mary ellen macdonald

Story

I am a daughter of the Manse and really didn’t want to come to Australia as I am very family oriented and I was happy being a teacher in Canada. But I was working for NATO as a teacher of Canadian servicemen’s children and had established residence in Germany, so came as a $25 special, which technically Canadians couldn’t do, as there was a kind of gentleman’s agreement they wouldn’t take immigrants from each other.

The Canadian Air Force owed me a trip back to Canada so I went back for my sister’s wedding and flew myself to the Canary Islands, a much pleasanter trip in November than the North Atlantic. The boat I was to go on, the Australis, had had a fire and was late arriving (the carpenters were on the ship repairing as it went)and I existed on yoghurt for three days, as I had not budgeted for an extended stay. The trip was very pleasant, if rushed, and if I had been paying full fare I might have resented spending very little time in ports for sightseeing. I do remember we sang Australian Christmas carols, especially the James ones, and I was one of the few people who actually knew them.

As we went down the west coast I wept. I saw absolutely no signs of habitation. I arrived in Fremantle at dark and the government paid for one overnight and the taxi there. The bed and breakfast was run by a Scot and his Australian wife. They wanted to buy the place but the landlord wouldn’t sell, I learned later this was the site of Alan Bond’s notorious Observation City.

I became very ill and tried to go to St John of God which wouldn’t accept me as it did not have emergency services. I did not understand and went back to a bleak apartment I had found. My Christmas tree was a branch of bottlebrush in a beer bottle. Later I tried Osborne Park Hospital and an emergency triple operation saved my life. I had gone to Wesley Church and the next day there were 11 Methodists round my bed. One friend was asked to leave because he made me laugh too much.

I had visited the grounds of the University of Western Australia and decided immediately I wanted to do postgraduate study there. I refused to continue high school teaching as I was used to equal pay for women which was not part of the Australian academic structure. I wrote to Qantas asking about being a stewardess but was told – I was all of 28 – I was too old. So I returned to university teaching. IIworked for two years in the German Department of UWA. Then I began as a part-time tutor in the English Department and started writing a thesis under Professor Max Jones, a friend of my Aunt Helen in Canada, which I completed in 1980. In the meantime, my two children – Kerensa and Andrew – were born here. I also completed a BD from Melbourne University. I had wanted to become a Presbyterian minister and was accepted by the Presbyterian courts before Union; but the unfortunately fundamentalist continuing Presbyterian Church rejected women. So now I am a Presbyterian outside Australia but a member of the Uniting Church inside Australia.

I still love Canada and went back to teach for two years. At the end of that time, I asked the children whether they wanted to stay or return. They were agreed that they loved the “rellies”, the snow, being special; but even at 6 and 9, they felt Australian and wanted to return. So we did.

I married Michael Pauly, also an immigrant but from England. After a successful career in corrosion technology, he began work as a fulltime artist and has been very happy.

I am grateful to Australia for giving me new opportunities and for giving me, my husband and my children meaningful opportunities for self-fulfilment. I have made good friends here and while in many ways I would like to return, I would find it difficult to leave the life I live. I call Canada home while I’m here and Australia home when I’m in Canada. I suppose I’m part of multiculturalism. And I’m happy with the outcome of turning my world upside down in coming.

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