Stephen Mott - Hard Luck Motty

We set sail for London, on the vessel, Canberra, in October 1969. We were in first class, as the Australian Government was paying for us, due to my father working for the government at Australia House, in London, with the Australian Public Service. His job, was interviewing People, to see if they were suitable, to immigrate to Australia. Migration was big in the late 60s, early 70s.

He was already in London, as he had to get there earlier to start work, so Pat, Jenny, Kaye and I, went on the ship on our own. I was only six years old. They were 12, 16 and 20 respectively.

We would go to Perth, Durban and Cape Town in South Africa, Madeira in the Canary Islands, Lisbon in Portugal, then on to Southampton. We would get to spend a day in each city. I remember Cape Town was beautiful. Also, had a lot of fun in Madeira, tobogonning.

I turned seven on the ship, and they presented me a big birthday cake, which was special.

Kaye and I, spent our times at night, in the cabin, seeing we were so young. I remember having tomato sandwiches a lot. Jenny and Pat, could stay out late, seeing they were much older. They made a lot of friends, and had great fun.

Living in London was great. We lived in St Marys Cray (Chislehurst area), for one year. I went to St Pauls Cray Catholic School.

I was a daddys boy, as earlier mentioned, and every morning when he was leaving for work, I would grab his ankles, and would not let him go. I refused to go to school. Sometimes, my dad had to stay home to look after me. Sometimes, my older sisters would have to stay home.

All I remember, about that darn school, is that they made me eat rice pudding! Disgusting. I used to refuse, and go home.

Also at home, I wasnt allowed to leave the table at dinner time, until I had eaten all my vegetables. To my dad and sisters surprise, when they were watering the pot plants, in the dining room, the pot plants were full of Brussel Sprouts! I was one step ahead of them!

I used to stash them in there, every night!

As I mentioned earlier, all I did, was play and watch sport. Once, I was playing soccer in the backyard, at our London house. We had large glass windows and doors, floor to ceiling, at the back of the house. Of course, I kicked the soccer ball, through the window, and broke the glass! My father, being a bit of a handy man, went to the shop, and bought a new window pane. You can imagine his disgust, when I broke the replacement pane, as he was fitting it! Once again with the soccer ball. Can you believe it?

I tried to be a little bit more careful after that!

Another time, I was at home alone after school. It wouldnt happen these days, would it? I was only seven years old of course. (Maybe I left school early because of the rice pudding!). I was sitting in the lounge room, and the toilet flushed! I was petrified. Was someone in the house? I didnt know what to do, and called a friends mum to investigate. I hid in a wardrobe until she arrived. She checked out the house. Everything was good. Not sure what happened there.

We went to Paris once for a weekend. Jenny was with us, and my dad, Kaye and I. My dad went out for a sandwich when we arrived at our hotel. It was the Hotel Malleburbes. To our surprise, he came back with rolls, that were a foot long with ham and salad. Amazing! I suppose thats what the French eat. We couldnt believe it. We just wanted a plain sandwich. We had never seen anything like it, coming from little old Bendigo!

Also on that weekend, Jenny was chased around Paris, by a male stalker. It was very scary for her. She was traumatised by it. She had gone for a walk on her own. We all learnt to be careful, walking around big cities after that.

In Rome, I went to The Overseas School of Rome. Mostly Americans and English citizens went there. We lived in Rome for a year too.

I had many good friends in Rome. I played soccer after school every day with them, and on the weekends. All our communication, was in Italian, as they didnt speak English. Mostly soccer words, like penalty, corner, hand ball etc.

We lived in a very nice area in Rome, just after you go through the Villa Borghese Gardens, from Via Veneto. I went and visited our apartment a few years ago, and couldnt believe, how it hadnt changed, and how nice the area was. We were very lucky. Next door was a big apartment building, with a beautiful pool, and I remember it had a soft drink machine. My friends and I, used to get cans of Coke out of it. The machine was still there, when I visited. Amazing. As I said, nothing had changed at all. Even saw the gates of the embassy, that we used to play soccer against, with all its old paved road.

In Rome, we had to have, a live in housekeeper. My dad was travelling all around Europe with work. He would be in Ireland one week, Holland the next, Germany the next, and so on. I was seven, and Kaye was 12. Obviously, we could not be left alone. These housekeepers kept getting sacked! My dad would return from his trips, and ask us, if the housekeeper was good. We would say, We never saw her! She spent all her time with her boyfriend! They were all the same. My dad had to keep firing them, and looking for a new one. It must have been so hard for him, when he was trying to work.

This is why my dad, could not go, on his last assignment to Germany. We were in London for a year, Rome a year, then were supposed to go to Germany for a year. His boss, could see the problems, we were having, with housekeepers/child care, and told my dad it was too risky to go to Germany, and go through all this again. So we returned to Australia.

My dad, Kaye and I flew back with Qantas. Pat stayed in London, and Jenny had already returned to Australia, and never came to Italy with us. Brian came over to visit us in London, for a few months too. He travelled on the vessel Arcadia. I remember stopping at Bahrain, Calcutta and Bombay on the way home. The refugees, all around Calcutta Airport, was a very sad sight. Thousands and thousands of them in tents. We dont know how lucky we are.