Riemke CHRISTIE

Story

Riemke Christie (nee Steegstra), was born in Marrum, Friesland, a small province in northern Netherlands, in 1949, and is the eldest daughter of Watze and Jantje Steegstra.

At two years of age, Riemke accompanied her mother and father when they immigrated to Australia. Riemke\’s father had decided that a better future for the family could be found in Australia.

In 1951, Riemke and her parents set sail on the MS Skaubryn, which was a modified Norwegian freighter. When the weather was fine they enjoyed the journey, however there were plenty of days when passengers had to deal with sea-sickness. Jantje, Riemke\’s mother, spent a lot of time walking with Riemke in the fresh air up on deck. Whilst the adult Dutch passengers faced the challenge of meals prepared by the Italian cooks (the Dutch were not used to the spiciness of the Italian cuisine), the children\’s meals were much better. So, anyone with young children enjoyed accompanying their children for the children\’s meals. Any food left by the children wasn\’t wasted and the children were often given extra treats by the Italian cooks, who liked the ‘bambinos\’. Riemke was told by her mother that she (Riemke) was particularly spoilt by the Italian cooks and crew during the voyage.

In February 1952 the ship arrived in Sydney, from where sponsored passengers were sent by steam train to the immigration camp in Bathurst, New South Wales. The trip from Sydney through the Blue Mountains was quite an experience, for the Dutch were not used to seeing that type of terrain.

Having cousins already living in Australia, Riemke\’s mum and dad were somewhat prepared for what Australia would be like. However, their first impressions on their arrival in Bathurst were of a dry land with lots of rabbits.

The Steegstra family spent almost 6 weeks in the camp before being moving to a sheep property in Broadford, Northern Victoria, where Riemke\’s father had accepted an agricultural position. Riemke and her parents spent their first 2 years in Australia living at Broadford.

Riemke and her parents then moved to a cattle and sheep property in Baynton East, Victoria, where soon after her sister Jane was born. The family resided in Baynton for 5 years, and Riemke\’s second sister, Irene, was born during this time. The family were naturalised as Australian citizens in a ceremony held in Kyneton in 1957.

Riemke\’s next move was to a dairy farm near Wonthaggi, Victoria in 1959, where her father had obtained a share-farming position. In 1964 the family purchased a small dairy farm of their own in the Victorian town of Bass (near Wonthaggi). Riemke assisted her parents with milking cows before and after school and other farm tasks as required on weekends and holidays.

As a young girl, Riemke attended schools in Baynton East, and Wonthaggi. Her early school years were challenging for both herself and her teacher as Riemke spoke very little English to begin with. Her school in Baynton East was a very small, one room facility, with just the one teacher and about 20 students. As you can imagine, he would not have had a lot of time to give one student in isolation.

After completing her secondary education at Wonthaggi High School in 1965, Riemke started work at the then Bank of New South Wales in Melbourne. As Melbourne was 100km from her home in Bass, Riemke resided in the YWCA girl\’s boarding hostel in Church St, Richmond, during the week, but returned home (by train) to Bass on the weekends and for her holidays.

In mid-1966, Riemke was introduced to a boy, Carl, as a penfriend, prior to Carl being posted to South Vietnam with the Australian Army.

On Carl\’s return to Australia in 1967, Riemke and Carl\’s relationship developed and they were married in Wonthaggi in April 1969.

With Carl, Riemke lived in Albury, NSW, for a short time before moving to Canberra, ACT (where the couple resided for nearly 30 years).

Riemke and Carl\’s first child, Paul, was born in 1971 and their second child, Tanya, was born in 1974.

Riemke, along with Carl, Paul and Tanya, also lived in Perth, Western Australia, for two years (1986-88). Riemke and Carl later lived in Sydney, NSW, for two years (1992-94), but at this time the children were adults and did not accompany their parents. These moves to Perth and Sydney were both temporary moves brought about by Carl\’s employment.

At the time of writing, as well as her husband, son and daughter, Riemke has three grandchildren (two girls and a boy).

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