laying bricks, making concrete bricks for the internal walls to make the second bricks go further.Carpentry of door & widow frames, roof timber and internal fittings. We even helped with holding gyprock for the ceilings.The only outside help was roof tiling which was done by professionals. It was finally finished in 1962, by which time I was 16yrs and had left school, we had lived in part of the house as 3 more children were born. It was impossible for mum to work and help out until they were school age.

After immigration my parents never expected to see any of their family again but with improvements in travel & its cost, over the years they were able to go back & visit with family and some of the family were able to visit us.

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