The whole family were all sat down at dinner one evening. Dad said, “Who wants to go and live in Australia?” The eight of us kids all spoke at once. Are you serious? When? Why? What for? How will we get there? What about our friends?
Things started to settle down and we got into some serious discussion.
Australia had a future, we had a future, work, lifestyle, prospects. There was nothing to look forward to in England. We were six boys and two girls. Australia needs males--the ratio at the time was 7 males to 2 females we were told*. As a 13-year-old male that sounded pretty good to me.
After a few months of discussion with other family and friends, interviews with Immigration people were completed. There were photos for passports, medical checks, even a picture in our local newspaper. It was all happening rather quickly. We were booked to leave England on the 27th of February 1967.
After we said our goodbyes to everyone, we were on our way to Australia. What an experience that was. I had barely been out of our village in England for 14 years. Now I was travelling by train to London Airport.
Once we arrived in Australia, we started a new life. We had to change from cold weather to hot weather, we had to get used to using a different kind of money, from pounds, shillings and pence to dollars and cents. But so had the Aussies the year before. Although Australians spoke English, it was a bit different to how we spoke English, but we soon learned how to say, “G’day Cobber, how ya goin?”
I loved the sun, the beach, the sea, wearing these funny shoes they called thongs, bathers, actually going into the sea water. One disappointment was, not seeing kangaroos running up the main street. But we didn’t have to go far to see them.
I spent a lot of time looking at things, landmarks, people, schoolwork, cars, and trucks. Everything was different, but I tried to match things to what I had been used to in England. Things were looking similar in so many ways, but they were actually very different in reality. I was confused, why did I want everything to be like it was in England. Then I learnt about Being Homesick. So was I homesick?
I loved Australia, but I missed a lot of what I had in England. I was depressed, miserable, I was thinking why we did come here. My dad told me to save my money and go back if I didn’t like it.
So, I did. Thirty years later, I went to see relatives on both sides of my family. I caught up with some of my old school mates, people from the village I came from. My old school mates were married to each other, they still haven’t moved out of the village.
A lot of them asked if I liked Australia, would I ever move back “home” to England. I love Australia, this is my home, and, after my 12-week holiday, I moved home alright. To Australia.
My mind and life had been changed for me. But it was the best change that ever happened to me.
Phil Hughes
19 June 2023
* Numbers listed in the 1967 Australian Year Book for 1966 were – M 5,810,216; F 5,730,518!