Transitory sensory impressions were soon superseded by migrants‘ observations about surprising differences in Australian society and culture. The overall similarities between Australia and New Zealand did not necessarily ensure feelings of being at ease. Thomson and Hammerton in their study of British migrants to Australia observed a tension between
familiarity and strangeness in British migrants‘ experiences of Australia. Even subtle changes were disorientating and some differences required significant adjustment.21 Similarly, many New Zealanders found aspects of Australian society quite different to what they were accustomed. New Zealand migrants‘ impressions varied depending on where they lived and whom they interacted with. Kiwis living in the vast Western Australian outback provided dissimilar observations to those residing in Bondi Beach. This variation is to be expected; culture, as Anthony Cohen argues, is not a monolithic entity. Rather culture is the outcome of
18 Cavanagh, interview.
19 Podstolski and Clements, interview. 20 Potaka, interview.
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interactions by which we make the world and ourselves meaningful and as such differs from person to person.22 The following section outlines general patterns in New Zealanders‘ interactions with Australian society but is based on the belief that New Zealanders‘
experiences of Australian culture varied depending on their individual emotional, relational, historic, and geographic contexts.
Many New Zealanders were struck by Australia‘s multicultural society, particularly the large communities of European ‗New Australians‘. New Zealand society in the mid 1960s and 1970s was still relatively monocultural, in spite of a growing Māori population. Although the Pacific migration grew swiftly from the late 1960s, in 1976 Pacific people still only made up 2.1 percent of the population.23 Until the 1970s, most New Zealand immigrants came from Britain. It was not until 1986 that New Zealand‘s immigration policy shed race criteria barriers to migration.24 Australia by contrast received thousands of European migrants in the wake of World War II, and Asian migrants from the late 1970s onwards.25 Large Australian cities had sizeable Greek, Italian, Lebanese, Jewish, Vietnamese, and Chinese communities. Janette Walker came to Sydney in 1968 with her husband. They both noticed the cultural differences:
Coming from New Zealand we marvelled at European foods; Italian, Greek and Hungarian, cheap and cheerful restaurants. The white faces struck me as I had been conditioned to not only the Māori and Islanders but also a lot of Indians. However, Greeks, Italians, Yugoslavians and European Jews were all called New Australians.26
Many migrants like Janette commented on the different (and better) food options available in multicultural Australia. Daphne Park was also struck by the different ethnic communities as she and her husband travelled around Melbourne looking for a house to buy in 1993:
We‘d go to the Jewish suburb and that was fascinating. The little black hats on and the beards and the phylacteries and the whole Jewish garb and the children dressed up and everything closed on the Friday night and the Saturday. That was fascinating because I thought it was sort of like a snippet of Israel. It was amazing. And then he‘d take me to where he grew up in quite a Greek suburb. And here you‘d have all these little Greek men and women running around
22 Anthony P. Cohen, ―Culture as Identity: An Anthropologist's View,‖ New Literary History 24, no. 1 (1993):
196, 207.
23 Statistics New Zealand and Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs, ―Demographics of New Zealand‘s Pacific
Population,‖(2010),
http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/people_and_communities/pacific_peoples/pacific-progress- demography.aspx (accessed 11 August 2011).
