Stories from Abroad: Sailing to Australia 50 years ago was an adventure!

Bobby Gunn, born Astrid Evans, left Westmeath almost 50 years ago, emigrating along with her family to Australia.

She, her brother Alan and sisters Caroline and Linda, parents Desmond and Margaret Evans, left Southampton on an assisted passage on the Greek ship "Ellinis", in September 1968.

"We stopped in Cape Town and disembarked in Melbourne and took a train to Wodonga Albury Migrant Hostel where only one family spoke English, a family from Dublin," she recalls.

"Dad got employment in Griffith NSW, 300 miles west of Sydney. Our first memories of Australia was the sunshine, heat, lorikeets and magpies singing. And the smell of oranges and lemons growing everywhere. Griffith is a large irrigated fruit-growing town and 55% of the population is Italian.

"We loved it here. I was 12-years-old then and finished my last two years of school there."

Shortly after, Bobby started working in the Bank of New South Wales and the family moved to Queensland on the Gold Coast, where she has lived till this day.

"I still believe it is the best place in the world to live," continues Bobby. "Our brother and wife Mo live in Breckenridge, Colorado, USA where he builds timber and stone homes, and skis regularly with his Mo. They have two beautiful dogs.

"Us three girls each married and have two grown-up children each. I live in Queensland, Linda in Brisbane and Caroline in the Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane and see each other regularly.

"Our 31-year-old son is married and living in Melbourne, and our 29-year-old daughter currently lives in Amsterdam and works in the advertising industry and loves it there. She met us in Dublin last May.

"Dad passed away at age 91 after a short illness, while my Mum turned 91 just the other week. She came from Dungarvan and met Dad after the war. Dad served in the RAF in Burma for three years.

Below: The Evans Family pictured in Killucan, County Westmeath, shortly before they emigrated to Australia: Alan, Caroline, Desmond, Margaret,Linda and Bobby.

 

Killucan

"Our family lived near Killucan, our house was called "Arakan" where we grew acres of strawberries for the Dublin markets, we also grew raspberries, blackberries and gooseberries. Mum and Dad used to employ local pickers and we used to have fond memories of playing with them after the day was done!

"As kids we went to Edmonston Primary school before they built the current school and remember taking it in turns to pump water into a bucket and take it back to the school. We walked or rode to school.

"When I was 10 years old our parents bought an old Rectory and land called Rathconnell on the Delvin Road. We loved that house as it was huge and we each had a bedroom! It was sold when we left for Australia and they built a dancehall on the old tennis court and called it the "Beehive Lodge".
"I went to Bloomfield Convent for high school and was only there for two and a half years before the summer holidays when Dad and Mum announced we were leaving for Australia. I was so happy as I was really bad at Irish and would have had to go to the West of Ireland to learn in the summer holidays.

"Our Grandfather Evans in Gorey died three days before we left the country, he had lung cancer.

"We, as kids, loved the month-long ship travel to Australia and especially as we were missing school and it meant no more boarding school.

However, I made long lasting-friends there, including Marie Dunne (Kehoe), Noreen Farrelly (Naughton) whose family now live in Perth."
When Bobby was 20, she returned to Ireland and Europe for five months, spending a lot of her time in Gorey with cousins.

Below: The Evans family around 1974 at their home on Eugaree Street on the Gold Coast: Mum, Dad,Linda, Bobby, Alan and Caroline. I would have been 18 or 19 years old.

Gold Coast

"I had a lot of fun but when the weather started to get cold and rainy it was time to return to Australia. The Gold Coast has very mild winters, it's warm in spring and autumn, with hot summers. Like today, it is 28 degrees celcius and currently we have the Commonwealth Games being held here (of course only Northern Ireland participating).

"We have fantastic beaches seven minutes by car and mountains 30 minutes away. We have a local airport forty minutes by car and Brisbane is the same distance from us. Chris and I have kayaks; we bike ride and have a 10-year-old black Labrador and our daughter's pug who like lots of walks.

"Chris is retired now and I am working two days a week and will retire next year as we have bought our offroad caravan and Toyota 200 series Land Cruiser and have started exploring this great country. Of course we still will go to Europe to visit Jessica while she is living there.

"I met my husband Chris playing squash locally. He has grown up on the Gold Coast most of his life and we married and went to Ireland and Europe for five months to travel around Europe.

"Bruce Evans, Dad's only brother, is still alive and is 94 now and he came out with his son to the Gold Coast for Dad's 90th Birthday.

“Of course, we have visited Marie Kehoe, and Marie took us to the old school and Bloomfield also.

"It is always great to visit Ireland, we spent 10 days there in May last year and no rain, but of course it is great to get home to Australia again and appreciate our weather and lifestyle. We have Irish Pubs in Surfers Paradise but the atmosphere is not like pubs in Ireland - that is the only missing part!

"Australia has a very outdoor lifestyle and makes the best coffee in the world apart from Italy. We are very keen on our coffee thus coffee shops are very popular and people love eating breakfast on the weekends out in cafes.

"I've met a lot of Irish people in Australia and they all seem to be very happy but the only problem is they have family back in Ireland and miss them.

“We were lucky we came out as a family, and we were young enough not to have had boyfriends or girlfriends in Ireland already. Australia is very family orientated and everyone loves an Irish accent."