Summary

Children's bank book or pass book featuring Skippy and Sonny from the Australian television series 'Skippy the Bush Kangaroo' on the front cover. Produced by C.B.C. Savings Bank Ltd., Preston Branch, Victoria, the account was opened on behalf of one of the Woods children by their mother Barbara on 3 July 1968. The opening and sole deposit is 20 cents. 'Skippy' had only just commenced screening in 1968.

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

Bank book with clear plastic cover with 20 pages, most cut short at the top. The cover features a full colour image of a kangaroo and a boy; the reverse a colour image of a brown plastic kangaroo money box with a hand inserting 20 cents into the slot. Depositor's name typed across inside page and deposit written by hand and date stamped.

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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