RAF Air Movements 1953-1961

Civvy Street Once More

The photo was taken in Trafalgar Square on the day my wife and I with our youngest daughter Joanna, went to South Africa House.

Finding a niche !

Back in the early 1960s, finding a job was no big deal. The country was booming along and the papers were full of job ads. I had toyed with the idea of staying in Air Movements and made some enquiries with several companies at Heathrow. I was told that there were plenty of opportunities for ex service trained personnel. However the thought of living in close proximity to LHR was a bit daunting.

With an RAF background, I picked up a job as timekeeper and technical assistant to a small aircraft sales and maintenance company based at Kidlington Airport not too far from where we were living at Burford in Oxfordshire. This company had the UK Piper franchise as well as Brantley helicopters. As much as I enjoyed the “aircraft” environment the prospects were somewhat limited and as a married bloke with a family to support I started to look around.

A company called Sketchley Cleaners advertised for Management Trainees and this sounded a likely career path. I was taken on and had to learn the dry cleaning business from the ground floor up. I did a stint on every type of job from brushing out trouser turn-ups to ironing silk dresses and pleats.
Within a year I was ready to take over a brand new, on the premises, dry cleaning plant at Banbury. This involved every aspect of the production and management of a small team of people.
From there I was promoted to Assistant Manager of one of the company's major production factories at Aylesbury. In due course I was further promoted to the Sales side of the business and was appointed a District Sales Manager with a group of 16 stores in The Home Counties to manage.

During this period of time…..almost 10 years had elapsed since leaving the RAF and our family had grown to three with the addition of two daughters. Pat and I were feeling that our future as well as the children’s future would be better served overseas. We made an enquiry at South Africa house but were told that we were not likely candidates for migration. In retrospect…………thank goodness.

We then visited Australia House in London and got all the papers and literature on migration. The 10 pound assisted passage was still in operation and we thought ….why not. Let’s give it a try and sent in our application. Because of my medical discharge from the RAF, I was a bit dubious as to whether we would be accepted. By now my leg weakness was almost imperceptible and had not had any bearing on my ability to work in a physical sense.

We were relieved and overjoyed when our application was successful. I had asked for Darwin as a destination but was told that the most northerly destination in Australia would be Brisbane in Queensland. There was a migrant hostel available, but nothing further north. So it was decided……we would emigrate to Queensland. Our flight details came through for December 1970 but due to icy runways at Heathrow the flight was postponed until January 1971.

A NEW LAND

Our 3 kids at the first home we rented in Australia-1971

Caledonian Airlines chartered our flight to the Australian Government so that the entire flight was made up of emigrants.
Many children on board as well as our three.
Leaving England in January during a freeze meant that we were still in heavy UK clothing on arrival in Brisbane. This was mid summer in the sub-tropics and it wasn't long before we were all in a lather of sweat.
A bus took us from the airport to the Wacol migrant hostel which was to be our temporary home. Wacol had been an army camp on the western outskirts of Brisbane and the accommodation allocated to us was one half of an old wooden hut. This had been divided into rooms to serve as a sitting area and bedrooms. Ablutions were of the communal variety as were the feeding arrangements.
Everything was pretty basic but was intended to be a temporary abode. Getting around was a hassle as it meant a long walk to the train to get into Brisbane. We thought we had better invest in some wheels so our first purchase was a Chrysler Valiant Station Wagon.
A couple of weeks later I had a job with the Queensland Butter Marketing Board as a Marketing Officer and a company station wagon supplied! Soon got rid of the Valiant as one car was all we needed. My new boss felt that the Wacol address was not very savoury for an Officer of the Board so I had to search for some accommodation straight away. We had hoped to extend our stay at Wacol to build up some cash. We found a house to rent part furnished at Sandgate on the North side of Brisbane and after the first week's rent was paid we took up residence with the princely sum of $40 in the bank and both in work.

Getting used to life in a new country

I had done some prior research on the city in which we chose to live and to this day have no regrets at our choice made 35 years ago. Queensland was for many years the butt of many a joke from the 'southern' residents of Australia. It was considered a backwater or a frontier type State by those who lived in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. Time has swung full circle and those who once mocked are now migrating to Queensland at the rate of 1000 a week!! The buzz word for this phenomena is "sea change". Mainly the newcomers are in search of a more relaxed lifestyle away from the rat race of the major southern capitals. The climate also has a bearing in that there is much sunshine in the Sunshine State and our winters are almost non existant.

