Ten Pound Poms

The record for laying bricks was held for years by a bloke called Ambrose. My old man knew him , but said he could beat that with the rules set out. He was timed by the Guiness Book Of records time keepers on an 8 hour day , but that 8 hours was split up into sections of say 2 hour periods with rest periods in between of 20 minutes , those 20 minute periods were not counted in the 8 hour day. Plus the fact it was a straight course and no cutting of bricks etc. My old man used to cut his bricks with the edge of his trowel . Today they have machines to do it. My one regret was that he always wanted an American trowel, what the difference was I have no idea , but every time I was in the States I forgot. So he never got. JS

It is thought that a good brickie working on a house can lay 1000 in a day.

In 1948, our family Mum Dad my twin my brother and I embarked on the SSMaloja in Tilbury as £10 Poms to sail to Brisbane .
Remember there were six to a cabin, men and women separated , the bedroom. Stewards were Goanese, we slept up on deck in deckchairs going through the Red Sea, no air-conditioning in those days. Aden was interesting as it was warm but we were pestered by beggars, same in Columbo, then onto Fremantle we were all up on deck so excited to see the smudge on the horizon grow as we neared port.In Melbourne a photo was taken of all the twins onboard but wasn’t on the newspapers as It was full of the arrival of zprinc Charles, but another photo in Sydney was in the newspapers.
On arrival in Brisbane we were off to a migrant hostel for a few days to await a train north, yes there were no sleepers and the journey took a few days to get to Bowen the we had to wait for a trai……. It was a coal train with a carriage on back for passengers..
Collinsville was a wee town of 1000 people, Dad worked in the coal mine there, we stayed with my Dads aunt and soon bought our own house, No fridges , I walked twice a week with a sack to the ice works for a block of ice to put in the cabinet to keep food fresh,. The only milk was goats milk so Dad bought a cow which he or Mum milked, and we kept a few hens til a Goanna got in to th3 run and that was the end of the hens. it was a good life for kids, Dad loved going on on horseback with his friends.
There was no laundry in town, Mum who had been a laundress in service started doing the laundry of the Bank tellers and that snowballed, tiring in hot weather with no washing machine, a wood fired copper and deep sinks.
However illness in the families we decided to return to the UK, but twenty years later I again sailed as a £10 Pom this time to Melbourne

Valerie.

I spent a couple of months a year for ten of my thirteen annual trips to Australia, in Bowen. My late wife and I loved it (obviously). We both scubadived every day from the beach at Horeshoe Bay, there's a great little reef not a 1/4 of a mile of the beach, loads of coral and heaps of fish life. We had a camper and stayed in the camp ground right by the beach or if it got too hot, we moved into a small apartment with a/c..

We had loads of friends there and I am still in touch with them.

I loved Oz, it was my second home. and there's no one quite like a true-blue, dinkey dye, Ozzie. I've been all the way around and down the middle. My wife and I got married in Tennant Creek, slap bang in the middle of Oz. and honeymooned on a camel trip out on the desert near what was Ayer's Rock. Magic!

I'm glad I live in the USA and am an American, but Oz would be my second choice and I've lived in five countries and visited over seventy.

Cheers, Rodney and thanks for remanding me about Bowen.:cool:

Would agree with the comments about Aussie, its a great place to live, and most Folk are good too! But like any other Country sadly has its bleedin bad Folk who ruin so much of whats good here!

We came here in 1980 and never looked back,i am sure would not have managed to have what we now have, had we stayed in South Africa, and although i do still love my Birth Country, it surely has gone down a lot! So Sad!

But Hey! Watched a program last night called Kalgoorie Cops , and Boy! what a place to live its full of life , free and easy and at times very rough and tough!
I think that anyone who saw that program, that was mot from Aussie would shiver and say no Way Hosay! But thats the Fun of it all, boy do they know how to live!
But at times give the Cops there a very hard time!
Mostly the trouble is from the Guys who work on the Gold Mines there, and come into Town to spend their hard earned cash, they sure live it up! LOL
Reminds me a wee bit of when i was on the Gold Mines in Welkom , South Africa also a rough and ready place but as Kalgoorie lots of Fun too!
Cheers

PS My Sister and one Brother in Law came out as what was called 20 Rand yarpies in the 1960's. LOL When i came out it was pay your own fare, and with a wife and two kids was a bit steep, as then had very little cash. Arrived here with only $200 Australian then, and had to battle a bit at first, but made good and wallah! Now well set in life after hard Yakka!

Vernon so true, once out of the city and up country it is a very different world.
The country folk are much friendlier than any city ones and they all Speak English!!..
But yes it is one of the best, if not the best country.

As to Ten Pound poms.
My brother in law and his new bride came out as such.

That was in about 1954 and all women and men in separate cabins.

Six weeks of that, but they somehow had a miracle happen as by the time they arrived in Oz she was up the duff.

Victoria, I lost many a good waiter to life at sea and re:

Sometimes I was on my own in our 4 berth cabin as the other girls were being entertained elsewhere LOL

They said the same.

THE MOLLY MOGS

In all the pubs in all the world singled out for praise,
It’s the Molly Mogs in Soho for all the funds they raise,
Specially for our mariners and veterans of war,
And the unsung heroes that struggled at the fore.

On the corner of Old Compton Street this pub’s a little gem
Built in seventeen hundred, her pedigree’s from then,
Plenty are the bar stools but not a lot of space,
Hearty entertainment is the highlight of the place.

Some clientele enthral with witty quips so gay,
Bonding all together in their camp and funny way,
They recognize the value of duty to the end,
Selfless with their time and energy they lend.

Famous for its drag shows and fabulous inside,
Historic and important for old London’s pride,
Performers are just marvellous, open and sincere,
Collecting for our heroes when punters come for cheer.

Raising cash for brave folk is humble and sublime,
Patrons of the Molly Mogs do it all the time,
This cultured bar is friendly to all of us out there,
Best of all a grand spot for those that really care.

Joe Earl Nov. 2009