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Bradfield Park Hostel (misery) May 1956 - 1959?
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Holly
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 1:16 am    Post subject: Bradfield Park Hostel (misery) May 1956 - 1959? Reply with quote

Hi All,

I have been reading immigrant stories for a while now and am amazed at the comments. I feel I have to put down my memories. I am wondering if there are any other kids out there that remember how awful Bradfield Park was (especially for their parents)?

In May 1956, my mum, dad, brother and I arrived in Sydney from the UK via HMV Fairsea. We were shuffled off like post-war refugees to Bradfield Park Hostel. We were due to disembark in Melbourne, but when we docked in Melbourne, the 'authorities' decided we were to go to Sydney (with no consultation with my parents). My parents plans for Melbourne were destroyed.

In Sydney, we were sent to live at Bradfield Park Hostel. Old tin nissen huts with tin roofs, thin walls, no fly screens and overgrown gardens and rubbish around the huts. There were 4 families to one hut (each family had 3 small rooms), some families had 4 or more kids sharing these 3 rooms. The huts were either extremely stiffling hot or extremely cold in winter. They were degrading places for families to live in.

In our hut, there was NO running water, NO bathrrom or cookings facilities and NO heating (or cooling). Communal toilets, baths, showers, sinks and laundries, were located in another hut (100 metres away) and my mother would accompany my brother and I on every bathroom visit due to the fact that we were only 8 and 9 and many unsavoury men were always seen 'hanging around' the toilet blocks. My mother was distraught at living under these conditions with 2 young children.

We were forbidden to cook anything in our huts. Most people had purchased kerosine heaters to cope with the winter and tried to secretly cook something on them occasionally. Just to eat something home cooked, however basic, was one of the special things I remember my mum doing occasionally on our little kerosine heater. Meals were to be had in the Canteen - a 10 minute walk away. Each person would have to carry their own knife, fork, spoon and mug for each meal.

My parents were sadly tricked into coming to Australia for what was to be a better life for there kids - only to come and live under such poor conditions. My parents were shown films at Australia House London, which depicted happy immigrants lazing on the beach and having a choice of many jobs, the choice of good modern housing and of kids even riding horses to school! The propaganda worked, it all look irresistible to many young couples living in drab post-war Europe, but the reality was very different. My dad struggled to find a full time job as a maintenance fitter. He had a good job in the UK and never out of work. Was a 'Shop Steward' at a big car factory in Coventry at age 28. He was working so much overtime in the UK that he wanted to change that and give his family a better lifestyle. He thought he could give his family a better quality of life if he came to 'sunny' Australia.

Trying to get out of the hostel and find somewhere to rent was the hardest thing my parents had to endure. They would scour all the newspapers for rental accommodation and be outside a prospective rental at 5.30am along with a queue of other hopeful people ahead of them - but still hoping we had a chance because we were decent, polite people. The usual refusal from a prospective landlord was "No, we don't want kids here". Finally, after more than 3 years searching for a home, we found a little house to rent in Mt Colah (a LONG way from where dad worked, but he didn't care. I can remember the first thing my brother and I were excited about when we went to see the house was ..............about having an inside tap - running water!

We were finally leaving BRADFIELD PARK HOSTEL and it's Third World conditions.

