Summary

Japanese postcard collected by Hanns-Georg von Laue and his sister Marie-Charlotte during their voyage from England to Australia as migrants in 1939. The children of a German father and Jewish mother, both eventually left Europe for England after facing persecution. They obtained passage to Australia as refugees with the assistance of the Quakers in England. They departed on the Japanese ship SS 'Husimi Maru' in January 1939; then changed to the SS 'Kamo Maru' for the Australian leg.

Hanns-Georg first settled in South Australia, working on a sheep station. When war broke out he tried to join the Australian Army but was classified an enemy alien and remained under surveillance throughout the War. After the war he continued to work on remote stations, then moved to his own fruit block in Renmark where he married and raised a family. In the early 1950s, they moved to Melbourne where he established a bookbinding business. Marie-Charlotte sister remained in Adelaide, first as a nanny and then a dental nurse and would later marry a German refugee.

Physical Description

Features coloured sketch of Japanese folk scene, possibly as part of set of a traditional narrative

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