Summary

Receipt attached to a list of passage fares issued for the Codegar Line ship M.V. Flavia on 8 April 1963. The receipt for 144 pounds is dated 13 November 1963 and relates to the ticket of passage purchased by Harry Forbes to depart Adelaide after the death of his brother James Forbes in an industrial accident on 20 June 1963 and the subsequent departure of his sister-in-law Sylvia and his niece Shirley. All returned to Scotland having migrated to Australia in 1961.

James and Sylvia Forbes migrated from Aberdeen in Scotland with their two year old daughter Shirley and James' younger brother Harry. They travelled onboard the Sitmar Line ship Fair Sky, sailing from Southampton, England to Melbourne, Australia on 8 July 1961.The family were sent to Broadmeadows Hostel and more family followed who settled in Adelaide. Sylvia was employed at the Ford Factory while James worked for Stewarts & Lloyds Stanton Pipes Division. Tragically James was killed in an industrial accident on 20 June 1963 and after subsequently also losing her unborn baby, Sylvia and Shirley returned to Scotland on 18 September 1963. Shirley visited Australia for the first time since departing in 2014.

Physical Description

Foolscap size sheet of cream paper with black typed text. Attached by a pin is a receipt, black printed text and handwritten annotations.

Significance

This collection provides a valuable and poignant insight into a young family's post-war British migration experience and their return home. It offers a perspective on the return migrant experience which is more difficult to obtain, as opposed to the more commonly told permanent settlement narratives; and it also reveals the diverse (and at time tragic) reasons why migration can be a transient experience for some.

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