Christopher Flatt

Ship name / Flight number: Stratheden

Arrival Date: 12/09/1963

Many Happy Returns…

(A narrative from Little Brother, Christopher Flatt)

I say ‘many happy returns’ because, unlike so many of you blokes, I had the benefit of having been in good old Oz from 1950 until 1959. Mum and Dad were 10 pound poms and they, and us three kids, spent most of those nine years on farming and grazing properties in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

Anyway, the return to England didn’t work out. I was the first to make it back to Australia and left when I was just 15 years of age (though I did turn 16 on the boat).

A big Thank You! to the Big Brother Movement for this great opportunity.

After getting off the Stratheden here in Sydney on 12 September 1963 I, like so many before me, and most of the blokes from my group, I went out to the BBM’s War Memorial Training Farm at Cabramatta. This was a fascinating experience and a great time really... though getting bitten by one of the stock horses wasn’t any blanky fun.

As I reflect fondly on those early days with the BBM, I would like to do so with three short narratives in front of mind:

The Bush Telegraph

After a short stay at the W.M.T.F, I caught the night train from Central Station heading for a placement at Deniliquin (NSW) on a Dairy Farm. Well, the digs I was in was the old ramshackle original farmhouse whilst the toilet was an old petrol can in a falling down tin dunny. It left a lot to be desired!

Luck would have it though, one morning I badly scolded my foot cleaning out the milking gear etc. It was a severe and nasty burn and I hobbled around all day in terrible pain until the boss took me into town to see the Doctor that night.

The Doctor summed up the lay of the land and I spent a week or so in Hospital. Here’s the rub though. Whilst in the hospital, I poured more crap on that boss of mine than you could ever muck out from any dairy.

Now we all know how news spreads fast in the Bush. So when the boss came to pick me up he drolled “I hear you not to happy with things” Being an honest cove, I told him that I wasn’t… “ well then, you’re fired” He took me to the Globe Hotel where I stayed for a night or two and then caught the Mail Truck to Finley and got the train back to Sydney.

I spent a bit of time at Gunning House at Homebush (Sydney) after that, until my next job as a Jackeroo on a Station at Moree (NSW) came up.

A Lasting Legacy

Recently I spent a wonderful time at the BBM Centenary celebrations at Calmsley Hill City Farm (better know to us blokes as the W.M.T.F.)

One of the things that really struck me was not only the presence of many former Little Brothers, but the large number of partners and family members who were there.

It is estimated that over 97,000 Aussies today can trace their roots back to a Little Brother coming to this great country.

Such is my story. In 1964 my Father paid his way out here (Sydney), then followed my Mother and subsequently my Brother and his family and then my Sister and her family.

More significantly however, is the fact that I married an Aussie lass and we have been married 55 years …. we have four children and now 7 grandchildren.

The BBM continues a great legacy through its Global Footprints scholarships. From my personal perspective however, the greatest gift is the lasting legacy evidenced by my family here in Oz …. and the thousands of other Little Brother families.

Six Degrees of Separation

Well, maybe not quite … but certainly it is a small world.

After my time in Moree, I returned to Sydney and stayed in various Boarding houses and picked up different factory jobs. I then met my beautiful wife at Church in Haberfield, ‘grew up’ a bit more and settled down. Thus started a long career with the Tax Office, Financial Planner, Marketing Manager for Uniting Church Financial Services and finally as a Bequest Officer with St. Vincent de Paul Society. I retired in 2008.

Now here is the twist in this circle of life.

Whilst at Vinnies, and in the course of my work, I had the absolute pleasure in getting to know Alan Gill and his lovely wife Daisy. Now we probably all know Alan Gill from his regular writings in the Sydney Morning Herald and his books, including ‘Orphans of the Empire’ and his 2005 classic, ‘Likely Lads and Lasses’

In one of my first meetings with Alan and Daisy, I shared stories of my early BBM days. Alan was disappointed not to have met me earlier as he would have dearly loved to include my story in Likely Lads.

I do however have something that I still value dearly to this day ---- it is a copy of Likely Lads and Lasses with the inscription “To a great Balham Boy (and Little Brother) from another ex-Pom Alan Gill Nov ‘05”

For many and varied reasons, I have so much to be thankful to the Big Brother Movement for! Don’t we all!!

Cheers,

Chris Flatt