SS Grootebeer 1951 -
Story of the Jansen Family's Voyage
by Maria Jansen
We all are born in Holland and in 1951 my Husband John Daughters Elsa 13 - Anka 6 and Son Robert 11 and myself Maria sailed in the immigration ship named "Groote Beer" on the 15th of February 1951, hoping for a better future for us all in Australia. We wanted to enjoy this trip because John, being a good tradesman, we didn't receive any subsidy from the Dutch Government and have to pay the full fares. I kept a daily Diary of our trip, one written in Dutch and one written in English (or shall I call it Double Dutch) from which this story is being condensed in the hope of someone agreeing to publish it, and who knows, perhaps someone else who migrated at the same time as we did, may read it and get in touch with me and we could in this way find out what sort of lives they had in Australia and whether they were as lucky and as happy as we have been. The only sorrow has been the death of my husband John in 1974.
Before we left our Fatherland, we planned this journey, saved hard, studied about Australia and Australian ways and taught my Children how they should behave when mixing with strangers and how to behave themselves under Rules and Regulations on a ship. Our preparations paid off. We were able to speak English well enough to make ourselves understood when necessary, our Children did not get into any trouble on the ship, and other passengers and the ship’s staff thought highly of them. I had heard about the quarrels and disagreements that had taken place on other Migrant ships - bad tempers, resentments, jealousy and quarrels with ships staff, and I hoped we would not have to suffer any of these troubles, and we didn't. Our ship was a happy ship 600 Bachelors - 120 Women and about 80 Children we all got on well together and although there was sea-sickness and sometimes impatience when having to queue up to get into the laundry - and to wait our turn when disembarking at Ports of call when so many papers had to be examined and signed, there were no frayed tempers or quarrels.
Perhaps we could give credit to certain things for our good luck and happiness on the ship - perhaps as a result of most of us being of Catholic religion and going to Mass every morning early before breakfast to ask Our Lord for His Blessing on that day -perhaps it was because my Husband and I cheerfully helped those who became seasick or who had any small troubles - perhaps it was the way we had trained our Children and ourselves on how to act when we have to share our activities and live so closely together for five weeks on a ship. Whenever I was caught in a long queue I got out and sat on my deck-chair on deck and rested until it was my turn. Or else, if I had a lot of laundry to do, I would get up extra early and get it done before Mass. We all had to provide our own deck chairs for the trip and I was often very thankful to be able and relax on deck.
At the last moment before we boarded the "Big Bear" as we had nick-named our ship (she served as a hospital ship during world war 2), we met the Schaafsma Family, old friends of ours, who were also migrating to Australia and we decided to travel together for companionship. This incident also added to our happiness. Families were separated at night because men and boys were accommodated together and women and girls together. Our cabin contained four double bunks for ladies only. Next to our cabin was a toilet and showers and everything was very clean and freshly painted. Mrs Schaafsma and her Daughters shared our cabin and her husband and sons shared with John and Robert so we felt we were very lucky. Meals were all delicious, beautifully served by polite waiters we were also given morning and afternoon teas in our cabins and also supper at night, and nearly every night we adults would sit in the lounge, and have a quiet smoke and drink and talk about the days activities, before retiring to our cabins. We felt a bit sad as the ship sailed through the canal-to Ijmuiden, and we watched the lights of the town gradually disappear. I will not dwell on the everyday events of the ships life, such as inspecting the ship, unpacking our ports, meeting other passengers etc, but I have to think about 1,000 odd people who came to the pier to wish us luck. The press, taking photo's of the ship, and us all, and all through the excitement we were wondering whether we would end up suffering from homesickness and regrets later on. We had a boat deck drill and learned how to put on our lifebouys, each night 1 gave the Children their hot showers and tucked them into bed, before joining our friends in the lounge. On our first night Mr Schaafsma shouted us a glass of Old Dutch Bols and we wished each other "Good Luck". Every morning the loudspeaker greeted us with "Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen. Did you sleep well? This was a courtesy and politeness of all the staff on the ship, from the Captain down to the cabin boys, every one tried to make us feel happy. There were three sittings for meals and after dinner each night a short evening prayer in the picture theatre. Every one had to be on time for this daily routine ship life or you missed out. The ship had a radio system and loudspeakers and any world news was heard all over the ship. Some of the highlights of our trip were when we reached open sea and left our flat country. When we saw the White Cliffs of Dover and the lights along the coast and from other ships passing by. It was a wonderful sight when we first saw Mountains along the African coast, some days were sunny and the sea was calm, other days the sky was dull and the sea rough and the passengers had to keep to their cabins. We found we felt better and got rid of our sea-sickness if we went on deck and breathed in the fresh air and sat in our deck chairs.
