Richard & Priscilla Clements

Story

Richard and I arrived in Australia on the 25th May, 1968. We left as the prospects of our family heritage of being Anglo Indians were slowly but surely being eroded and our children\’s future was our priority. We made the decision to immigrate.

We flew by Air India and landed in Perth on a freezing May morning, after going through immigration at Perth we flew on to Sydney, to start our new lives. A life that we are proud to say has been the brightest and most successful in every sphere.

Upon our arrival into Sydney we were met by friends who had sponsored us into Australia. Mr and Mrs Elias were the parents of a childhood friend, who immigrated several years prior to us. We rented a room in the then Raffles Hotel on Bondi Beach at a mere $20 per week. We arrived on a Saturday and on the Monday Richard made his way to the Commonwealth Employment Centre. He was immediately sent to Garden Island as there was a vacancy for a fitter and turner. We were excited that the job came so quickly and he was earning $70.00 per week.

I had found out before leaving Bombay, India, that I was pregnant, so we found a lovely 2 bedroom unit off Bondi beach, on Wairoa Avenue, which we snapped up to rent. I found a part time job and life here was wonderful. We became Australian Citizens in August 1969. Just 12 months after we arrived.

Our first child Stuart Noel Clements was born on the 7thDec, 1968. My parents arrived for his birth and to give me a hand with my new born. We were blessed with our second son Andrew Graham Clements on the 21st April, 1971. By this time we had bought our first home in Werrington, Western Sydney . This was a castle to us for 30 years, until we moved in 2000 to Glenmore Park. Our children attended local Catholic Schools.

Our life in Australia has been a blessing. Our children are happily married and we have our second generation Aussie, a gorgeous little girl Leah Ashley Clements.

Both Richard and I have never looked back or wondered about, what it could have been like had we not immigrated. The fact is we were nurtured on the plains of India, as Anglo Indian, our ideals and morals were inherited from dignified Anglo Indian parents. Our ethics and principles were moulded, sculptured and metamorphosed, on the plains of India. We are both proud to be of Anglo Indian decent, who grew up in India and who are now very proud Australians, who possess poise, sang-froid, dignity and self-confidence. We carry, with pride, our ethnicity, the fact and truth that we were born in India. Yet we hold no emotional or spiritual connection to the sub continent in our adult years. We are complete and wholly aplomb with our life in Australia but our background is the bedrock of our being, the Australians we proudly are today and the place we will always call home.

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