» Read the Spanish version of this story

Author: Marcia Lorenzo
Storyteller: Marcia Lorenzo
Community Language School: Wollongong Spanish School
Main School: Saint Joseph’s Regional School

The story of Marcia’s maternal and paternal grandparents.

Memories of the journey

When my mother and her brother came to Australia to live, my mother was three and her brother one year old. My mum doesn’t remember a lot of the trip because she was so young. My mother says she brought her favourite doll with her. The doll’s name was Victoria and she had long hair and blue eyes.
My grandmother brought a lot of songs and memories of her family so she would not forget Spain She still remembers the “Rocío” and the “Ferias”. Also the sweets and cakes – my grandmother says that she will never forget how nice they were. My grandfather says that he brought many memories of his family and brothers and sisters… good and bad memories.

My maternal grandparents José and Lourdes travelled with their two children by plane on the 11th of March 1963. As my grandparents did not understand any English they had to point at things to be able to communicate when shopping.

My grandparents Antonio and Concepción, with my father and my uncle, came to Australia when my father was four years old. Now they live in Spain.

My father says that they came to Australia in a big ship and that he brought with him his toy cars, clothes and shoes. My grandmother brought a lot of photos of bull fighting and Spanish dancing and all kinds of music.

Arriving in Australia

The first days in Australia were very difficult. My grandparents arrived first in Melbourne and then they went to Sydney to live. Their life changed a lot. My grandparents didn’t know much English and my grandfather had no job. My mother and uncle were very young. It was hard for my grandfather to find a job as he didn’t speak or understand English and had no qualifications.
My grandmother used to live with my mother and my uncle in the garage they had rented. No one would let my grandparents rent a house as they had two children. My grandmother found work cleaning people’s houses while my grandfather finally found a job working for BHP in the coke ovens.

The first days were boring. They were in a hostel and they had nothing to do except look for a job. They missed Spain and still do, because of all the memories they had in Spain. Spain has a lot more celebrations and fiestas than Australia has.

TODAY

My mother and father got married and they had two daughters. Now my grandparents are happy living here in Australia close to us because their children and grandchildren are here, sharing everything with them.
Now my grandparents are used to the Australian way of life and the language. Life was very hard but now they are happy. My grandparents want to go back to Spain as they lived there all of their childhood.

It would be like my going to Spain to live at 20 years of age. I could never forget about Australia as I have always lived here. My mother wants to go to Spain to see where she was born, where she lived her childhood years and to see how much Spain has changed since then.