On bended knee across the sea....

This may seem an odd title for my first blog, considering this is a genealogy blog.  But let me explain.

My parents were both English, were work colleagues, played sport together in the Thames Board Mills company sports club, and had dated a few times.

Then Dad applied to Australia House for the post-war "Ten Pound Pom" Assisted Passage Migration scheme to Australia. He was accepted, and immigrated to Australia in 1952.

In 1953, "on bended knee" (virtually, in Sydney), he proposed to Mum (in Essex, England), by letter "across the sea", and she accepted.

I have known this story, my whole life, but it still amazes me.  I can only imagine Dad's nervousness and apprehension, from when he dropped his letter into the post box at Sydney's GPO, to the approximate eight to ten weeks later when he received Mum's reply.  Mum's acceptance of Dad's proposal also amazes me, recognising that she was agreeing to leave her large, loving family to go to the other side of the world.

The rest, as they say, is history. Mum applied to Australia House too, was accepted, and arrived in Sydney on 14th March, 1954.

Here's a photo of Dad meeting Mum as she disembarked from the migrant ship New Australia.

I am very much looking forward to learning more about blogging and sharing more of my family history via this medium.



 



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