35 YEARS WORTH

After a few months in our rented house we decided that we should buy a home. Having no "credit rating" as a 'new chum' we approached a real estate agent to help us find finance. He suggested a hire purchase type loan which would be easier than a regular bank or building society loan. He also had some input into the transaction as his mother was being nursed by my wife! It helps to have some strings pulled. Our first home cost $8,100 and we were helped with the deposit by our real estate friend. We had to repay him as well as service the loan.

Of course we had no furniture so it was a matter of making do until we could gradually acquire the various bits and pieces we needed from our income on a week by week basis. To start, beds were mattresses on the floor, our lounge chairs were garden furniture, and the dining table was a shelf attached to the kitchen wall. During that first 12 months we were able to furnish the house and buy the whitegoods necessary for comfortable living. The ceilings in the house were made from Caneite a by product of sugar cane trash ! The humid atmosphere over the years had caused all the ceilings throughout the house to bow downwards.
So began what was to become a future "hobby". We ripped out all the ceilings and replaced them with new sheeting. Then they had to be painted.....
Pat tackled the garden and when we sold at the end of 12 months we made a profit of $5000.

A new house was being built not far from where we had originally rented and it had sea views. We jumped in and this time were able to get a standard mortgage.

On the job front I had been promoted to State Sales Supervisor and Pat was now a senior nurse in a nursing home.
We discovered that we were quite handy at DIY and after taking a bricklaying course at night school I commenced to enclose the bottom of the highset house. I created a fourth bedroom (teenager's retreat) for my son who was now entertaining friends and poking about with a car he had acquired.

After about 3 years we decided to sell again and try to find an old Queensland style house for renovation. These houses were very popular and we had set a plan to continue to renovate houses until our mortgage was cleared and then to build a new home.

The demise of Dairy products for health reasons saw the Butter Marketing Board go into decline. I then went to work for the Mars Group of companies in their petfood division. Again with a company car supplied and the Northside of Brisbane as my territory I was calling on basically the same accounts as before.

In 3 years the "old Queenslander" that we had bought was on the market and a profit of well over 100% was achieved. We had barely moved into our next 'project' than I was offered the opportunity to take over the Area Management of North Queensland based in Townsville. My area covered from Mossman in the north of the State to Sarina in the south and west to Mt Isa. A huge geographical area but one I was very happy with. By this time the children had moved out of home and were 'doing their own thing' so moving was not an issue. My son had joined the Australian Army, my oldest daughter was at Uni becoming a chartered accountant and my youngest daughter was training as a chef. The girls had their own flat close to Brisbane.

THE NORTHERN TROPICS OF QUEENSLAND

My company flew Pat and I up to Townsville for a few days to get a handle on what we were letting ourselves in for. We didn't want to live in town so armed with a map and a hire car we drove out on the northside of the city to see what the outer suburbs looked like. We ended up at Saunders Beach which was a small beachside village about half an hour out of Townsville.
We found a house for sale right on the beach front with only a dune to cross to be on the sand. The house had been a holiday or fishing shack and was pretty run down. However the location was perfect so we bought it that day.

Once we arrived in Townsville we set about tidying the place during our spare time. Because of the marine stinger problem in North Queensland we decided that we would put in a pool so that we could enjoy the ocean view while swimming. We added a timber deck and rebuilt the internals to make a more comfortable house. Pat's gardening ability soon had a lovely tropical garden in bloom.

BACK TO SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND

The photo is of Four Mile Beach at Port Douglas in Far North Queensland.

Although my posting to the north of the State was supposed to be for two years, we enjoyed the friendly atmosphere of the tropics and the beach lifestyle such that we extended our stay to almost 5 years. Because we had no dependents at home, apart from our dogs, Pat was able to accompany me on my regular away weeks from home base. My monthly cycle was :

Week 1.......Townsville and surrounds.
Week2........Cairns and Atherton Tablelands(includes Ingham Tully and Innisfail on the way through)
Week3.........Townsville and surrounds.
Week4.........Ayr, Home Hill, Bowen, Proserpine (Whitsundays) Mackay and Sarina.
(every second month would see me diverting inland from Bowen to cover the Central Queensland mining areas of Moranbah and Dysart)

The tropical north heat and humidity is something to experience to understand just how trying the summers can be. With aircon on full blast in the car, the sweat would roll down my arms and drip onto my knees!! A bit like Bangkok or Singapore all over again.

