I arrived in Sydney from London, England as a single man aged 31, in August 1955, with only ten pounds in my pocket.

I traveled on an immigration ship, converted from wartime troops-carrying ship and renamed  "New Australia".

At that time all immigrants arriving in Australia were called "New Australians". Initially it was expected that immigrants would be assimilated, but years later the so called "multiculturalism" emerged.

1956 : Three single "New Australians". Myself on the left (a Pole), Mike (a Yugoslav) and Valdis Smidlers (a Latvian). We are in Austinmer somewhere near the ocean, going to Headlands Hotel for a cold Fosters beer.

I lived nearby in the staff hostel "Karingal" in Cringila, near Wollongong (photo >).

• In 1956, Television (Black & White) was introduced to Australia, mostly in hotel lounges.
  
  
• Also in 1956, I flew to Melbourne and saw Olympics.
• And returned by first run of Melbourne to Sydney daylight express train.
  
  
• I visited Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme during construction where 60,000 new migrants from 30 countries were employed.
• The population of Australia was only 9 million people.
  

Those were "boom" years in Australia thanks to government policies regarding immigration and employment. I saved enough money to pay for a round the globe trip to England where I studied again full time at my expense, and spent a year in Canada.

So in June 1959, I went back to London aboard a Dutch ship "Willem Ruys" via New Zealand and Panama canal. We anchored at Pitcairn island (photo) where descendants of the mutineers from the vessel "Bounty" live.

We also stopped at Bermuda island and in New York, visiting UN building, Radio City and the tallest, at that time, Empire State building.

Stamps bought from the Pitcairn Island Postmaster himself who boarded our ship from the canoe. He was barefooted.

Canoes from Pitcairn Island come to our boat.

I returned to Australia in 1966, this time bringing my wife and three children from London, England.

We arrived in Sydney, Australia on the ship s.s. Iberia (photo)

We went through Customs and Immigration in port Fremantle, Perth, Western Australia on 3 October 1966 and disembarked in Sydney on 10 October 1966.

In 1966 the building of Opera House was nearing completion.

Also in 1966, Australia changed to decimal currency system from pounds and shillings to dollars and cents.

The rate of exchange was 2 dollars for 1 pound.

Originally the notes were: One dollar, Two dollars (photo) and Five dollars, and the coins were: 20 cents, 10 cents, 5 cents, 2 cents and 1 cent.

Later 50 cents silver round coins were introduced.

Lena was born on Christmas Day, 25 December 1938 in Aberdeen, Scotland. She arrived in Sydney from London, England together with me and our three children on the ship "Iberia". We entered port Fremantle, Perth, Western Australia on 3 October 1966 and disembarked in Sydney a week later.

Lena was born to a single mother. She was adopted at the age of 9 months by elderly, childless couple Mr and Mrs D.A. Smith of Arbroath, Scotland and brought up as Dorothy SMITH.

At the age of 16, Dorothy discovered papers showing that her parents were not her real parents and that she was adopted. Brokenhearted she left home. She joined the Army Nursing Corps and was being trained as a nurse, but later resigned and went to work.

She met me in London. We were both alone, hardly had any family and were lonely. When I completed my studies, we went to Canada where we got married.

Lena proved to be good wife and mother. Twenty five years later, in 1987, when our children grew up in Australia, Lena decided to go back to Europe to search for her biological mother. Her adopted parents were now deceased. She visited and searched her native Scotland and eventually found out that in the meantime her mother, alas, has died. However Lena traced some relatives. She then obtained employment in London and became known as Lena Daniels. Lena returned to Australia in 2004.

 

Lucian was born on 25 September 1963 in London, England

PHOTO: 2 years 11 months old Lucian just boarded a train in Victoria station in London which will take him to port Southampton. From there he will sail for a month on a boat "Iberia" for Australia.

Lucian arrived in Australia at the age of 3 years exactly.

Celina was born on 11 February 1965 in London, England

PHOTO: 1 year 6 months old Celina just boarded a train in Victoria station in London which will take her to port Southampton. From there, she will sail for a month on a boat "Iberia" for Australia.

Celina arrived in Australia at the age of 1 year and 7 months.

Julian was born on 12 May 1966 in London, England

PHOTO: Two and a half months old Julian had his sleep disturbed and is yawning. He was just carried to the train in Victoria station in London which will take him to port Southampton. From there, he will sail for a month on a boat "Iberia" for Australia.

Julian arrived in Australia at the age of 3 and a half months.

In Australia I was employed by the Commonwealth of Australia Department of Works and we lived in a bushland setting in the grounds of the Commonwealth Experimental Building Station in North Ryde, Sydney, next to CSIRO and Chanel 10 TV station.

We lived in a house prefabricated from steel framework with fibre board on inside and metal sheeting on outside, designed for quick assembly in wartime or natural disasters areas.

Christmas 1967 - a year after arrival in Australia.
Our nuclear family, alone in Australia, with no relatives.

Lucian 4 years
Celina 2.5 years
Julian 1.5 years
Lena   29 years

Lucian is 5 years 10 months old.
Celina is 4 years 5 ½ months old.
Julian is 3 years 2 ½ months old.

From August 1972 to March 1973 Lucian, Celina and Julian went with their mother on the round the world sea voyage to London via New Zealand and Panama Canal. Returning around South Africa because the Suez canal was then blockaded by Egypt.

They visited uncle Edward and grandmother Aleksandra in London, and while in London attended a private college "Silverdale" .

In 1975, after cyclone "Tracy", Lucian and Julian, and later Celina, flew alone from Sydney, unaccompanied to visit me in cyclone devastated Darwin in Northern Territory, where I was working as an engineer on the reconstruction of town.   Photos: Darwin after cyclone Tracy. Smith Street.

11 year old Lucian and 9 year old Julian in Darwin.
Waiting for ferry for a trip to Mandorah island.

In 1976, Lucian, Celina and Julian went with Lena, their mother on the Sitmar Cruise of South Pacific islands on TSS Fairstar while I was working in Darwin.

In 1977 our family moved to the capital Canberra, where I was working in the Overseas Works Branch of the Australian Commonwealth Department of Construction designing Australian embassies overseas.

Photo of our house in Canberra (dated 1979) :
no.11, Street Place, Watson. >>>

Celina also went on sea excursion with her Braddon College students to Numea, an island in French Polynesia (the Pacific Ocean), as a part of French language and culture curriculum.

5 years old Julek ("I am a little gentleman"), goes to his first school ball and presentation in Sydney, on 19th August 1971.

Julian, a pupil of the Polish Saturday School in Canberra, in the role of a Polish nobleman (szlachcic) in the presentation of a play commemorating the anniversary of the May 3, 1791 Polish Constitution, the most democratic in Europe. May 1980.

We are, in the year 2000, the only Rymaszewski family in the whole of Australia. The family that originates from Pinsk, Poland and arrived in 1955 - 1966.