On the 28th of Feb. we sailed through the straits of Gibraltar and the sea was like a mirror. On the Spanish coast we saw a huge rock in front of one of the mountains and it was shaped like a huge rhinoceros lying quietly in the water and exactly on the point of its nose stood a lighthouse. On the African coast, which we passed next on our trip through the Mediterranean Sea, there were hills and mountains and in the dark the lights looked very beautiful to us. Some nights we were shown movies in the theatre and one was a very funny comedy called "On slippery Ice"
One interesting thing we notice was that the sea in the Mediterranean Sea was a lovely blue with white foam on the wave tops, but the Atlantic Ocean had been green. Special guests often honoured us at our dining table including the Presbyterian Minister who told us of the death of a mutual friend in Nijmegen (The city we came from), Minister Kreutzberg. Another night we had the Captain as our guest and he was a most charming man to talk to. We also had the Doctor one night and we became good friends one day I made an appointment with him and asked him why I had pain in my abdomen and he found I had an inflammation and treated me, and in no time I felt better and no pain anymore which was a relief.
When we arrived at Port Said the Police came on board with guns, and they examined the ship thoroughly as they suspected Arab criminals had climbed on board. We were told to lock up all our valuables and when I was coming back from my cabin I saw one and called out "There he goes" and he ran right into the arms of the police who quickly dealt with him. They had already arrested three.
While at Port Said the traders in small boats came around the ship and the passengers bought what they wanted by, pulling up their purchases in little baskets and sending the money back the same way. We thought it was all too noisy and dirty and went to bed. I waited until daylight to spend my 5 guilders, in the morning; four small boats were hoisted up to the ships railings for the traders to display their wares and enjoyed making my purchases, something for each member of the family.
Later the ship sailed down the Suez Canal and the scenery was like an Easter Fairytale - palm trees - Camels - Arabs - Trees in blossom - Eastern villages with their lovely white buildings; Women doing their washing along the canal, Farmers ploughing their land with oxen, Arabs building houses. We saw the dredges working and how clean the water was after the dredging. However Health regulations were not as high as in Holland, the Butcher in the open field cutting down his carcases. Three poles were tied together at the top and the beast was hung from the centre and cut into pieces and placed in an open cart to be delivered to the shops.
There were a lot of English military Camps along the canal. Lots of cars driving about, the sightseers stopping to take photos and to wave to us. The city of Suez had lovely parks and buildings and when we passed the Netherlands Consul's Embassy they lowered the flag, which meant a respectful greeting to us. When we passed out of the canal we saw many boats big and small, sailing stately through the canal, a lovely sight. Then for three days we saw nothing but sky and water. Before we arrived at Aden for refuelling with oil and water, after which we were told, we would be rationed with water until the next port of call, everyone did their laundry work and men and women stood for hours in a queue once again and tempers began to fray, so I hung back until the laundry was empty and did my washing and ironing in peace. The usual traders came alongside our ship again but they demanded Dutch or English coins, which most of the passengers didn't have. I had enough English coins, but I used it to give a tip everyday to our cabin boy, who was marvellous to us, so we didn't buy their goods, most of which were only rubbish and the traders looked dirty in their long grubby robes. The lights of Aden looked so pretty that night and about 1 a.m. some of the passengers got permission to land and hired a small boat for five guilders return at their own risk, the rest of us went to bed. The next day refuelling was still going on and we were thrilled to see a most beautiful view. High mountains reaching down to the coastline, something we had never seen before, on the docks cars were parked, camels were pulling carts and much action and trading going on. Small villages were scattered here and there on the mountain slopes and their white houses made a big contrast with the dark mountain. Aden is like a big oil station and other ships were being filled too. At 9 p.m. we were sailing again towards the Indian Ocean. I bought a large wooden box from a man and packed all our woollen clothes in it to make our ports lighter, we had enough room to pack the woollens belonging to the Family Schaafsma also, the luggage master put some iron strips around it and labelled it for us.