My time was up and once a replacement was found and settled in it was time for us to return south.

I was fortunate enough to be able to choose the location to live and as we could forsee retirement looming on the horizon we settled on the Sunshine Coast about 100 Ks north of Brisbane. I had a Sales Territory which extended even further north and west to the South Burnett so my home base was quite central.

SUNSHINE COAST QUEENSLAND LIFESTYLE

This was our previous house to the one we are now in. It was a little bit too far from the local services.

The photo is from the real estate brochure when we sold!!

Before returning to the south, we had spent some time looking for a suitable property. We eventually found a 5 acre exotic fruit hobby farmlet that had been sub-divided off a larger acreage. It was a bit run down and the house was tired and in need of some renovation. It took a while to get it into shape made more difficult by the fact that I was still working full time. Eventually we got the irrigation working for the fruit trees which consisted of Lychees, Custard Apples, Persimmons and other tropical types. With a new ride-on mower, the paddocks soon took on a different look and then it was time to work on the house. The interior was painted and new floor coverings put down. The outside was also painted and timber shutters added to the windows. It began to resemble a cared for abode !

My work took me away from home a fair bit and Pat felt a bit isolated so we decided to move to the village we now live in. Pat did the rounds of the real estate agents and discovered a 2 and a half acre block of land in close proximity to the centre of the village. We sold the farmlet at a nice profit which made all the hard work worthwhile.

We built a new home and time was spent in planting and landscaping the property. Being part of an old dairy farm the land was badly neglected but we soon had it looking pretty swish.

In 1993 at the age of 58 it was time to call it quits and retire from work. A new land subdivision was being established in the area so we bought a block of land and sold up our existing home. Our new home was to include all the comforts necessary for a comfortable retirement such as airconditioning and a swimming pool. On an acre of land this time, we spent the next few years establishing gardens and planted hundreds of palms, trees and shrubs. In all we spent 7 years on this property.....the longest time we had ever spent in any house we had owned. We were out on the fringes of town and felt that in later years it would be better to be closer to the township when the time came to quit driving. A block of land came up for auction within a 2 minute walk from all the shops and services including the main electric rail line to Brisbane.
So we took the plunge and bought it and have built what we hope may be our final home.

In retirement I often wonder how I ever had time to go to work !! I have a 3/4 acre block to maintain now and have foregone the swimming pool so there is no pool maintenance to worry about. I spend a bit of time on the computer having an interest in 'stationery' and keeping contact with many online friends. Pat is an avid painter and that occupies a lot of her time. We are planning a cruise holiday to New Zealand later this year (2006) and also would like to re-visit Tasmania. Our overseas holidaying is over having seen all the things we want to.

In 1994 we spent time in Europe and the UK visiting Italy, Spain, France (Normandy for the 50th anniversary of D-Day) and Ireland. We took time out on the way back to visit the Burma/Siam railway area in Thailand.

In 1998 we had a World Tour visiting Hawaii, Canada, Niagara Falls and New York. We crossed the pond to Southampton on the QE2 and then went to Greece for a Greek Islands cruise. Returning to Australia via South Africa we visited Capetown, Pretoria and Jo'burg.

In 2000 we had a nostalgic trip to Malaya via Singapore, Malacca, Kuala Lumpur, the Cameron Highlands and Penang.

All of this before 9/11 and the world descending into anarchy. The political situation is pretty ordinary in so many parts of the world that we prefer to spend more time exploring our own region.

So that pretty much brings me up to the present which is early January in the year 2006. Perhaps as more time is granted to me I can add snippets from time to time.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this website and I would encourage anyone who would like to do something similar to visit the Freewebs site. Building a website is really so easy these days with absolutely no knowledge of HTML or script required.
I have managed to get a few of my acquaintances involved and they are so pleased that they did.

The Final Home?

This is our current home.

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