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Mike's story
I wasn't born when the Ten Pound Pom scheme was
operating in Australia but I remember my parents talking about it.
They had thought of moving to Australia for a better life but felt
too worried about leaving my grandmother who was very ill at the
time. They hadn't been to Australia but the way they spoke about it,
the country sounded just perfect to me.
I was born in the south of England in a village not far from
the city of Southampton. It was a lovely area and I remember as a
kid watching the big ships dock in the port and all of the
passengers come aboard to explore. I wondered what it would be like
to be able to travel, but our family was not wealthy and our rare
holidays were always to places like Butlin holiday camps in the
seaside town of Bognor Regis, certainly nothing flash!
After I finished school I got a scholarship to study teaching
and I eventually got a job teaching at a school not far from where I
grew up. I still thought about travel and saved up to go on a six
week holiday to Australia. I explored Sydney and Melbourne because I
had read so much about them and then went to Perth to visit a friend
who had moved there.
I went back to England but I couldn't stop thinking about
Australia and, in particular, Perth. After my wife and I divorced
and the school I was teaching at closed due to falling numbers I
started investigating how I could get back down under. When Western
Australian schools began advertising in England for teachers and
police officers I took the chance and applied. In 2005 I was offered
a job as a Maths teacher at a school in rural Kalgoorlie, Western
Australia.
I have to admit Kalgoorlie was quite a culture shock. I
arrived for the start of Term 4 and I couldn't believe how red the
soil was and how hot it was already. So many people helped me settle
in and invited me over for dinner and I soon made friends. In
England I really enjoyed cycling and I brought my bike to Australia.
I joined a local bike club and still have to pinch myself when I see
the long expanse of roads I can ride on without the traffic I was
used to near Southampton.
Kalgoorlie certainly doesn't offer the white beaches I had
thought of when I investigated immigrating and sometimes I miss my
family back in England but there is no way I would move back.
Australia, for me, offers me much more of the life I want.
Mike Colley, Interview 2006.