We had to go down a steep ladder from a trapdoor in the bow of the ship to find the painter, named Kabelgast, real seaman, middle age and heavily tattooed, who loaned us his paint and brushes to put our address on the box, later we gave him some tobacco for his kindness. That evening we made our first and only complaint to the Captain about the poor service we were getting from the canteen, especially the way they served the drinks, foam to the top of the glass, and when it is settled, there was only half a glass of beer. Our ship was spotless; the decks were scrubbed daily, even on Sunday. To take our minds off the heat, we kept busy with our own types of recreation, some playing sport and some of us going to the Children’s room and helping them with their handicraft work, like woodcarving raffia and gymnastic.
One day we had a Children's Festival, which caused a lot of amusement to the adults and, thrills for the youngsters. Music was played on an accordion by one of the stewards who led the Children in a procession. The sloop deck was decorated with flags, the Children joined in a dance then blankets were laid on deck for them to sit on while the races were held, Anka won the prize for the 6 and 7 years olds, then came the three legged race and lots of games--for different age groups. The children had a marvellous time. After being served cake and lemonade they returned to the Children's room and enjoyed a Sing Song until teatime they ended up with singing "For they are a jolly good fellows" for the stewards and stewardesses.
The next day although the sea was rough, was an enjoyable one when handicraft was done in the morning a Children's film was shown in the afternoon and then the Great moment, the presentation of Prizes. Anka received a doll dressed in traditional Dutch costume (which she still has). The grown-ups had fun with horse racing - much excitement screams and laughter and a very happy atmosphere. The days passed peacefully; we dressed up to go to dinner at night, watched boats passing by in the darkness and exchange light signals with our ship. The Captain honoured us again with his presence at our table, which was set with a special cake, and we were given first class service. A few days later we were told that from Tuesday 20th of March, articles would cost 100% more, because we would come into Australian waters.
So everyone decided to cash in their board money, which they had deposited at the beginning of the journey and try and buy as much as possible before Tuesday. Once again a long queue formed at the Bank, after withdrawing their money then went to the canteen to spend it. We were nearing Fremantle and the night before we had the departure dinner, as many passengers would be leaving us. Special menus were made for the occasion the tables beautifully decorated and we were honoured by the presence of the ships Administrator at our table. We had a five course meal which was delicious and afterwards we and some other passengers went to the kitchen to Peter the Head cook and thanked him for all the extra trouble, he had gone to for us. The evening finished as usual with a game of cards. The 19th of March was notable for the fact that an extra passenger arrived on board the Groote Beer. At 11.30 am. Robert Berend was born in the ships hospital and named after the Captain, and the passengers were served "Rusks and Cocoa'' which was a custom in Holland when a new baby was born, they all thought it was unique.
As we sailed southwards the weather became cooler and the canvas awning was removed and Officers and stewards changed their uniforms from white to black. Seventy passengers would be disembarking at Fremantle and a lot of tension was felt on board, as people prepare to leave. Lots of washing and ironing as usual, that night we attended the revue put on by amateurs and the hall was full everyone from the Captain to the stewards were present and the show was a huge success and afterwards the Captain gave a speech and presented the players with a gift, everyone was happy and contented at such a pleasant voyage.
