Summary

Folder entitled 'Melbourne Victoria Australia' containing 31 colour photographs printed on card. The cover features a young blonde woman sporting a 'Garden State' tee-shirt on a beach and holding a penguin.The photographs represent a range of tourism, business and industry themes including sport, camping, natural environment, cultural events, industry and city living, It was collected by John and Barbara Woods over 20 years after arriving in Melbourne from England in 1957.

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 as Thomastown) in 1960. They had a variety of jobs before they opened their own drapery store in Lalor and had four children.

Physical Description

Folder which has flaps which fold out to contain 31 full colour photographic cards each with text addressing a different theme on the reverse. Front cover also full colour with 'a young blonde woman sporting a 'Garden State' tee-shirt on a beach and holding a penguin.

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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