24 Mein Smith, A Concise History of New Zealand, 245. 25 Richards, Destination Australia, 204, 257-61.
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covered in black, and if they were in mourning they‘d be all in black. They‘d be holding fish and it was just another culture. And they‘d have their fruit and veges in a basket. All this sort of thing that I hadn‘t grown up with. Then we‘d move into Chinese areas downtown, and then the Vietnamese area in Richmond. I found all of that really interesting.27
Daphne‘s observations of other migration groups reassured her that she was not the only newcomer as well as challenging her to learn more about their cultures. It was not only urban centres that had a mix of different nationalities. Rosa Tanga, working as a barmaid in the small country town of Ingham in Queensland, discovered that the town‘s population was largely Italian.28 Bruce Ringer who moved to Gove estimated there were 59 different nationalities working on his mine site.29
New Zealand migrants also observed that Australia was comparatively wealthy, consumerist, and modern. The practical outcomes of this wealth were accessible loans and varied
consumer choices. Mike Gammon noted the laxer criteria for finance almost immediately:
The first thing that struck me was the heat. Then as I settled in I noticed that finance was much easier to get. Within days of being here I had my own car whereas in NZ at that time you needed either overseas funds to buy a new car or 1/3 deposit for 2nd hand.30
Several migrants noted that the range and prices of consumer goods were better in Australia. Suzanne Belladonna on her first trip to Sydney spent about 200 dollars in a week on clothes: ‗Buying hot pants – that was the thing in those days – dresses over little hot pants. And beige suede shoes with a stocky heel and wedge shoes, wedge clogs. Everything seemed quite cheap. Oh, bags and dresses and a bikini‘.31 John Husband felt that Australia was more technologically advanced than New Zealand: ‗the phone system was not a party line and there were colour TVs everywhere‘.32 To Wendy Bull, Australia seemed more modern, fashionable, and American.33 Migrants failed to comment on their own financial situation when recalling their first impressions of Australia. Assessing the economic impact of
migration was a long-term reflection. Rather, their initial appraisal of Australia‘s wealth was based on consumer products: cars, clothes, and technology.
27 Park, interview. 28 Tanga, interview. 29 Ringer, interview.
30 Gammon, written narrative. 31 Belladona, interview. 32 Husband, interview. 33 Bull, written narrative.
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Migrants who moved to urban centres in Australia quickly noticed the bigger size and faster pace of life in these cities. Beverly McGhie who moved from Wellington to Sydney in 1980 observed:
Sydney was a concrete jungle. It was large. Looming.
Overwhelming. But it was new. The ethnicity was diverse and strange. I didn‘t feel like I was amongst my people. I felt like an ant in the cellar room of the ant hill. There were 3 million people in Sydney alone in those days.34
Several migrants used the phrase ‗concrete jungle‘ when describing Sydney. The high rise buildings and architectural styles were different to what New Zealanders were used to. Henrietta May would walk along the streets of Sydney with her head bent upwards counting the storeys of buildings.35 Elizabeth O‘Connor and her children‘s first impression of Melbourne was how strange all the brick houses looked compared to Wellington‘s wooden villas.36
The seedy side of big cities also surprised some New Zealanders. David Cavanagh on his first day in Melbourne noticed a drug deal taking place across the room from him in a pub.37 Several migrants, such as Shirley McNicol
described their first experiences in Kings Cross, Sydney:
We put our bags in the room & headed to Kings Cross. The big Coca Cola flashing sign, prostitutes, night clubs, the clothing people were wearing, lots of Harley Davidson‘s parked down one side of the street, the smells and sounds (sprukers trying to entice men into the live sex shows). All the shops were open, even a bloody chemist. It was all new to us. Here we were, a couple of 17 year old kids from country towns in NZ, on an adventure. What a bloody eye-opener it was.38
The faster pace of life was also reflected in the traffic speeds. Murray Hunt‘s first impression of Sydney was that the taxi drivers were crazy: ‗the trip from the airport to the address that
34 Beverley McGhie, written narrative sent to author,10 September 2009. 35 Henrietta May, written narrative sent to author, 23 September 2009. 36 O‘Connor, interview.
37 Cavanagh, interview. 38 McNicol, written narrative.
Figure19. View of Sydney c. 1977. Courtesy of Annette Moody. Figure 18. Luna Park, c. 1977. These two pictures from Annette Moody‟s photo album illustrate migrants‟ fascination with large Australian city buildings and experiences which differed from New Zealand‟s more quiet urban centres. Courtesy of Annette Moody.
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we‘d had, it was just mind boggling. It was over the speed limit and flat stick.‘39
Life in the big city was faster-paced than most New Zealanders were used to.
