After arriving on the Strathaird in 1960 John sent letters home to his parents. Below is a verbatim of his original letters:

On arrival at the “Training Farm” John wrote on the 23rd March 1960:

Dear Mum and Dad,

As you can see, we have arrived at The Training Farm. We got here Monday afternoon. The ship docked early Monday morning. We got off the ship at 9am and went through Customs. The customs did our lot all together. They searched my holdall but seeing they didn’t find any diamonds let me go. We then taken into Sydney for an X ray then onto a big house in one of the suburbs in Sydney and all of those under 18 had a medical. How we got out of it I don’t know. We were then taken for lunch and then bought out here. By the way Sydney Bridge looked beautiful though it was a grey cloudy morning. I was sorry to see the last of “The Strathaird”. She sails again on Monday.

Well, here we are at The Training Farm. We are certainly having to rough it a certain amount. We have one big dormitory with two tier beds which are as hard as nails. We are issued with two blankets and have to use our own sheets. This time I have bagged a bottom bed. The dormitory is one long building with a polished floor, at one end is the room that houses our clothes and lockers. We are not allowed to take clothes into the dormitories and have to change in the little room. We have all been put on jobs in groups. One lot help in the cookhouse one group have been put in the Dairy. They have 50 cows to milk and have to up at 4:15am every morning. I’m dreading when I’m on it. 2 of us are on poultry. We only have to feed and collect the eggs etc. and spend the rest of the time pottering about in the garden. I have to be up at 6:15am wash and start work at 7:00. The rest of the lads are on general which is doing odd jobs. The food is fairly good. I was getting a bit fed up of rich food. This food is good and solid and there’s plenty of it. Meals are at 8am 12:30 and 6pm. The first morning when we got up it was pouring down with rain. It rained on and off all day though this last day or so it has been warm and sunny. The Crickets keep buzzing all day and night though have now got used to it. Breakfast bell has gone so I’ll have to hurry. All the best to you all. Love John xxx

Below is a part of a follow up letter dated Tuesday 29^th March 1960. John had been informed, along with five others, they would be moving out onto their designated jobs. The job John was going to was about 600 miles from Sydney.

Left:1960, Photo taken outside the Dorm at the Training Farm

 

 

 

Dear Mum and Dad,

I am looking forward to moving out and getting settled. Life here at The Training Farm isn’t bad. This farm has about 50 dairy cows and 300 acres. The Manager is quite a nice bloke. His wife is in charge of the domestic side of our life. As I stated in my last letter the beds are as hard as nails, but I have now got used to that. We are all sleeping under our mosquito nets as there are quite a few buzzing around the place though I haven’t yet been bitten. This farm is here to house lads until they get jobs set up. I and another bloke John Hart from down south have been doing the gardens this last day or two. The Manager told us he has been here for nine years and has never known the gardens done better by lads than they have been done by us. That was some compliment. Today we have had Lady Gifford from England looking around. Her husband had the Dormitories built. She is quite nice but very lar de da.

Last Sunday we all had a go at riding. We have 6 horses here that haven’t been ridden since Christmas. They were pretty frisky at first . We had to ride them bare back with just reins on them. We had to hang on as best we could. I had a ride two or three times and managed to hang on. It was great fun. This afternoon we were branding cattle putting numbers on them or should I say burning them on. We all feel like cowboys especially as we can’t keep our knees together after Sunday, left over from our horse riding experience the day before. The country around here is quite nice with trees all around. We some swimming in one of the water holes which is about 15ft deep.

Well I’ll have to close. My next letter will be from my job. Love John xx

 

Post note: John’s sums up his life on The Training Farm for close to two weeks. It was his introduction to the start of life in Australia 63 years ago.  They are just a sample of many letters that John wrote during the voyage and settling in on his job with the Macartney Family at Berrigan in NSW. John is still in touch with the Macartney family.

After moving to Shepparton (Mooroopna) John did nearly thirty years as a presenter / journalist on his local Community Radio Station and was one of the founding members.

 

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