READ ALL STORIES

The following is a collection of the stories of migration submitted to the site. We invite you to read and gain some idea of the variation of experiences, taking into account the reasons for migration, the hardships and joys of the journey and the adapting to a climate and countryside that was often extremely foreign.

Read them and consider recording your own family's story.

Town/City Salamander Bay First name Michael Surname Tossell Country of Origin England Date of Birth 11/08/1940 Year of Arrival in Australia 1975 Story Reason for leaving homeland - Seeking a better life for my wife and two children. Since seeing a Chips Rafferty film and watching Sir Donald Bradman playing cricket at The Oval in England as a child, I always wanted to live in Australia. About the Journey - Myself, my wife and two children were the first from both our families to emigrate to Australia. A very exciting flight. Took 32 hours and instead of arriving in Sydney, our place of destination, we went to Perth because of the curfew in Sydney at this time. Impressions on Arrival - Very hot !!!!! Lots of red tiled roofs on houses as we flew in which was very different to England. People extremely friendly. We purchased a Neeta Home in Seven Hills, on our own block of land, which we thought was absolutely fantastic, so much bigger than the English homes. Our first Christmas seemed very strange as we had no family to celebrate with. To our astonishment we had a knock on the door Christmas morning; it was the Lions Club asking if there were any children in the house, we had a 3yr old and a 7yr old. We brought our children to the door and they gave them Christmas gifts. It made our Christmas, we will never forget it. Now, 35 yrs later, there are 52 members of our family living here in Australia !!! We never dreamed this could happen. To this day I still believe it was the best decision I ever made. My children have had a wonderful life here and we have never regretted it. I always tell everyone Australia is by far the best country in the world !!!