Guest Speaker Report
Wednesday 28 July 2010
by Rotarian Ian Johnson (reporter)
Our guest speaker was John Williams who titled his talk the “Leaving of Liverpool”. John was introduced by Allan Teale.
John advised us that he was a Barnardo’s boy. He lived in a Barnardo’s home from age 5 to age 15. At age 12 John was sent to Australia.
Whilst John’s parents were married, it was not to each other and John lays claim to being the original “Pommy bastard”.
John told us of his tough life as a young child before being taken into a Barnardo’s home.
As a child, during the war in England, John was evacuated to the country. He remembers being looked after by the yanks who were stationed nearby.
John told us that his six week trip to Australia by ship were full of fun although he was apprehensive about travelling to the other side of the world. Upon arrival in Australia he was impressed by the bright colours of the scenery and people’s clothes and that everyone was smiling. There was little grey, a colour he associated with England.
John was placed in a farm school at Picton. He developed a keen interest in sport which he has maintained throughout his life. Upon leaving school at 15 he was given a job by a lady who owned a chook farm. John was forever grateful and now looks after this lady who is now elderly. John did two years of National Service training and told us that he earned two stripes by being good at soccer.
John told us that he did find his birth mother in England and visited her. However his appearance was quite distressing for her family who were not aware of his existence.
Some years later John’s sister initiated contact with him. She came to Australia at age 80 and had a wonderful time getting to see Australia from the air in a small plane.
In conclusion John told us that his life was a sad life made happy. He said that whilst there are some bad stories about mistreatment in institutions which get prominent coverage in the media there are a great many good stories that we don’t hear about. John was thanked by Allan Petersen.