SHAME ON THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT. They lied to decent people and should be held accountable.
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Robert (Bob) Taylor
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 5:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Interesting account of your early days Holly. It wasn't for everyone..and there are numerous similar stories.
If may ask? Did you stay in Australia and has your life been good since?
Sometimes the hard times can set us up to become more successful in later life...than if we had stayed in UK , those challenges could have been a catalyst for a better future!?
Did your parents end up with the better life in the end, that they eagerly sought?
I had similar experiences and it broadened my outlook. It toughened me up and and I treasure....now... the experiences.
Cheers, BOB?
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aussietrekker aussietrekker has been starred
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 7:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well I'm practising great restraint in not saying what I would like to say about that whinging tale of woe. There's not one of us in this forum who did not go through the same conditions, and dealt with it in different ways, but to express such vitriol towards the excellent Australian Government of the era more than 50 years later is disturbing. True, there was an element that expected the streets to be paved with gold, and the sour grapes they demonstrated gave rise to a certain (and frequently well deserved) nickname by the locals. We were all battlers together, and (the shame of it) had to carry cutlery and mugs to the canteen three times a day. Get over it! Elsewhere on this forum is my father's account of the austerity of the hostel and I quote, "but then again, no one forced us to come here." No one 'tricked' anyone into leaving England, and there was the option of returning after two years if a family felt they had a genuine mistake. My Dad never even made it to the lofty heights of Shop Steward in the old country, but he got a job straight away. So did the other fathers, in a country of full employment. Others weren't afraid to move to another part of the country if their "dumping point" didn't suit. No, on no account were we spoon fed and it was tougher for some more than others. Especially those with way more than two children. I suppose they had Housing Commission properties in NSW? Maybe they were also below expectations? We used to visit the sunny beaches while actually resident in the hostel, so that part of the "propaganda" was no BS. This country has been good to my family. So c'mon fellow inmates, let's see if we can this
top this "poor me " bottle-half-empty story. Maybe we can play Monty Python and say THAT WERE LUXURY!
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kate fletcher
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 3:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don�t remember any misery during my years at Holmesglen, just a lot of nice people with much hope for the future. Perhaps my parents and I were just lucky to be in a well-run hostel, but it never felt in the least like a prison sentence to us. Yes, living was very basic, but we didn�t expect luxury, and a dry hut in a warm climate was actually a distinct improvement on the damp backstreet rooms we�d left behind in London.

Yes, we too walked to the canteen carrying cutlery, but that was no horrendous ordeal, and we�d all used toilet blocks at school or at work back in England, so the hostel showers and toilets were no big culture shock.

Both my parents found factory jobs the day after we arrived at Holmesglen, and I don�t recall any adult on the hostel being unemployed. The main regret of my parents was no cinema in Holmesglen, but we took the train into Melbourne most weekends, and often went to Mordialloc, Mentone or St Kilda by bus.

Going to Australia was the adventure of our lives, and the sea voyage there showed me the world at the age of 8, something that could never have happened otherwise. Without the experience of emigration, I�d probably have lived a duller life and never taken chances. I�ll always be grateful that my parents enriched my childhood, and made me realize that you don�t have to be wealthy to be happy.
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GinaKate
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 9:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think for every one of us, without exception, our introduction to hostel accommodation was met with shock and disbelief, we also left a good life behind in England, maybe it was a little harder in the 50s, we arrived January 1965 to the heat and the dust of East Hills, my dad was a fitter and turner, and also the foreman of his team, but he got a job as soon as he signed with the 'labour excange' as it was called back then, in fact he didn't even stay at that job he found a better one within the first few weeks.
I don't know anything about the layout of Bradfield Park, we stayed at two hostels, East Hills and Dundas, neither had a ten minute walk to the canteen, it may have been against the rules to cook in the huts but in the 60s the first thing everyone bought was a kettle (ceramic jug) second, a tele, and third an electric frypan. The amenities block may have had the appearance of an area for unsavoury characters to linger but I don't remember there ever being a problem on the two hostels I stayed on.
Yes, there was a lot of hype to get Europeans to come to Australia, but there had to be, it was populate or perish, and the 'white Australia' was their goal, had they shown the hostel accommodation in all it's honesty they would not have attracted many at all. The hostels in the 70s were a huge improvement on ours I have to say, had you arrived here in the 70s rather than the 50s your experience would have been quite different.
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Susan Gillet
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 10:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Both my parents got jobs very quickly after we arrived in Australia in 1963. My father had an excellent job in England, working for Granada TV studio, but found he was over qualified for work at any of the TV stations here as it was not yet up to the standard of UK TV, so rather than sit around whingeing, he looked for other work. He was working within 2 weeks of arriving here.

