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[JoopMul]

During our stay in Bonegilla, my mother (Co Mul-Postma) and friend, (Gerda van Hoorn), along with the other women in the hostel were invited to a Welcome-to-Australia-style afternoon tea.
This is when they first learned that Bring A Plate meant: With food on it.
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As I explained elsewhere, Gerard and Gerda van Hoorn happened to be allocated a home-unit, in Gouda, in about late 1954, and were happy to swap it for the house that my parents and I lived in, in Gouda.
We went on a holiday together. Got to know each other well and, after the men attended an information evening, decided to migrate together, to Applecross W.A., where Gerard's sister-in-law lived with her family.
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My mother (then 39) and Gerda (then 22) got on like a house-on-fire and during those early years, in Australia, were so much like Lucy and Ethel (from the I Love Lucy show, that we all watched together, in the old house, in the Flint Street Matraville, during 1957.)
Gerda was the one who was game to do funny things. Interact with strangers, etc.. (Her family were florists, in The Hague and very used to approaching the public.) My mother was the (older) friend who good-naturedly, went along with all these things.
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Back in those first few weeks, in Bonegilla, they came back, in hysterics, from the afternoon-tea, organised by those well-meaning ladies, of the Country Women's Association.
They roared with laughter about those ladies, with their hats with flowers on them, who wore gloves and were so formal.
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Talk about culture shock!
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On one of her many trips back to Australia, to visit friends, made here, Gerda did visit the museum, at Bonegilla.

I drove through Albury, in December, 2001; saw the sign to the museum, but was in a hurry to attend a meeting, in the Dandenongs.

My story, HERE
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The way I recorded our Bonegilla experience, in the family album, once we were a bit more settled into Matraville Hostel. (Top: My mother and I in the doorway. Middle: Picnic near the dam (van Hoorns and us) Bottom: Gerda hangs the washing before we went to the dining hall. (Note that we dressed up. I HATED the food.)
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