In 1954 my family and I emigrated to Australia from Europe. I was six years old.
I have vivid memories of that period, and one of our first places of residence in Australia, was a house on a main road in Gordon, Victoria. I remember setting off with my mother one dark foggy morning to find a school. We walked along a main road, for what seemed like ages, and stopped at a building that resembled a school. That was my first day at school.
We remained in Gordon for six months before moving on to Adelaide. We lived in darkness throughout our stay in the Gordon house, simply because my parents knew no one who could assist them in turning on the electricity. My parents worked on a near-by farm, digging up potatoes and sewing up the sacks from morning till night. In the evenings, my Dad would light a fire and we would bake potatoes over the fire, and listen to stories of how life used to be in the country we had left behind. The smell and texture of baked potatoes evokes instant memories of that time, till this day.
My Dad would send me to a Baker's shop, which was right accross the road to our house, to buy bread, and taught me to say, "Mrs please one bread", which I learnt by heart and repeated, even when a male shop assistant was behind the counter!
I've learnt from this site that Gordon has two Primary Schools. Can anyone tell me more about these schools, for surely, one of them must be the one that I first attended.
I have now moved away from Australia many years ago, but still hope to visit places like Gordon and others, where many vivid memories still bind, of that time, albeit.
50 years ago!
