BOOK OF THE MONTH: JANUARY 2008
AND THE CREW WENT TOO – The £10 Assisted Passage
Geoff Lunn, £17.99; 978-07524-42273
In this day and age, when the world has been made smaller by air travel and people routinely visit Australia for short holidays, it’s sometimes hard to imagine that as recently as fifty years ago, it was more usually thought of as a place that thousands saw as a new future life – and travelled there by stately liner over a period of more than a month.
Post-war Britain was a place of austerity, with jobs scarce and food rationed, and this proved a great incentive for many to relocate their families to sunnier climes. Australia was keen to increase its population, and so an assisted passage scheme was instigated by the Australian and British governments, initially for a two year period from 1947, which allowed adults to travel one-way to Australia for £10 (£5 for children, and ex-service personnel travelled free of charge) on the proviso that they remained for at least two years.
Geoff Lunn has researched meticulously the ships that were used over the next thirty-odd years to ferry emigrants to their new lives, and tells his story by using two fictional families and describing their experiences. He also delves into life onboard for the crews of these vessels, giving a different perspective on how this migration programme changed lives.
The final chapter is ‘What happened to…?’ which investigates most of the vessels used (tonnage, owners, builders, etc) with a few paragraphs as to their ultimate fate – sure to be of fascination to any who sailed in these wonderful ships.
Available throughout January at £13.50, including P&P