Summary

The Coxhead family migrated from Malta to Australia in 1958 and found themselves part of a near maritime disaster.

Coming to Australia:

The Coxhead family left Malta to migrate to Australia in 1958. The family consisted of: Louise Coxhead, her daughters Teresa, Pauline (later Farren) and Emily with her husband Tony Calleja and their two children Joseph and Carmen.

The family lost all their possessions after their ship, the SS Skaubryn, caught fire en route from Malta on 31 March 1958.

They joined Louise's sons Bill, Charlie and John who had already migrated to Australia. The whole family was seeking employment and better living conditions and opportunities. Louise's husband William had passed away in 1953 so it had been a challenging time.

According to the family Bill had been 'sponsored' through a private scheme set up by a Greek philanthropist. At the time he was able to choose Canada, New Zealand or Australia. His father insisted on Australia as it was the furthest place from Malta. Bill arrived in Melbourne, in the early 1950s, when he was 21 years old. His brothers Charlie and John joined him in Melbourne in 1955.

Settling in Melbourne:

The whole family settled in Essendon. First they moved in with Bill and his young family then Louise, Pauline and Teresa rented a two bedroom flat at the back of a cake shop (Ferguson Plarre) in Essendon on Mt Alexander Rd for five pounds a week ($10.00). Pauline worked at the cake shop.

Sinking of the SS Skaubryn in 1958:

The following story was told in 2024 by Pauline Farren:

'I was 19 years old when I left Malta. With my mother, my sister, my married sister, her two children and her husband. We left on the 22nd of March on the Skaubryn. We left the Suez Canal and we got into the Indian Ocean. We were a week on the ship.

On the 31st of March at 9 o'clock at night. we were told we were going to abandon the ship. We had to stay three hours on the lifeboat. We were three hours away from land. The sea was calm and moonlight. Oh, it was fully packed. When we were on the lifeboats, we looked back at the Skaubryn and it was full of smoke.

We lost everything we had - everybody did. Even the Personnel couldn't save anything. You gave the Personnel all your important things and he puts them in the safe. But he had no time to get anything. It was far too dark. Everybody had to run with torches to put on your life jacket. The German priest gave everyone the last sacrament. The Maltese priest was too out of it - he was seasick.

They told us there's a cargo ship coming to pick us up. The cargo ship came. We all went on the cargo ship on leather ropes. The children they put them in big canvas bags and pulled them up. The cargo ship was carrying an Indian crew and it was the City of Sydney (a British cargo ship). They fed us all rice in the morning. We stayed all day on the cargo ship. There was a German migrant who had died, and we saw him being buried.

The people on the cargo ship told us that there is another ship coming to go on it, called the Roma. The Roma was going to Italy, but it picked us up to take us three days to land in Aden. We got into Aden on the Roma where they treated us very well. We got to Aden and there was a new hospital that wasn't open, called the Queen Elizabeth hospital and they put us all in the hospital. They looked after us very well.

The German and Austrian passengers all flew to Australia. The Maltese people didn't want to fly. We all had to wait to for the SS Orsova, it was a first-class ship. The Maltese people all went on that beautiful ship. The food was nice and we were quite happy on that ship. We just forgot about all what happened. The Maltese people back in Malta, they gathered a lot of money, and they sent us money.

We got into Colombo and made our way to Australia. We arrived in Fremantle on the 22nd April 1958. We got a bus that showed us all over Fremantle which was nice. They gave us suitcases with all the clothing. Louise had a grey one, Teresa a red one and I had a brown one. There was a skirt, a coat, shoes, lovely jumpers, somewhat old fashioned. They had nighties, dresses, underpants, everything you think of for a lady - including lipstick and sanitary pads. That was great!

After a few days we continued on the SS Orsova to Melbourne. My brothers were waiting for us in Melbourne. We got home and we all settled down. The Salvation Army came too with their music.

The Red Cross is the best organisation in the world. And I always like to go knocking for the Red Cross. I did that.' (Pauline Farren 2024)

Note: The red suitcase referred to is now in the Museum's collection (HT 62840), along with documents and family photographs.

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