Bird – Leaving India

Posted by Elizabeth (Betty) Bird with additions by Andrea Delamotte (nee Bird)

bird01_400x384On the 11 December 1962, Rex and Elizabeth Bird left the village of Pallavaram, South India, with a view to making a life for themselves and their three bird02_400x397children, Kenneth, Andrea and Milton, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

They travelled to Australia on the ship SS Orcades and on berthing in Fremantle (11 February 1963), Western Australia, were persuaded by Rex Bird’s sister Beryl Fleming, to leave the ship and settle in Western Australia instead.

This decision was not taken lightly by Elizabeth and she argued strongly against the move. Rex prevailed and the family arranged for their boxes to be unloaded and the family went to live in Wembley with Beryl, her husband Trevor and their three children, David, Joan and Mark.fleming_400x431

Why travel all that way to Australia at their age and settle in a country that was unknown?

Elizabeth is better known as Betty to her family and friends. She remembers the decision as being one for the sake of the children. She and Rex gave up their comfortable life in India because they reasoned that their children would have difficulty growing up in a country (India) that was becoming increasingly hostile to anything that reminded them of the days of the Raj.

Ken was having difficulty learning the languages of Hindi and Tamil. Both Betty and Rex reasoned that he did not have an aptitude for the Indian languages which were a compulsory subject and had to be passed to move on to the next class. Ken was so bright in everything else. It was absolutely necessary to learn the languages, key requirements if one were to consider future employment.

Rex found employment difficult. For a while he worked in a menial job loading 44 gallon drums of fuel.

Betty found employment as

Ken started high school at Perth Modern.

Andrea and Milton started at Subiaco Primary at first and then shifted to Wembley Primary.

Beryl and Trevor provided an introduction to life in Western Australia. It was strange to someone who had lived in India, yet it was exciting and exhilarating, sometimes frightening because of the number of unknown factors that must affect new migrants.

Rex and Betty found a house for rent in Gloster Street, Subiaco. They lived there for a few months whilst Ken continued to attend Perth Modern. Andrea and Milton transferred to Subiaco Primary.

Ken hit his straps and started to become a top student. Nothing seemed too hard and he consistently topped his class. India became a distant memory as Ken settled in this new country.