England . . . my early years

  This is the earliest photo I have of myself ( the baby).
  My brother, Bob, ( 6)  is holding me and that's my sister,
  Margaret, (almost 2) on the right.

  I was about six months old and we lived near London.

This one was taken at Eastbourne,   
a beach resort on the south coast of England. 
I was about 3 years old. 

  This is my favourite, I think.

  Don't quite remember why I looked
  so scared though !

Not sure what was in the pram, 
it may have been the cat !   

Bob, Tina and Margaret . . . 1953

Three generations, 
-> 
Mum, Nan and me 
in Windsor, by the  
River Thames. 

( I was making a  
strange face ! ) 

  Looks like a two-headed monster to me !
  <-
  Dad, Mum, Margaret and me,
  taken in London, 1952

Me (10) with my baby sister, Sally (about 9 months)
outside our house in Slough, Bucks. 1959

On January 17th, 1961, the McDonald family left England on board the P&O liner Strathnaver,
to start a new life in Australia. The journey took four weeks and four days, calling at several ports along the way

Port Said, Aden, Colombo . . . then a week without sighting land (except for the occasional island) as we crossed the huge expanse of the Indian Ocean. It was fun to watch the sun set from the lowest deck, then run up to the next deck and watch it set again,  and again, . . . all the way up to 'A' deck !

On my 12th birthday, February 12th 1961, we had our first glimpse of the new country as we cruised into Fremantle Harbour. Then on to Adelaide, and finally, on February 18th, we arrived in Melbourne, where we settled happily in this wonderful city. Well, all except for Bob, that is, who wandered the country with his "swag on his shoulder" for a few years until he finally decided to pack his sleeping bag and head for Auckland, New Zealand in October 1966. There he married and still lives now.

In August 1996, Margaret and I went to Auckland to visit Bob and his family. I'd been there six times before, and Sally had been twice, but Margaret hadn't been before. Bob's youngest daughter, Sarah, suggested that we should do a retake of our 1953 portrait, and this was the result ! After 43 years, we haven't changed a bit, have we !!??!!

And finally . . . after living in Melbourne for all these years, in June 1997 the three McDonald sisters became Australian citizens. This is the Mayor of Knox presenting me with my Certificate of Citizenship.

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