Richard Feidler

You only had a bath twice a week.

And I just remember I was walking up to Piccadilly Station and the concourse, they had Immigration House and had these fabulous photos of Australia and Sydney and Adelaide and everywhere, beaches and the sun.

And I thought, that's it.

That's what I'm going to do.

And I applied.

And what I didn't realise is they really needed single white young women to propagate white young other kids.

But lots of people, usually working class people, it was a way out for them.

Look, I can still remember it was September, so it was spring.

I remember I had a purple jumper on.

as skinny as anything.

And I just remember coming around the heads.

I mean, the Opera House was barely being built, I think.

And you've got the Harbour Bridge on your right and you turn down to Circular Quay.

And it was just stunning.

I mean, I just thought, oh my God, this is where I'm meant to be.

Well, those days I earned so much money.

Like I got $42 a week and to me that was like probably $35 more than I'd ever learned in my life.

I didn't know.

I thought I had become rich and I worked my arse off and I was in a factory checking the hairspray cans.

You turn it up and over and then put them back on the conveyor belt and that's what you did all day.