I certainly do not recall any "unsavoury" characters hanging around the amenities blocks, except maybe for teenagers who made the laundry rooms our evening and weekend hangouts. lol

At 8 and 6, I feel you would have been too young to really be able to form these opinions for yourself, and believe that your parents have successfully coloured your preceptions of hostel life to fit in with their dissatisfaction. I wonder if they, like other folk I know, also complain about the quality of meat and other foods in Australia generally, and not just on the hostel. Some folk are not happy unless they are complaining.

After 50 years, I say "get over it", move on and be happy. As you appear to still be in Australia, I can't have been all bad.
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Resident of Altona Hostel, 1963-1965
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Holly
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 10:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Robert (Bob) Taylor wrote:
Interesting account of your early days Holly. It wasn't for everyone..and there are numerous similar stories.
If may ask? Did you stay in Australia and has your life been good since?
Sometimes the hard times can set us up to become more successful in later life...than if we had stayed in UK , those challenges could have been a catalyst for a better future!?
Did your parents end up with the better life in the end, that they eagerly sought?
I had similar experiences and it broadened my outlook. It toughened me up and and I treasure....now... the experiences.
Cheers, BOB?

Hi Bob,

Good to hear your story too and pleased it all worked out well for you. Yes, we did stay in Australia - mainly because mum and dad didn't have the money to return back to the UK in those early days. Then again, once we had moved out of Bradfield Park hostel and into our own home, we did start to call Australia home. Our life had once again become normal and when our grandparents came out to join us about 5 years later, life was once again normal.

Cheers, Holly
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Holly
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 11:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

aussietrekker wrote:
Well I'm practising great restraint in not saying what I would like to say about that whinging tale of woe. There's not one of us in this forum who did not go through the same conditions, and dealt with it in different ways, but to express such vitriol towards the excellent Australian Government of the era more than 50 years later is disturbing. True, there was an element that expected the streets to be paved with gold, and the sour grapes they demonstrated gave rise to a certain (and frequently well deserved) nickname by the locals. We were all battlers together, and (the shame of it) had to carry cutlery and mugs to the canteen three times a day. Get over it! Elsewhere on this forum is my father's account of the austerity of the hostel and I quote, "but then again, no one forced us to come here." No one 'tricked' anyone into leaving England, and there was the option of returning after two years if a family felt they had a genuine mistake. My Dad never even made it to the lofty heights of Shop Steward in the old country, but he got a job straight away. So did the other fathers, in a country of full employment. Others weren't afraid to move to another part of the country if their "dumping point" didn't suit. No, on no account were we spoon fed and it was tougher for some more than others. Especially those with way more than two children. I suppose they had Housing Commission properties in NSW? Maybe they were also below expectations? We used to visit the sunny beaches while actually resident in the hostel, so that part of the "propaganda" was no BS. This country has been good to my family. So c'mon fellow inmates, let's see if we can this
top this "poor me " bottle-half-empty story. Maybe we can play Monty Python and say THAT WERE LUXURY!


Glad to hear you have had a great life. Did you live at Bradfield Park and if so for how long?
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Robert (Bob) Taylor
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 11:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Good one Holly...so pleased to hear you stayed in this end of the World.
I have been back once in 1998. It was interesting and nostaligic, but after 2/3, weeks we were looking at the travel shop windows and seriously considering flitting off to Spain or similar to complete our stay in Europe. Honest to God when we got back here I made a special all out effort to thank my parents for their guts and determination and sacrifice to make the jump and move in 60s....as we all agree it wasn't for the feint hearted!
Very Happy Cheers, Bob.
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Holly
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 11:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Susan Gillet wrote:
Both my parents got jobs very quickly after we arrived in Australia in 1963. My father had an excellent job in England, working for Granada TV studio, but found he was over qualified for work at any of the TV stations here as it was not yet up to the standard of UK TV, so rather than sit around whingeing, he looked for other work. He was working within 2 weeks of arriving here.

