£10 poms

[Doc Vernon]

Glad to see you posting Capt. How are you going , is that Heart thing getting any better? Was reading all about Heart Failure Yesterday, so do take extra care now .
Cheers

[Ivan Cloherty]

When I was in Albany (WA) in the 50's I met a lot of £10 Poms, none had had the promised accommodation and most spent 6 - 12 months on the beach in tents before getting accommodation. Work was plentiful, but you needed a strong constitution to survive the initial years. A lot had experienced hard times during the war and were promised a lot which must have seemed very enticing at the time and the actuality must have been a great psychological as well as physical burden

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Mike .
I think the ship was the Fairsky, Over 150 thousand Poms went back to the UK mainly from around South Australia, as Capt Kong said the accommodation provided was atrocious, mainly Nissan huts where the inside heat was so high they couldn't live there, the idea being that they would take off and find their own accommodation leaving the place clear for the next lot. But no other accommodation was available.
My father-in-law had to go to NZ so that his kids had somewhere to live when they eventually came out, even in NZ accommodation was at a premium.
Des

[happy daze john in oz]

From my brother in law who was a ten pounder in about 1959.
Not long married, a six week voyage with him in a cabin with three other males, his wife with three females.
That was common practice then.
Kids over 10 were kept with a 'nanny' no doubt one of them.
Arrival in Freeo, apply for work in Melbourne, plenty there for any one who wanted.
They were lucky, an uncle and come out a few years earlier so accommodation not a problem.
For the others many were sent to hostels.
Work was plentiful but housing a problem, as were most roads apart from main ones, so many non made roads even in new housing estates they were not considered to be part of the build.
My sister in law told of many times pushing a pram along a muddy track to get home.
Both now gone but they would be very happy with the way things as they are now.

As to the hostels.
There is one not far from the Uni where I was employed, it had been unused since about 1972 or so.
The uni was offered it by the state gov to maybe use as student accommodation.
I went with the manager of Property and works for a look see.

Dickens would have been proud of what we found, not much better than then but at least there was glass n the windows.
Raw brick walls were all there was, rooms more like prison cells with room in each for 4 persons.
Apparently there would often be 4 from different families as the non cohabitation rule applied there as well.
But the galley!!!!!!!!!!!!
Would have been suited to some south sea island where they boiled their prisoners.
Two large, and they were large cauldrons in which stew and soup were made, not sure what else they got.
Heated by coal and hot water came from a boiler fired by wood chips.

The uni calmly refused the offer.
It was later renovated at some extraordinary cost by the gov and now houses overseas students each semester.

[Bill Morrison]

When I was in Albany (WA) in the 50's I met a lot of £10 Poms, none had had the promised accommodation and most spent 6 - 12 months on the beach in tents before getting accommodation. Work was plentiful, but you needed a strong constitution to survive the initial years. A lot had experienced hard times during the war and were promised a lot which must have seemed very enticing at the time and the actuality must have been a great psychological as well as physical burden

Ivan. Albany (WA) in the 1950's. The Australian Government at the time wished to build up the fishing industry in Albany. They bought a few old Aberdeen steam trawlers. A deal was in place that Skippers, crews and families if they wished would sail them to Australia, work and settle there.
A Skipper friend of my late father tried to persuade him to come with him but he stayed at home. (God I might have been an Aussie)
Bill.

[James Curry]

I have a 3 cousins went to Australia in the late 60's early 70's two of them want to come home now. The problem is their children are Aussie born and grown up and they have families of their own. They claim they are stuck there!!! they would miss the grand children and their own children so they cannot come home. One did come home last year with her Australian husband. Standing talking to him about 6 months ago having a pint. Decent bloke I asked him if he could settle in the UK? In good old aussie accent , no fuc-ing way mate. Weather is tish the beer is tish and to many effing foreigners. Asked my cousin did she enjoy being back home, It is nice to see old friends and family but now I know why I left. They flew back to Adelaide a month later.

[j.sabourn]

#15. Bill I worked with a father and son called Ford both ex fishing skippers who were part of that original group who brought its fishing vessels to Albany , I used to relieve them and they did the same with me at various times . As have been retired now for 21 years they will be also , so don’t know if alive or dead , think the father must be gone as he was a fair old age when I knew him. When they first came out rather think the whaling station there was in full swing also , they were from either Hull or Grimsby and both brought out a boat each. Cheers JS
As regards the 10 pound poms who found the going too rough for them and returned to the uk , Maybe was a good thing if they couldn’t stand the pace they weren’t much use to the country anyway, The country needed people of a different calibre . Those who stayed reaped all the future benefits and wouldn’t part with the Australian way of life for all the tea in China . I was a late comer as re emigration and was 54 when arrived on these shores but had been an admirer of Oz since 1953 and my first visit. I still managed to find employment in my own profession which was nigh on impossible in the uk. Also with a much higher standard of living. Thinking back though it must have been an older son who brought their second boat out who I never knew about so maybe had died earlier, the son I knew was slightly younger than me. Cheers JS
PS 55 was the cut off age for working immigrants then, And they chose who they wanted . A gun mechanic on a seismic ship would have got preference over a professor in History. JS
My first trip back to the uk I was at a party at a friends house and the usual loud mouthed youngsters were there, this one particular one which Cappy would call a Gobshite was spouting he thought of going to Australia but thought better of it. To keep the peace I didn’t tell him he had as much chance as a snowball in hell of being accepted.
My last job in the uk was working for a couple of weeks for Westminster dredging looking for a special sand on the bottom in the Dover Straits and southern North Sea , I had an Australian in the crew who gave me the address of a Marine super of Adelaide Shipping I sent him an email asking him the prospects of employment and he sent back saying I would have no problem. I used that reply for the Australian Immigration and never had to be interviewed , only sign a paper I would not be a burden on the state for the first 5 years , and have never once had to claim unemployment benefit in the 32 years have been here. Cheers JS

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Times and politicians have changed since the 50s; then one had to pass a stringent health check. I remember one family that was refused immigration as the five year old daughter was I think blind, anyone with a long term illness was refused, now they bring in cripples in wheel chairs, where once they had to have enough money to pay for medical; now they go on NIDAS our National disability insurance, how times change

[j.sabourn]

Des I emigrated as a free agent paying myself medical etc. I had a lot of scar tissue on the lungs which was picked up,straight away . The doctor told me he had more than me on his own lungs and said anyone of our generation when TB was rife if had ,had contact with anyone with the disease the result was the scarring.Even so I;had t go annually for the next 5 years to check there was no deterioration as regards the original xrays. Also tests for VD, AIDS, etc. always makes me wonder with these illegal immigrants how far are they checked out. Believe TB is rearing it’s head again in the UK . JS

[j.sabourn]

On the rare Occassion I have been asked in a condensing tone by some real Ozzie “ are you another of these 10 pound poms ? “ , and after taking due note of his size have replied in my Poshest English voice “ sorry old boy not so, but if I was would consider it better than a 20 pound Ozzie. “ , what’s that then mite he would usually ask. “ one with 10 pounds on each ankle “ , would be the answer . JS