In 1961 there was an unemployment crisis and serious housing shortages in Australia. Robert Menzies Liberal Party/ Country Party hung onto Government by one seat. Yet the Dutch Migrants kept coming. Piet had learnt how to look for job vacancies in the newspapers and how to access the Commonwealth Employment Services. There were no jobs at all, no vacancies, We had read in Dutch newspapers that The Snowy Mountain Hydro Electric Project was one of the great engineering feats in the world so far attempted by Australians. “The Snowy” as Australians called it for short, was an integrated water and hydro-electric power project located in Australias Southern Alps not too far from Bonnegilla. Thousands of migrants were working there, and Piet said, he is going to hitch a lift to Corryong a town near the Snowys surely he thought there must be a job. He decided to hitchhike because the Commonwealth Employment Office had a reputation of being too slow, this suited some migrants but not the ‘Dutchies’ which we discovered, Australians called us; we took it as a term of endearment, after all they called themselves Aussies. It was common knowledge that those migrants who waited for the Employment Office to find them a job stayed in Bonnegilla for a very long time. Early in the morning on our third day in the camp Piet set off to Coryong to search for jobs. He kissed and hugged Bets and the girls, and I would walk with him, carrying his original Dutch army “plunge zak” an army duffle bag with special army markings. I stood with him on the side of the road until he caught his first lift, an Australian farmer in his Ute, and a Kelpie, (an Australian dog especially bred for mustering sheep, also called a blue heeler,) in the back, stopped. ‘How yer going mate? He asked Piet. The man recognized dad’s duffle bag and understood its meaning. Dad hugged me told me to look after mum and the girls. I was now the man in the family while he was away. I felt honored to be accountable. I would miss him, but as a young boy I admired his get up and go, mentally he was so ‘stoer’ Nederland’s for courageous and strong. There were no government handouts or support for my dad, nor any network of friends, he went alone without a whinge or complaint. What a man! Back in our hut, I looked at the block of unfinished carved wood being shaped like a boat; a tear came to my eye; Nederland had sent its best.
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 02:14:15 +0000
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