Fifty Years in Australia

[deathadder]

My wife and I have just celebrated our fifty years in Australia with spag bol and a couple of bottles of Jacobs Creek Riesling. Love it here in Mundaring, about 25 miles east of Perth. Still miss Home Park, was a regular visitor until 1969 when work commitments were a problem. Here's hoping for a successful season for the Greens.

 

[Pogleswoody]

Which of the 19 did you and your wife do deathy??

(Copied from the 19 Crimes wine site, hope that is OK? Interesting read tbh!)

Nineteen crimes turned convicts into colonists. Upon conviction British rogues guilty of a least one of the 19 crimes were sentenced to live in Australia, rather than death. This punishment by "transportation" began in 1787 and many of the lawless died at sea. For the rough-hewn prisoners who made it to shore, a new world awaited. As pioneers in a frontier penal colony, they forged a new country and new lives, brick by brick. This wine celebrates the rules they broke and the culture they built.

1. Grand Larceny, theft above the value of one shilling
2. Petty Larceny, theft under one shilling.
3. Buying or receiving stolen goods, jewels, and plate...
4. Stealing lead, iron, or copper, or buying or receiving.
5. Impersonating an Egyptian.
6. Stealing from furnished lodgings.
7. Setting fire to underwood.
8. Stealing letters, advancing the postage, and secreting the money.
9. Assault with an intent to rob.
10. Stealing fish from a pond or river.
11. Stealing roots, trees, or plants, or destroying them.
12. Bigamy.
13. Assaulting, cutting, or burning clothes.
14. Counterfeiting the copper coin...
15. Clandestine marriage.
16. Stealing a shroud out of a grave.
17. Watermen carrying too many passengers on the Thames, if any drowned.
18. Incorrigible rogues who broke out of Prison and persons reprieved from capital punishment.
19. Embeuling Naval Stores, in certain cases.

Only kidding Deathy, cheers to you and Mrs Deathy 🥂

 

[mervyn]

Spent a great week near you at Yallingup a couple of years ago. Plan to go back. Happy anniversary.

 

[greeneagle]

Congratulations Paul, not too far behind you. Came out in ‘74. Sorry we lost contact, but we left Perth in 2012, spent 2 1/2 years based in Plymouth, extended holiday!! Returned back to live here in Brisbane. Hope you and yours are well and keeping safe.

 

[deathadder]

Which of the 19 did you and your wife do deathy??

(Copied from the 19 Crimes wine site, hope that is OK? Interesting read tbh!)

Nineteen crimes turned convicts into colonists. Upon conviction British rogues guilty of a least one of the 19 crimes were sentenced to live in Australia, rather than death. This punishment by "transportation" began in 1787 and many of the lawless died at sea. For the rough-hewn prisoners who made it to shore, a new world awaited. As pioneers in a frontier penal colony, they forged a new country and new lives, brick by brick. This wine celebrates the rules they broke and the culture they built.

1. Grand Larceny, theft above the value of one shilling
2. Petty Larceny, theft under one shilling.
3. Buying or receiving stolen goods, jewels, and plate...
4. Stealing lead, iron, or copper, or buying or receiving.
5. Impersonating an Egyptian.
6. Stealing from furnished lodgings.
7. Setting fire to underwood.
8. Stealing letters, advancing the postage, and secreting the money.
9. Assault with an intent to rob.
10. Stealing fish from a pond or river.
11. Stealing roots, trees, or plants, or destroying them.
12. Bigamy.
13. Assaulting, cutting, or burning clothes.
14. Counterfeiting the copper coin...
15. Clandestine marriage.
16. Stealing a shroud out of a grave.
17. Watermen carrying too many passengers on the Thames, if any drowned.
18. Incorrigible rogues who broke out of Prison and persons reprieved from capital punishment.
19. Embeuling Naval Stores, in certain cases.

Only kidding Deathy, cheers to you and Mrs Deathy 🥂

Hi Pogles, we weren't deported but still got a free trip to Australia. I enlisted with the RAAF in London for a period of 6 years, the RAAF was then kind enough to pay the 10 Quid assisted passage for me and my wife. In addition to this, I had four and a half weeks leave on full pay on the cruise to Australia. I used to enjoy telling Aussies who complained about 10 pound Poms that if I'd had to pay 10 Quid, I wouldn't have come.

 

[deathadder]

Congratulations Paul, not too far behind you. Came out in ‘74. Sorry we lost contact, but we left Perth in 2012, spent 2 1/2 years based in Plymouth, extended holiday!! Returned back to live here in Brisbane. Hope you and yours are well and keeping safe.

Hi Peter, sorry about losing contact but I decided to lay low for a while. We lost several good friends to cancer and other medical issues over a very short period but are back to normal now.

 

[deathadder]

Spent a great week near you at Yallingup a couple of years ago. Plan to go back. Happy anniversary.

Thanks Mervyn, Yallingup is a great spot. Having said that, there are so many wonderful places in the South West and if you don't mind driving ridiculous distances, the North West has lots to offer as well.

 

[Pogleswoody]

Hi Pogles, we weren't deported but still got a free trip to Australia. I enlisted with the RAAF in London for a period of 6 years, the RAAF was then kind enough to pay the 10 Quid assisted passage for me and my wife. In addition to this, I had four and a half weeks leave on full pay on the cruise to Australia. I used to enjoy telling Aussies who complained about 10 pound Poms that if I'd had to pay 10 Quid, I wouldn't have come.

So glad it worked out for you Deathy = Wanted Down Under!!
A lot of people of our age considered it of course. Remember it being playground chitchat. (I've got £10 in my piggybank!): all that surfing, barbecues & bikinis vs. spiders, snakes, sharks and dying of thirst in the outback!
Good on you!!

 

[Ottawa Green]

In 1968 my mother had to make the choice of Australia or Canada, they both had the 10 Quid assisted passage, but my mother realised that the distance of going back and forth to England from Australia to visit her family was too great, plus we had already lived in Canada from 64-66 and she thought she had a guaranteed job in Canada, so Canada it was. Always wondered if i could have been a Aussie.