Some migrants loved the buzz and frenetic pace of city life while others hated it. Joyce Jellick on the Gold Coast found the ‗glitz, hustle and bustle of the city ... exciting and intriguing to begin with‘.40
Diana Harlow loved the atmosphere of Melbourne; there was always something to do.41 But other Kiwis were overwhelmed by big city life. Dulcie Driver felt Sydney was ‗an unfriendly rat race and very intimidating after living in Dunedin‘.42
Marie Riechner came to Sydney from Hamilton in 1984 with her boyfriend. Initially she was excited. In the first week she went out constantly ‗almost in a frenzy experiencing all these different things‘. However after a while she came to dislike Sydney‘s large size:
After the initial novelty had worn off, the time spent travelling to work each day to and from work (over an hour each way) things suddenly felt very mundane and lonely. We knew no-one in Sydney except the people we worked with. To this day I maintain that it is very easy to be anonymous in a big city – people who only care about their own lives because they are all too busy rushing.43
Although Australia and New Zealand are culturally similar many migrants were struck by the differences between their smaller urban centres and the big Australian cities, in particular Sydney.
Migrants‘ impressions of the more isolated areas of Australia were quite different. Rather than bright lights and busy streets they experienced remote, alien surroundings. Noeline Gentle moved with her husband and child to Karratha, a mining town in Western Australia. Her first impressions were of a ‗frontier town‘; isolated, with a culture of excessive drinking and racism. The new environment was harsh with ‗dust, heat, and bush flies, plus the new and often venomous creatures on the land and in the sea‘. 44
Violet Murchison, who travelled by train to Toowoomba was also struck by the starkness of the countryside in comparison to her native Waikato: ‗mile after endless mile of brown grass & gum trees which all looked the same‘.45
Perth was a strange combination of city and rural life.Although Perth lay in an idyllic spot on the Swan River, surrounded by beautiful beaches, Kiwis during the 1960s and
39 Hunt, interview.
40 Jellick, written narrative. 41 Harlow, interview.
42 Dulcie Driver, written narrative sent to author, 9 October 2009. 43 Reichner, written narrative.
44 Noeline Gentle, written narrative sent to author, 20 August 2009. 45 Violet Murchison, written narrative sent to author, 24 August 2009.
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70s found it parochial, backward, and in spite of its size, underdeveloped. Rosanna McEvedey, like many other migrants, felt isolated in Perth:
The immense distances and poor telecommunications imposed a sense of isolation from the rest of Australia that was reinforced by the different time zones, the pioneering, pro-risk, try- anything WA mindset and resentment that the secession movement had been thwarted by WWII.46
But after the America‘s Cup Race of1987 held in Fremantle, New Zealand migrants begin describing Perth in similar metropolitan terms to Sydney and Melbourne.
Kiwis‘ responses to these more isolated parts of Australia varied. Some migrants loved their new surroundings. John McNeil, who moved to Townsville to take up a new job as a
journalist, appreciated the tropical surroundings and felt there was a ‗sense of freedom‘ in the air.47 Liz Brodie relished living and working as a jillaroo in Merrimba, a New South Wales outback station.48 By contrast, Hillary Watford despaired on arriving in her new home in Western Australia: ‗I burst into tears and sobbed my heart out. I thought Kalgoorlie was the pits‘.49
Even though some migrants were disappointed with rural Australia their initial shock faded over time.
Kiwis initially found travelling in their new environment confronting. Many migrants who moved to big Australian cities were impressed but confused by the public transport systems. New Zealanders had usually never experienced anything like Melbourne‘s, Sydney‘s, and Brisbane‘s extensive networks of buses, trains, and trams. Beth Cullen arrived in Sydney in 1979 aged 21, eager to escape her ex-boyfriend and meet her estranged mother who lived in Australia. Beth found using the public transport from the airport to her mother‘s house stressful:
I caught a bus to the city then a train. The trip seemed to last forever (as I was not used to the size of the city) as I was looking at every station we pulled into – worried that I might miss my stop. It took an hour to arrive at the station near my mother‘s house from where I caught a cab to their home. It was a sweltering hot day and there was no air conditioning in the trains in those days so I was rather hot & sweaty when I arrived.50