On the 21st of March everyone was excited to see land again after 14 days seeing nothing than sky and water, and at 4 a.m. the pilot came on board. From then on it was busy; Australian authorities arrived - papers again were examined and checked and signed - medical examinations by Australian Doctors took place, this all took about 11 hours. Passengers eager to land were packed like sardines on deck. All we saw were people walking about and driving up and down. At last at 11.30 a.m. passengers were given permission to land.
But before doing so passengers who didn't disembark had to hand in their passport and exchanged for another form which had to be filled in and signed. It took hours, and once again we sat on our deckchair on a cool spot at deck, waiting until most of the passengers had landed. We noticed a van from the Bank on the dock, from which you could cash your travellers cheques. There was a long queue too and by this time it was 2.15 p.m. Then a loudspeaker announced that traveller’s cheques could be cashed in on the sloop deck and John was there in a flash and in five minutes time we had our money. And at last we stood on firm ground again and this time on Australian ground. We had made it! We were thrilled at what we saw in our first Australian town. The main street with houses shops, pavements all strange and new to us. The first thing we saw was a church. We went in and noticed the Lenten atmosphere - Children rehearsing in the Choir for Easter Mass, a lot of people praying on their knees.
Afterwards we went shopping and had no trouble with our new currency and our new language, and were so thankful we had prepared for this great adventure and that we were able to make ourselves understood, the shops were different and not as tasteful as in Holland. The bars in Hotels, with their three different bars, Men’s, Ladies and Mixed, No Ladies were allowed in the Men's bar and vice versa, it seemed strange to us. Some of the prices that day were, in a Milk bar 5 nice cold fruit drinks cost 2/6d; 21bs of peaches and 2 lbs of bananas cost 4/-d; 5 ice creams were 1/3d; Kodak film was 2/6 and bottle of lighting fluid was 11d. We saw beautiful Parks with well cared for flowerbeds, palm trees, cacti and lawns. Everyone on the streets were well dressed, ladies young and old wore hats and gloves and make-up. The trams had special hooks on the back to hold prams, a lovely idea, I thought. The left-hand traffic was also strange to us, it all made a deep impression on us, and all by all we had a lovely afternoon and now we had to go back on board.
At 8 p.m. the ship sailed again this time carrying four Australian Officials, one who could speak Dutch and they would help us with our papers and answer questions. We all slept well that night until, while crossing the Great Australian Bight a heavy sea caused a wave to come through our porthole. Our shoes floated like little boats in our cabin so we all went up and mopped it out! Next day was Good Friday and we went to the "Way of the Cross". It was the first time we were to see an albatross, a very huge bird, who followed the ship and seemed anxious to make friends with us. Robert had fun throwing pieces of bread into the air and seeing the bird catching it. Choir practice to-day again preparing for tomorrow Easter Sunday, we went to breakfast and found coloured eggs on the table and flowers too, Solemn Mass was held at 9.30 a.m. when the hall was filled and the Choir was much appreciated we had practiced so hard and some of us had even written the words and music on special sheets supplied by the ship's office staff. During Holy Communion a young Presbyterian sang "Panis -Angelicas", he had a beautiful voice and it was touching.
A busy day was coming up, people preparing to disembark at Melbourne the following day after being on board for over four weeks. We met a relation in-law of ours, Mr Langehof and we had so much to talk about. This day 26th of March at 7 a.m. we anchored in Melbourne Harbour, expecting to land in Melbourne but as it was Easter Monday and an Australian public holiday we were not allowed to berth as our place at the wharf was taken up by another ship which could not move until the next day. I did my washing and we later had a Sing-Song on deck, we had a lovely time.
At last we sailed into Melbourne harbour and saw seven other ships anchored at sea waiting their turn to dock. Docking took us an hour, many Dutch people with Dutch flags were lined up to welcome us and called out the names of their relatives and friends on board and everyone was so exited and at last the passengers for Melbourne disembarked. The rest of us were allowed to land and explore. We admired the way the city of Melbourne was planned, the shops were build in square blocks, the streets were parallel, nice and wide no one could get lost and the buildings were beautiful with a lot of artwork and the parks surrounding the city were lovely. One could sit and rest for a while then continue shopping.
