Summary

Black and white digital photograph of the van used by John Woods to cover his service region while employed as a door-to-door salesman by Foys & Gibsons until he opened his own drapery store in Lalor in 1966. The van is parked outside the block in Cyprus Street Lalor on which he and his wife Barbara were building their house, circa 1959.

Barbara and John Woods married in 1955 and were living in commission housing with extended family in Buckinghamshire, England when they decided to apply for the assisted passage scheme and migrate to Australia. They sailed on the Sitmar Line MV 'Fairsea' from Southampton in 1957 and eventually built their house in Lalor [also referred to in some items in the collection asThomastown] in 1960. They had a variety of jobs before they opened their own drapery store in Lalor and had four children.

Description of Content

Combi van with Foys Home Shopping Service painted on the side; parked outside vacant blocks of land.

Physical Description

Digital scan of photograph.

Significance

The Woods family collection documents through objects, documents and photographs the experiences of an English family who migrated to Australia under the 'Ten Pound Pom' assisted passage scheme. The material enables the exploration of their entire migration narrative, from the decision to emigrate, planning and departure, the ship voyage, arrival and early settlement, including employment, building a house and family life. More than one million people from Great Britain migrated to Australia under this scheme between the 1940s and 1970s.

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