House at Bullfinch WA c1960
My maternal Grandparents (in the photo above) migrated to Australia from the Netherlands in 1951, with their 4 young adult children. Although my Grandfather had been a sea captain in the Dutch Merchant navy, in a new land many migrants must take any job they can get...and in the early 1960s he was working as the Winchman at a gold mine north of Bullfinch (which is north of Southern Cross in Western Australia); it was called the Radio Mine, managed by Mr Barr. With his eldest son (my uncle) my Grandfather was also working on claim of their own, where they stayed in big old army tents. My Grandmother kept this corrugated iron house near the mine "as neat as a pin". It was lined with newspaper and hessian and in this harsh dry country must have seemed like a different world after the damp lush pastures of their homeland, Holland. But like many, they were made of tough stuff and took it in their strides, how proud I am of them, in hindsight!
Scanned from a slide in family collection
House at Bullfinch WA c1960
My maternal Grandparents (in the photo above) migrated to Australia from the Netherlands in 1951, with their 4 young adult children. Although my Grandfather had been a sea captain in the Dutch Merchant navy, in a new land many migrants must take any job they can get...and in the early 1960s he was working as the Winchman at a gold mine north of Bullfinch (which is north of Southern Cross in Western Australia); it was called the Radio Mine, managed by Mr Barr. With his eldest son (my uncle) my Grandfather was also working on claim of their own, where they stayed in big old army tents. My Grandmother kept this corrugated iron house near the mine "as neat as a pin". It was lined with newspaper and hessian and in this harsh dry country must have seemed like a different world after the damp lush pastures of their homeland, Holland. But like many, they were made of tough stuff and took it in their strides, how proud I am of them, in hindsight!
Scanned from a slide in family collection