We got back on board by 4.30 pm. to continue our journey to Sydney but the ship could not leave after all, so passengers were able to visit Melbourne again that night. We put our Children to bed and then decided to visit old friends who were living in the same street in Holland as we did. We hailed a taxi and asked the driver to bring us to Mr and Mrs Derksen in Toorak Road only to find our friends had recently moved to 11 Mill Street. It was a great reunion and we did a lot of talking mostly about what life in Australia was like.
At supper it was the first time we tasted Nescafe, and coming from a coffee drinking land we thought it was beautiful, served with chocolate cake, some of which we took back to the children. We went to Flinders Street by tram and had still 45 minutes to walk to the ship tired but happy.
At 8 a.m. next morning the ship departed. We noticed at breakfast how quiet it was after at least half the passengers had gone in two cities, there were two sittings at meals instead of three, and still tables looked empty. This was a beautiful day 28th of March so clear that we enjoyed the views, first we went through Port Phillip Bay, then through "The Rip" between Port Lonsdale and point Nepean past Phillip Island in Bass Strait the most southerly point of Australia surrounded by a group of island called Wilson's Promontory, and past 90 mile beach. The tables at mealtime were so empty now, that the children were allowed to join their parents and it was lovely to have the family together again. During the journey Children under 10 had their own dinning room and we were happy that Anka could join us. This was the 29th of March the day before we would end our journey. After the usual washing and ironing, we visited the ships staff, from Captain down to the stewardesses, and we thanked them all for their attention given to us and they were very surprised and pleased. Later the Captain invited our family to have tea with him in his cabin. That evening we had cool drinks, a beautiful meal and a pleasant conversation and felt very honoured to have been asked.
On the 30th of March we arrived in Sydney, after 36 days on Board, we were up early attend our last Mass and said goodbye to Father van Beek and the Presbyterian Minister. When we went on deck we saw we had already passed through The Heads the tug-boats pulled the stately" Big Bear" down Port Jackson, harbour and it was the most beautiful sight we had ever seen, the sailing boats bobbing on the waters, the beaches, lawns and Parks reaching down the foreshore, the lovely homes and gardens and of course the Harbour Bridge we heard about, but our minds were busy, This is our new Country, what will the future be for us and our Children, for them we went to Australia, would we be homesick.
In a couple of months, John was a good tradesman, but the language will be difficult for a couple of years, where will we be living and many other questions came in our minds, the only thing to do is pray, that the Lord may help us in difficult time, and the rest was up to us. We docked at Wharf 39 at 9 a.m. where Friends and relatives were already waiting to greet most of the passengers. Those settling in Sydney were allowed to disembark first, and getting through Customs etc, took a long time, so we decided to fill in our time by doing some sight seeing and went into the City, we visited St Mary Cathedral first of all, then Hyde Park and the city shops. We had to be back on board at 5 P.m. but of course we got lost and just made it back on time to go straight into dinner, after we were ordered to leave the ship and get into a fleet of buses which took us to Central Station. It was full moon and we enjoyed the trip to Kelso where we arrived at 5.30 a.m. Another fleet of buses took us to Camp Bathurst, after a nice breakfast we settled into our huts, ours was block H. We had 2 rooms, nicely painted and very clean, and in no time I had made it look like home and we were happy to have reached our destination and were ready to start our new life in Australia.
POST-SCRIPT
Now after 31 years we are proud to be Australians, The Children are all happily married and we all own our own homes by working hard and long. My Grandchildren are lovely sensible citizens. Since we came here I helped the community in all kinds of voluntary work to say; Thank you Australians for helping us in many ways! We all went back ONCE for a holiday in Holland but then we realised our real home was
A U S T R A L I A.
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