Summary

Newsclipping featuring an article entitled 'Thomastown: Our "Little Manchester"', cut out from The Herald Newspaper in the early 1960s. It was kept by John and Barbara Woods who had migrated from England to Australia in 1957 on the assisted passage scheme. They built their house at Lot 291 Cyprus Street, Lalor in 1960 and this article about the suburban development of the Thomastown area would have been of great interest to them.

Barbara and John Woods had 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.

Physical Description

Full length, half-page newspaper clipping.

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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