Thursday 10 December 2015

Raising the flag


                                                   
I migrated to Australia way back in 1966 from England and my family settled well in our chosen country.

When my father retired they thought they would join us to keep close ties with their grandchildren and in those days of high employment they found a job being guides in an historic house of the pioneer Captain Charles Sturt who explored the one great river system in Australia the Murray-Darling basin.

They lived on site and this allowed them to explore possible places to buy a place of their own without any pressure as they now had their accommodation provided.

They both enjoyed the work and meeting people however there was one job my father had to perform there which caused him much heartache.

Each morning when the pioneer's house and museum was opened for public viewing his job was to raise the Australian flag on the flagpole in the car park.

He never did quite get used to raising this standard of the country in which he had not been born so soon after arriving as it seemed he was denying his birthright.





Images found at www.charlessturtmuseum.com.au

Yes, this is a true story.

8 comments:

  1. yet still a remarkable person, I suspect. (I look around at the people I know) and I research the numbers in 'the google' most people never move more that 55 miles from where they spent their formative years, or if they do at some point, eventually return. To move around to the other side of the planet? very impressive.

    oh, yeah…. FRIST!

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  2. Very inspiring indeed. I hope they were happy there, in spite of the jarringly wrong flag, so soon after landing.

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  3. Sound like remarkable people. I cant think of too many that would pick up and move so far ...people talk of retirement in far off places but rarely do.

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  4. It's hard for me to image moving to another country, I thought it was major when I moved a few states. Very brave and adventuresome folks.

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  5. It sounds like they were a wonderful couple, and while it jarred his sensibilities, i can imagine he grew to love his new home almost as much as his old.

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  6. Hard to relocate like that. Our heritage is so much a part of us and travels along throughout all circumstances in life. I hope their life there was a happy one after all!

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  7. I love that your parents chose to follow you to this distant place, a total culture change, not to mention that change of flags. I too hope they were happy there, I suspect they were with family close at hand!

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  8. In our day of shifting standards, it's hard to understand your father's pain. Though I do sympathize with his feelings of being uprooted and somehow displaced. Hope he eventually overcame his sadness and enjoyed his family, the true reason for coming to Australia. Bastet

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