46 Rosanna McEvedey, written narrative. 47 McNeil, interview.
48 Brodie, interview.
49 Hillary Watford, written narrative sent to author, 20 November 2009. 50 Cullen, written narrative.
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For Vanessa Farrell who migrated to Melbourne with her parents and sister, aged nineteen, public transport was a great way to get about a new city. However, Vanessa and her family were initially bewildered by the different way Melbourne‘s trains and trams operated:
In Australia you would buy your ticket the same way on the bus and at the train station but there was no conductor in the trains? You needed to keep your ticket to get through the turn- styles at the exit. My Dad had to go back to the rubbish bin on the platform and retrieve his ticket! Trams were another learning curve. When a tram stops all the doors open – front, middle, and rear. So we boarded through the middle and sat down – expecting the conductor to come to us! We got a few stares from people and the conductor but no one came up to explain that we have to go see the conductor who sat in a little cubicle at the front of the tram to buy our ticket. As a result of this we thought tram rides were free!51
Even if they did initially find public transport daunting, New Zealand migrants soon adjusted. While some Kiwis continued to dislike the crowds and lengthy journeys, others appreciated public transports‘ long operating hours and convenience.
Driving in the big cities was an early challenge for some Kiwis in Australia. As mentioned previously, cars were easier to buy in Australia than New Zealand during the 1960s to early 1980s. For example, Trent Kimmer was able to buy a car on hire purchase almost
immediately.52 But after acquiring a car, migrants needed to learn to navigate their new environment. Sharleen Baker bought a red Datsun 180B after moving to Melbourne in 1978 but found that driving could be difficult:
Driving in Melbourne was a bit scary. I have never encountered such large intersections in my life before. I had to sit a theory exam for my license and learned all the special tram
intersections off by heart. There were about 8 where one has to turn, wait, and then proceed, giving way to trams.53
In smaller cities such as Perth or Adelaide where the public transport was less developed, a car was more necessary. Paul McEvedey felt that the public transport was ‗lousy‘ in Perth so he bought ‗a miserable little Corolla‘, which (while it couldn‘t replace his beloved yellow mini) made him and Rosanna mobile.54
For many male migrants the experience of driving for the first time in Sydney, Melbourne, or Brisbane the big city was a memorable experience, sparking humorous anecdotes. These
51 Farrell, written narrative. 52 Kimmer, written narrative.
53 Sharleen Baker, written narrative sent to author,11 October 2009. 54 Paul McEvedey, interview.
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stories‘ precise detail and phrasing indicated that they had been told before. For example, Matthew Clements narrates his first driving experience in Sydney as a funny cautionary tale:
I was working right in the middle of the city in an engineering company, a construction
company. The boss wanted me to drop some tender documents on the other side of the Harbour Bridge and he gave me the keys to his car which was a big V8 Commodore. And you‘re talking about someone who had had their license for about 18 months, but had actually only driven the car about twice in their life (but in Christchurch and never in Sydney). I had to go across probably the busiest thoroughfare in Australasia. And you know just getting out of the garage in this thing was a bit of a test for me. Then I got onto the Harbour Bridge and I can remember I was gripping the wheel so hard and the sweat was just pouring off me I was so nervous. The lane seemed so narrow and the cars were going all 80 kilometres an hour. But I safely navigated my way across and I was so relieved to get across the other side I didn‘t pay too much attention to what lane I was in. I got in the lane that goes back, [did] a U-turn and got back over the Harbour Bridge the other way. Navigating your way, once you get off the Harbour Bridge on the other side, it‘s no easy thing to get back again ... I just didn‘t know my way round. The trip which should have taken about 45 minutes took me about three hours. And I arrived back at the office I think, just near closing time, [a] complete mess. I was just
absolutely distressed and tired and overwhelmed by the whole experience, totally drained you know. My immediate boss said to me, ―Where the hell have you been?‖ And I told him the story