A Tall Boy in Australia by Catherine Broughton

#memoir #Australia

Between the years 1942 and 1982 the Australian government operated a “populate or perish” scheme which encouraged migrants, mostly from the UK, to settle in Australia. The 1960s were the boom years for this scheme, and among the many thousands who moved to Australia was a tall Sussex lad called Bruce …

Bruce dictated his story to me when the children were little. We had no TV, and this was a way to while away the winter evenings. We were living in France at the time, in a remote property we nicknamed “Primrose”. Years went by (20 years in fact) before I got the story typed-out and then published. When we visited Australia we went to the places mentioned in the book. I totally loved Australia. Here are some of my sketches.

child with one arm, bush home, Darwin