Migrantweb.com Hostels Forum

[steve007]

Anyone stayed at this Hostel in Perth WA ?

[Phyl]

We were almost there once but turned the transfer down.Have relations there now though
Knew a few of the managers that were there at different times.
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Kind regards,
Phyl

[Anne-Laure]

[quote="steve007"]Anyone stayed at this Hostel in Perth WA ?[/quote]

I stayed at Graylands Hostel -or Silver City as it was called then- from February to May 1960. I was 8 years old at that time and couldn't speak very much English but I already understood quite a bit. The ladies at the cafeteria were very nice and always patiently explained what the food was that they offered. The food looked strange to me, it wasn't what I was used to. There was no kitchen in those huts of corrugated iron so my family couldn't do their own cooking.

But as far as I can remember these huts were quite spacious. There was a livingroom and three bedrooms.

Not only the food, everything seemed very strange to me. There were these Scottish girls I made friends with. They were wearing skirts pinned together with "saftey pins". I thought that their mothers probably didn't have the knowledge of sewing things together the proper way.

And I remember the public showers and toilets at Graylands. I was always scared to go inside because of the unusually big spiders and the other insects there that I had never seen before. I was horrified!

All in all, it was rather a big adventure for a child of my age being catapulted into a totally different world.

I wonder if Graylands Hostel still exists. I've been back in Europe for a long time so I have no idea what Perth is like these days.

[jim murray]

Hi, my family arrived at graylands march 3rd 1960,staying there for several months before moving to Melbourne .things I remember...going down a long straight road to loch street railway station(a wooden shelter on either side of the track,the only diff today is that the shelters are metal!!) and catching the train to Shenton park(2stations up) to go to school at Hollywood high school....playing indoor hockey in the hall and getting tripped up And losing my 2 front teeth....making friends with 2 German boys,Werner and Hansie Wolfe .....the cockroaches that used to join me in bed!!...going down to peppermint grove after school (a short run over the hill and we were in the sea swimming,even in the winter((the water never got that cold)) today I live in South Wales but have managed to get back there a couple of times on holidays. The camp has long gone and it looks so different in that area....we later moved back to Perth from Melbourne and lived in Roberts road in subiaco....went to Perth modern school and later started my first job at S Van Dal's in subi before coming back to the UK late 64 on the ms Aurelia. Ah,memories
Atb.....Jim m

[thecanor]

My family arrived at Graylands in 1974 from Barcelona. I remember going to Graylands primary School, currently Claremont Primary. I have great childhood memories, playing soccer and cricket on the Hostel grounds. I actually played for the Graylands Soccer team. The facilities were ver good and there were plenty of social aid for the families coming from overseas and specially for those not speaking the language. We went back to Spain 1979 and have lived there ever since. I frequently use this experience in discussions about how Migrants coming to Spain from other countries to make a living should be integrated.
I have been back a few times for holidays and School reunions and of course a visit to the old playgrounds has aways been a must. I visited a couple of years ago and the school is basically still the same. The Hostel is no longer there though.
Great memories

[Anne-Laure]

Hello Jim Murray, hello decanor,
Teaching English at a secondary school and Australia being a topic in 10th grade, this site came to my mind again.

Jim, you seem to have been at some of the same places at the same time as I was.
I don't remember any names of the people I met at Graylands as you do, the name Werner Wolfe does sound sort of familiar to me though. Furthermore, my family went back to Europe at the end of 1964 on the MS Aurelia as well! What a coincidence! We left the ship in Genoa to go to Munich by train. I've been living in the south of Germany - except for a five-year "excursion" to Berlin - ever since.
Arriving on the 25th of February 1960 (the day of my dad's birthday), we didn't stay in Graylands for a long time. In May we moved to the house in Mt. Lawley my dad had rented. Later my family bought a house in Embleton.
I've never been to Australia again since that time. Partly because it's far too expensive, partly because I can't stand long distant flights. Although it would be ever so interesting to visit the places of my childhood. Usually I prefer going to the south of Europe, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, to get that feeling of a hot and dry Australian summer. Of course there is no compare to the Australian beaches, Cottesloe, City beach, mullaloo, etc., in the Mediterranean. But that's alright, I can reach all those southern European countries by car and don't need to fly.
Originally we were to go to Melbourne but my dad was hired off the boat in Fremantle by VW in Perth, so we got off there.

decanor, hola!
Sorry that I don't know catal�n. What you report is very interesting. At the time I was at Graylands at the beginning of the 1960s, we never got any support at all apart from accommodation. There were no language classes whatsoever and the migrants had to look for a house themselves, nobody helped them. I was sent to a normal primary school, put into a regular class although I couldn't speak English at all. I remember having a small dictionary with me all the time and pointing at words to express what I wanted to say. But on the whole, that was in no way a bad thing. I had to fight my way through by my own efforts, and in a short time I succeeded.

Only if a migrant is motivated and tries hard to learn the language of his host country and accepts the different culture, may he get lessons or not, he will make it. Last year I had two pupils in Grade 5, one from Iceland, Yngvi, the other from Spain , Enrique, (Barcelona). Neither of them could speak a word of German when they came here. But as they were so motivated to take part in social life, they managed to learn German in a very short time. And they did it all by themselves without any extra language lessons. That's exactly what happened to me in Australia although I was often bashed by some British classmates for being German. As I had no idea what they were talking about, it didn't really intimidate me.

It would be interesting to hear about your experiences in Australia. Jim, is or was it so much different from Britain? Decanor, what was it like for you, having a totally different cultural background?

[jim murray]

Hi again,especially Anne Laure if you're still looking at site.Wow have we got things in common! Apart from arriving at graylands about the same time and being on the same ship going back to Europe Nov/Dec 64(we originally were booked to go to melbourne but dad got an offer of work in Perth so we got off there) So,are you German?Well,I met and married a German girl in the uk and have been over there a couple of times.we took a city break to Berlin a couple of years ago.I too have never forgotten the great beaches in Oz,we've been back on holidays there and they are as good as I remember.We go looking fir sun every year and until last year had a small apartment in Turkey which we visited twice a year for 10 years.Now it's anywhere on the med or canaries and tried Cape Verde in January for a bit of winter warmth
Re not going back,you're right about the long flights,they're horrendous,the wife would love to go again it's just the flight that puts her off.
Perth itself has grown into a large city of 1.5 mil and the view from Fraser ave (kings park) is even better now.google earth is a great way to look at the old places (and see if they are still there!!)...Alle die besten. ...jimm

[Anne-Laure]

Hello Jim,
nice to hear from you. Yes, I'm German. It really is funny that we've been at much of the same places at the same time. I've still got a video of our trip back to Europe on the Aurelia. My Dad filmed it with his Super 8 camera and converted all his films several years ago. There are a lot of people in the film I don't know, especially at the event crossing the equator. Maybe you're one of them ;).

And by the way, when I visited England (the south and London) a couple of years ago, a lot of things reminded me of Australia (in winter although it was summer). Australia/Perth, so it seems to me, must have been very British in the early sixties. I never picked up the Australian accent, hardly knew any people who spoke it. At the first interview with my English professor at University - he was from South Africa - he asked me where I came from and was surprised when I told him that I had spent part of my childhood in Australia. He thought I sounded more like someone from the south of England.

Have a good time. Best wishes - Anne Laure