The Freeman Family - Gordon, Ruby and their two sons Brian (aged 8) and Colin (aged 14) migrated from Harrogate in Yorkshire to Australia in November 1951. After a stay in Bathurst Migrant Hostel and Finsbury Hostel they eventually settled in Adelaide South Australia. Both boys attended Adelaide University and went on to Post Graduate studies.

Colin spent six years in Papua New Guinea as Librarian of the New Guinea Collection in the newly formed University of Papua New Guinea and has written three books on New Guinea topics. He subsequently had a three year Diplomatic posting in the Embassy of Australia Washington DC. In recent years he was a Senior Lecturer in the University of New South Wales and the Australian National University. He was also a Consultant with a United Nations Agency in Thailand and Nepal.

"The wind was blustery on the foredeck and the weather cloudy as our ship left the Solent and entered the English Channel proper. There were a few ships visible around us and one could see the dark mass of the land to our starboard gradually passing in the distance. We were leaving the shores of England, our homeland, perhaps forever. We were a family of “Ten Pound Migrants” - Mother, Father and two boys. Myself, just turned fourteen and my brother Brian eight years, our final destination was Australia....."

Nov 1951. "Now back on the ship and left to my own devices I decided to do some diving and so commenced diving into the harbour along with the Ceylonese (Sri Lankan) divers made famous by Jack London..."

[Finsbury photographs : courtesy William P Nash]

Colin Freeman B. Sc MSc, A.L.I.A. has written a detailed and entertaining account of his family's journey from Yorkshire to Australia.

Colin's Diary

(Click on diary to open)