Valerie Lillington
| Town/City | Yankalilla |
|---|---|
| First name | Valerie |
| Last name | Lillington |
| Country of Origin | England |
| Date of Birth | 26.11.1932 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1962 |
| Submitted by | Valerie Lillington |
Story
We left England because a job opportunity arose in a country to which we wanted to migrate with our two young children. We had spent our single lives in a village called Croxley Green, near Watford in Hertfordshire and after we were married we moved to a very small one called Belsize a few miles away. It was, and is, a pretty place and life was pleasant but we had both travelled before we had the children and the urge to do so again was strong.
The journey on the “Oronsay” as ten-pound Poms was fun and relaxing after the anxieties of getting away and farewelling our families.
We arrived in Fremantle after three weeks, excited that at last we had reached Australia and it gave us some idea of the hugeness of our new home when it took another week to reach Adelaide. Port Adelaide then was pretty awful and looking down-at-heel but the welcome was warm from our sponsor “The Adelaide Advertiser” representative and we were given a holiday home in which to stay for a month on Military Road, Henley Beach, while we looked for somewhere to live. We chose Blackwood in the hills.
Like every family moving to a new place, we set about settling ourselves into the comunity, the children into kindergarten and then school. The beach wasn’t far away and Adelaide was half an hour’s drive. I started up a drama school for youngsters and before long was teaching it part time at a school. That led me to seek qualifications at Flinders University for what was until then just a hobby and in time, having succeeded, I became a high school teacher. Our two children studied there too to get their degrees while my husband, Chas, began his own business in graphic arts. We loved Australia and knew that we had made a good choice in coming here.
Alas, things started to go wrong when our marriage broke up and we went our separate ways, the children, now grown up, to follow their careers in medicine and I.T., both in the business of saving lives. Their marriages produced another 7 little Australians, happy kids, beavering on at their chosen pursuits and a joy to those who love them. It’s an unremarkable story really but we are grateful to the country that adopted us, made us its own and has given us the opportunity to live peaceful, productive lives.