Sixty years ago on the 30th May.....

my parents left Liverpool, England on the MV Dorsetshire as ten pound POMs for a better life in Australia, taking with them myself and my brother.  I was just four years old.

I don't remember much of the journey as I was so young, but I do remember that women and children had separate sleeping accommodation to the men.  Dad was sharing with seven males and Mum (with us) shared a berth with five other females.

The ship was forever breaking down and the passengers would take bets to see how far the ship had travelled.  The best was 280 miles in a day.

My parents spent all their money on the ship buying drinks as the water was not very good to drink and it was so hot.

I also remember the Fancy Dress.  Mum had made us both crepe paper (I think crepe paper was in abundance on the ship) hula skirts and she put vaseline all over our bodies and sprinkled cocoa onto the vaseline to make us brown.  It was a bitterly cold day, and we were both freezing. 

The most frightening part of the journey as I remember is cross the Equator.  I was absolutely terrified that they were drowning my Dad, but it was all part of the ceremony, that I did not really understand.

We had a Ships Nanny on board.  I would imagine there was more than one - but this one looked after us some times during the day.

It took seven weeks to reach Sydney and for the cost of ten pounds each our parents had to stay for a minimum of two years in Australia or pay the full cost of a return fare.

When they reached Sydney on the 17th July 1952 they went to the bank, only to find that the money had not been sent from England. The bank advanced them five pounds for tram fares and travelling expenses. 

Dad's first visit to Australia was during the war in June 1945 when his ship docked in Sydney and whilst he was on leave he visited the British Centre (who organise activities for servicemen on leave) and asked if he could visit a Sheep Station. 

In 1951, Dad thought he would be better off in Australia and wrote to the owners of the Sheep Station he visited in 1945.  He was offered a job as a Builder - he stayed there for twelve years.  Sixty years on he still lives in Australia, had six children in total, ten grandchildren and ten great grandchildren.  Sadly Mum died eight years ago this August.