Pirjo Tytti Margit Sampi

Story

When I was six and a half years old, my mother, my brother (5 years) and I left Finland in September 1953 and arrived in Brisbane in mid-summer December. The climate change was a big shock.

Our ship ‘Mooltan’ was a long, lean ship which was on its last voyage and we had many scares in turbulent waters about the possibility of it splitting in half. My mother was very nervous and stressed. We managed language-wise with mum\’s German so that wasn\’t too bad. I remember being very seasick, the Egyptian traders boarding the boat and us having to lock our cabins as we came through the Suez Canal, the celebrations as we crossed the equator and Cornflakes. I couldn\’t understand why people were eating cardboard and then I tried some and liked it.

My father was at the wharf to meet us. From Brisbane we had a long car trip in an open utility to Mt Isa in 40 degree heat. I don\’t think my mother ever recovered from that whole ordeal given the sunburn we suffered, the mosquitoes and snakes, and discovering how hot the ground can get in the daytime. However in Mt Isa there was a lovely new brick house awaiting us that my father had built. It still looks majestic today.

After the war many Finns decided to flee more potential Russian oppression. My father stowed away on a boat and ended up in the USA. He took work on another vessel bound for Sydney and jumped ship. After that he built houses in Lismore and then headed for Mt Isa as did quite a lot of Europeans because the Australian government needed workers for the mines.

I remember well my primary school years in Mt Isa where I completed Grades 1, 2 and 3 in one year as I learned the language. I still have some friends from those days. I completed high school in Brisbane as the dust from the mines affected my father\’s lungs. He returned to building houses. I became a teacher, married an Australian scientist and lived in the USA and France for a number of years and came back to Brisbane so that our three children could complete their schooling in Australia.

I shifted from classrooms to teaching personal development and parenting to adults as a way of still helping children.

My mother decided to be buried here but a part of me is still a Finn. It took me thirty odd years to go back to meet my relatives who all still remembered me and I\’ve been back many times since. Although I am in Australia and a citizen this contact with my family is important to me.

Pirjo Tytti Margit Sampi (married surname is Dickinson)

Born 28 March 1946, Helsinki FINLAND

Migrated to Australia in 1953 Ð now living in Brisbane

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