I met Harry at the post office on my walk this morning. We cross paths now and again and we chat sometimes for a few minutes, usually about the weather or daily events. Slowly you get to know someone this way and now our greeting is warm. When we break to continue our separate walks, he says "See you, mate." I like that.
I don't know Harry's surname, but he was born in Germany in 1932, and migrated to Australia in 1952, the year I was born. He came by boat, three boatloads of young Germans men, totalling 661 in number (one boat did two trips) and all had a contract to work for the Victorian Railways for two years. Apparently there was a big strike the year before and the railways were having trouble getting things done. It must have been hugely controversial at the time, bringing in all those migrants on contract, especially from Germany which, only 7 years earlier, was defeated finally after 6 years of world war. Post war Germany must have been a harsh place for so many young to be willing to leave at the one time.
Harry remembers the war, as a boy he said it was exciting, the air raid sirens would go off and everybody was herded into large bomb shelters of about half an acre in size and with thick concrete walls. Then when the raid was over they'd come out and some houses would be ruined or on fire. His father was away somewhere in the war and when the bombing became really bad he was sent away with other children to the country where they worked on farms.
Harry told me this one Sunday morning after I asked what he had 'on' for the day. He was going to a get together of Club 52 which was a club formed by the 661 German migrants that came to Australia to work for the VR. There are 30-40 who still meet three or four times a year, which includes one annual reunion to which more attend from different parts of Australia and sometimes from other parts of the world.
Harry's first job was assistant stationmaster at Newport station. He went on to different stations around Victoria and then on to the signals section, where he stayed and became a signals inspector, finally in charge of Gippsland. He retired in 1992 after 40 years continuous service. He said when he went to signals there were 2000 people employed there but with the advent of automatic signals the number at the end had dwindled to 200. Similarly there used to be three people on the country trains, a driver, fireman and guard. Now there is only a driver.
I asked one day had he been back to Germany and he said that in 1957 he went back to see his parents. An uncle he visited told him a local girl Hannah had signed up to migrate to Australia the next year and asked, "what is it like in Australia, are there kangaroos and aborigines everywhere?" He was worried for the young Hannah and suggested that Harry go and see her and give her some advice, which he did. The next year when Hannah came to Australia Harry met her to help her find her feet. A romance blossomed and they were married a while later. They have lived in Gembrook for more than thirty years and have a daughter in Cairns. He is going back to Germany next year, 50 years after his last visit. It will be Hannah's first return.
He's a nice bloke and if I don't see him on my walk for week or so, I quietly hope that he's OK. He said "see you mate," this morning.
I said, "Have a happy solstice Harry," at which he nodded and gave me a grin.