I certainly do not recall any "unsavoury" characters hanging around the amenities blocks, except maybe for teenagers who made the laundry rooms our evening and weekend hangouts. lol

At 8 and 6, I feel you would have been too young to really be able to form these opinions for yourself, and believe that your parents have successfully coloured your preceptions of hostel life to fit in with their dissatisfaction. I wonder if they, like other folk I know, also complain about the quality of meat and other foods in Australia generally, and not just on the hostel. Some folk are not happy unless they are complaining.

After 50 years, I say "get over it", move on and be happy. As you appear to still be in Australia, I can't have been all bad.


Glad to hear you and your family have had a great life in Australia.

Did you live at Bradfield Park Hostel? I am interested in hearing about other families who lived there in the mid 50's. I believe things improved in the camp in the '60's after some sort of revolt by residents with regards to their living conditions? Maybe it was a better time for your family. It is very hard to find much history at all about this particular hostel.

By the way, my mum and dad did not sit around whingeing either. My father found 3 different jobs until a full time job in his field came up also. He took anything that he was offered and was working 7 days a week at one time just to make up a full-time wage, and my mum took a job in the canteen kitchen. They just had it tough after making such a big decision to move to the other side of the world with their kids.

I said it how it was in 1956, nothing more.
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GinaKate
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 20, 2012 3:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

'At 8 and 6, I feel you would have been too young to really be able to form these opinions for yourself, and believe that your parents have successfully coloured your preceptions of hostel life to fit in with their dissatisfaction'

Have to disagree with you on that one Susan, whether it was a right or wrong opinion, I had fairly strong ones myself on just about everything at age 8 and 9 as Holly was at the time.
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Len
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 20, 2012 9:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hello Holly, welcome to our forums and thank for your contribution. wave

Everyone�s memories are welcome/ important, good or bad.
Hostel life for us in the mid 60�s was basic, yet ok �so say my parents�. We as kids �9-11 yrs�, it was a blast, an adventure and has stuck with me till this day.
I can�t imagine what it must have been like in the 50�s but I suppose for us in the 60's, we were in a modern age. Respect to your parents and everyone�s parents for sticking it out.
End of the day, we are all part of an elite? group, one that no one else will ever go through again.


Ps
Tomorrow, I shall move this thread to the �Bradfield Park� forum and I'll also get rid of that silly big pic in my sig. Mr. Green
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GinaKate
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 21, 2012 1:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Actually there does not seem to be many on here from the 50s, we would have been one of them but it took dad ten years to talk mum into coming. She agreed reluctantly only the condition of the return fare being readily available, and money left in a bank account in England for the possible return.

And then again, I am doing my family tree and I was surprised to find that my great great grandparents (maternal side) were bounty immigrants in 1841. They paid nothing for their passage, the Australian government paid the purser of the ship nineteen pounds for each of them providing that they were delivered alive. Something like twelve weeks on the ship with no cabins. As far as I can work out they stayed for seven years, two of their children born in Melbourne, NSW at that time, Victoria didn't exist.
He was a carpenter but apparently the promised work was not available due to the relations between England and America being strained, migration to America had ceased and everyone was heading for Australia, overcrowded squalid conditions is what I'm finding.
Imagine the tales they would have to tell on this forum.
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Len
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 21, 2012 12:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you for that Gina, very interesting, it does make you think. Must have been hell for those post 1770 on those little wooden ships etc.
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aussietrekker aussietrekker has been starred
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 21, 2012 11:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Guess what Gina Kate, my husband's ancestors were also bounty passengers in 1841. They arrived from Scotland on the Marquis of Bute. I have a copy of the passenger list. The youngest child grew up and became a pioneer Mormon, thanks to a very active missionary on the goldfields. She married an English neighbour and they emigrated yet again to San Francisco where they stayed and had a large family. People were bred much tougher back then. We're a bunch of wusses now.
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