Peter & Vivienne Craig
| Town/City | Bowral |
|---|---|
| First name | Peter & Vivienne |
| Last name | Craig |
| Country of Origin | Zimbabwe |
| Date of Birth | 2/2/45 & 9/5/51 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1976 |
| Submitted by | Peter Craig |
Story
Reason for leaving homeland – The election of the Mugabe Government and the immediate drop in standards. Birth of our first child, Lara, and a heightened awareness of where we felt that she should could grow up with a future assured.
We left Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe) in 1975 on an odyssey to see the world and experience as many countries as possible – and then we could make a decision about where to settle if things went wrong in Africa. Our working-holiday journey took 6 years and we worked in England, New Zealand (Sept 1975-76), Australia (Oct 1976-77), the USA and visited Europe, SE and East Asia, Canada and Central and South America on our travels. Whilst in Australia we received permanent residence (1976) but continued on to complete our trip. On arriving back in (now) Zimbabwe (1980) we tried to resume our lives in Africa but found the the appeal of our right to settle in Australia permanently too strong and returned in early 1982.
We enjoyed Australia and did not find it and the people too dissimilar to what we had left in Africa. There was no difficulty in being accepted and we became citizens as soon as we were eligible. We also had a network of Vivienne’s father’s Australian wartime friends (from his flying days in the Middle East as well as POW Camps) to contact – and we were made most welcome.