This is me, Margaret, AKA Maggie B, or Mag to most of the
family. I live in Melbourne, Victoria, and I'm a Libran. I'm single again, and my
immediate family consists of two adult children, Karyn and Colin, (who will always be kids
to me!), Karyn's partner, Gavin, and their son, my gorgeous, cheeky 6 year old grandson,
Brent.
I came to Australia from England, with my parents, older brother and two younger sisters, in January 1961, on board the P & O Liner Strathnaver. What an adventure that was for a 13 year old! Not that I wanted to come and leave all my friends behind, and I let Mum and Dad know I wasn't happy about it... But the decision was made, and I had to go along with it. Dad had actually been trying for many years to come as a "Ten Quid migrant" (yes, 10 pounds each for him and Mum, 5 pounds for my brother who was 17 at the time, and we three girls free!!). But he didn't have a trade, and it wasn't until around 1960 that they started taking unskilled people as 'Com Nom Vics' (Commonwealth Nominees to Victoria.) Not having a trade didn't stop him working his butt off for us and our adopted country, for many years.
The voyage on "Our ship" took four and a half weeks, and there were plenty of other kids of all age groups to get to know, and spend time with, dances to go to, movies to watch, swimming pool, deck sports, general meeting places and just about anything else you could think of (and I was far too busy to even keep in touch with the friends I hadn't wanted to leave!!! - typical teenager:-) ) and also lots for the adults to do. One of the things I liked best was sleeping out on the upper decks, and watching the fantastic electrical storms, with nothing in sight but miles and miles of ocean! We all had a great time, and really didn't want it to end when we arrived in Melbourne. It all seems like only yesterday.......
Brother Bob travelled Australia, never really settling here, and finally went to New Zealand late in '66, got married over there, and made it his home. Sadly, we lost Mum in '71 at the age of 51, a very sad time for us all. Dad got naturalized about 15 years ago, but my sisters kept saying they didn't think we really needed to, each time I brought up the subject, as we had all been so young when we came - Sally was only 2 years old and Tina had her 12th birthday on the ship, so we all really considered ourselves Aussies anyway. But we finally decided we wanted to make it official and on June 30th 1997, we proudly became Australian citizens........
My favourite cousin and her family (hubby & 4 kids) joined us in the land of Oz in '73, adding to our numbers, and we are a close, happy family. Of course, lots more has happened in between then and now, but I won't bore you with all the sordid details :-)). Let's just say we have a fairly large extended family between us. I will put up some more photos when I decide which of the thousands I have taken over the years I want to put up for the world to see!!! I will also have to ask Tina to scan them for me, as I don't have a scanner yet. Speaking of Tina, she has a great page you might like to visit.
I have been the proud owner of a computer since May '97 :-o). I had been given notice at work that I was being made redundant, and as I had only basic computer knowledge, which I had learned where I worked, I decided I should buy a computer and learn some more Office programmes. My son had been into electronics since he was very young, and computers since his early teens, so he put me together a basic system, which could run Office programmes and a bit more, for a very reasonable price. Needless to say, when I discovered the 'Bit More', it became far more interesting than Office!! I am still learning the Office package, but have to admit I spend far more time on the fun things. I've had an attempt at some graphics, the results of which you can see here. They may not be brilliant, but I have had fun doing them, and I will keep practicing! Since connecting to the Net in Nov. last year, I just think it is THE place to be. It is fantastic to be able to communicate with people from all over the world, to visit their sites and read about their interests, and in general to learn more about almost anything in the world. We are so fortunate to live in this electronic era.
Enough of my babbling....Please look around, leave me a message and tell me where you are from, if you have time, and have a wonderful day :-}
