Monika Duell

Story

My father Leo & mother Hertha were forced to leave their home & all their family due to extreme hardship after the war. Food was scarce & family conflicts made life very difficult. My father was sent to some of the worst battles of World War II such as Stalingrad, the Balkans & Norway. It was assumed he would marry one of the suitable local girls after the war. However, great family conflict occurred when he, a well to do Lutheran, chose to marry a Catholic refugee from Sudetenland. My mother had also experienced great hardship when she was interned in a Russian concentration camp for two years. Her family’s welcome to Germany from Sudetenland in rural Bavaria was less than friendly even though she was also a German. Refugees throughout history seem to carry a stigma no matter where they come from. Following the war, my father tried to migrate to Canada, the Amazon (my mother refused to go there with two young children) before Australia accepted him as an indentured labourer. My father had gained an Agricultural Degree in Germany but it was never recognised in Australia. My mother had started her Kindergarten training when the war intervened. She never completed her training.

It was exciting but also very frightening leaving my family, toys & everything that was familiar. I had to leave all my toys especially my beloved blue teddy bear. I was only allowed one toy, a small horsehair teddy. The boat trip out was very scary as my mother was always ill & she had to look after my baby sister Margot. My father was working on the ship to earn some money. I was four years old & was often left to my own devices. I got into a lot of trouble. Once during a storm I climbed onto the ship’s railing & was nearly washed overboard. (it was a dare by some older boys). A man caught me just in time. Some memories & feelings from that time of leaving can still be evoked by sights & smells. I can still hear & see all the chaos, see the different skin coloured & exotically attired people & feel the blazing sun from when we sailed through the Suez Canal; scary but strangely exciting for a four year old.

We arrived in Melbourne in winter. I was so surprised by the brightness & blueness of the skies. I still love the intense blue Australian skies to this day. After being jabbed, prodded, X-rayed & stamped as worthy specimens by the immigration doctors we were sent to Bonegilla for three months. Not a pleasant experience. A foreign, rural landscape, overcrowding, strange food, sickness & more rough doctors.

Eventually my father got a job as an indentured labourer. Our first “home” was a corrugated shed, dirt floor & hessian sacking over the windows. Conditions fluctuating from wet & freezing to dust & blazing heat. And yes, snakes were plentiful. My mother was very much alone & very distraught living in these conditions with a young child & a baby. I remember her sadness, as she cried a lot. It is always harder for the women. Eventually we were placed in a new fibro cottage & living conditions gradually improved. Letters from Germany were highly prized & parcels at Christmas were eagerly awaited as they provided treats that reminded us of our homeland. Despite the harsh conditions I loved the freedom, the climate & the rural environment. I spent most of my childhood exploring & playing in the outdoors, especially in the natural bushland.

My parents gradually made friends with other German immigrants this helped my mother cope with the isolation. We couldn’t afford a car until we had been in Australia for four years, & then it was a 1930’s Chevrolet with horse hair seats & dad had to crank it to get it going. Having transport helped break the isolation of living in rural Australia after the war.

I will never forget my first months at school. The children were generally friendly but the teacher of this one teacher school was a TPI victim from WW 11 & he hated Germans. I couldn’t speak English & obviously I constantly reminded him of his loss. I came to experience racial prejudice & bigotry on a daily basis during this first year at school. In grade one the teacher anglicised the spelling of my Christian name to Monica from Monika. Obviously anything German was unacceptable. These experiences were traumatic & regrettably, I didn\’t change my name back to the German spelling until my late teens.

Ironically, after I left school I gained tertiary qualifications, became a teacher & taught for over 40 years. I married an Australian & we have two children & six grandchildren. I thank my parents for their great courage & sacrifices that they made to emigrate half way across the world just to make a new life in this wonderful country which is now my home.

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