3417
Mary Bailey - Oral History - Fairfield Belongings
Main
DescriptionThis interview consists of two audio recording and transcript. Mary Bailey was interviewed on 21 April 2008 by Shirley Kingsford McLeod.
This intierview s part of the Fairfield Belongings project in partnership with the NSW Migration Heritage Centre in 2008.
Interview SummaryI was born on 2 August 1946 in the town of Tarxien, Malta. My parents were Zaren and Georgina Camenzuli and I had three sisters.
We lived with our grandparents in a rented stone house. Most of the homes in Malta were made of local stone. We were not at all well off and my father worked as a bus driver to support us all.
My mother’s parents and two of her sisters had migrated to Australia in 1955 and Mum was the only one left in Malta. Her parents wanted her to follow, but as my father’s parents were still alive, we could not think of leaving them. My Mum really missed her family and pleaded with Dad to let us go to Australia. Three years passed and when my paternal grandmother passed away the decision was made to leave for Australia.
My parents were sponsored by Mum’s parents, who had to agree to support our family until we could be self-sufficient. This included finding accommodation for us.
My parents sold all their furniture because they were only renting their house in Malta. In those days everyone rented and the rent was in the vicinity of A$10 a year. My mother started making us pyjamas and new clothes to come out with. It was all so exciting for us.
In no time the whole family were on their way to Australia. This was a somewhat distressing time for me as it meant that, although I was rather adventurous, I would be going to a strange country and would have to leave all my friends in Malta. Many of the children gave us presents and the whole class was crying as I left.
We travelled by car to Valetta, the capital and largest town in Malta, and from there we immediately boarded the Norwegian ship Skaubryn. We reached her by a small boat. I have a photo of my family as we wait to board the boat. My mother, sisters and I are wearing the coats that my mother made especially for the voyage.
I do not remember much of my first sighting of Skaubryn, other than I was very excited to be travelling on such a large ship and to be going so far away. Of course we did not know at the time that there would be so much adventure for us in the very near future.
Skaubryn was only seven years old and had been fitted out especially for the emigrant trade. It had already made six voyages from Europe to Australia and many migrants have memories of arriving in Australia onboard the ship. She had departed Bremerhaven in northern Germany on 14 March 1958 and left Valetta eight days later on 22 March with 1288 passengers onboard. Of these, 168 were Maltese, while most of the others were German. There were 23 babies onboard and 186 children under the age of 10.
Not long after leaving Malta, all members of the family were seasick except for my father and I. My father loved boiled eggs and I can remember him eating them for breakfast everyday. Perhaps that stopped him from being ill.
On 31 March, the Captain Alf Haakon Feste ordered that the crew and passengers meet on deck at 2.30pm for an emergency drill. Some complained of the intrusion into what may have been their afternoon snooze. It was all to pay off very soon.
The voyage through the Mediterranean Sea was quite uneventful, but three days out of Aden, in the Indian Ocean, a fire occurred in the engine room, leading to a complete evacuation. We had all been in our cabins, ready for bed, when suddenly the ship stopped. My father looked out of the porthole and said that all he could see was water. My mother opened the cabin door and there were people running everywhere and smoke was moving through the passages. The sirens were blasting and my father ordered us out of bed and said, “Let’s go!”
It had been hot and humid in the cabin so all we had on were our nightdresses. We left the cabin without even our lifejackets. My father tried to go below later to retrieve them but the smoke made it impossible. There were no lifejackets on the deck either, so we were the first ones to be loaded into a lifeboat. Unfortunately it became jammed and could not move, so everyone was moving down to the water except for us. When they finally dislodged it they could not get the engine running. I can remember the men with the oars making a lot of noise and trying to push away from the ship. The fear was that the ship might explode or sink while we were close to it and we would be drawn down with her.
The water was calm and we could see sharks circling around us. Some of the people dangled handkerchiefs out and the sharks bit at them. We did not know it then but one of the men in our lifeboat, an elderly German, had died of a heart attack. We just thought that he was asleep. We had only our nightdresses on and had taken nothing with us. We lost it all! My mother had some gold jewellery in a money belt, but that was lost too. No doubt someone would have found it later as the ship was salvaged.
We children did not know the dangers, but our parents certainly did. They were terrified. At last we were towed out away from the ship, and as we waited for assistance I clearly remember people were praying and saying their rosary. There would have been about 20 to 30 people in our boat.
There was a tanker nearby, but it could not get too close so early after we evacuated in case there was an explosion on Skaubryn and the tanker exploded as well. So we just drifted for about eight hours. At least it was not cold. We had no food in that time but finally we were loaded onto the tanker, ironically named City of Sydney. My mother and father had to climb a rope ladder, which was very difficult for them. The younger ones went up in baskets and my parents had to watch us going up. The crewmen on the tanker were all dark men. Black! We had not seen black men before. Finally everyone from Skaubryn was safely onboard City of Sydney and Skaubryn came to an inglorious end. She was damaged in her centre superstructure during the fire and whilst being towed to Aden she broke up and sank. My mother later wrote a ghanja (Maltese ballad) about her memories of our fateful night onboard Skaubryn. The piece is part of my life and reminds me of that night in a small boat out in the ocean. As time goes by it means more and more to me.
The men on the tanker cooked us lots of pancakes and gave us cups of tea. We stayed on deck until the tanker finally arrived near Aden, where we were offloaded onto another ship named Roma. It was on its way back to Malta. I remember having to line up after everyone else for food, as we were the extras. At Aden they gave us clothes and shoes and took us on bus rides after we were physically examined in the hospital. The clothes would have been second hand, and I felt rather bad about this because we had lovely new clothes when we left Malta. We were also given a certificate from the Government of Malta as a means of identification for our journey to Australia, as all our documents were lost at sea.
At last we boarded another ship, Orsova, and were once again heading for Australia. We had fun on the Orsova as we crossed the equator. The Red Cross gave us dress up clothes to wear – I dressed as a Hawaiian girl and my sister dressed as a bird. There was also a pool on the ship and we had so much fun. We really did not have time to think about what had happened to us. My father bought a souvenir felt pennant onboard Orsova, which I still have today. It is a very special memory of my late father and the ship on which we finally reached Sydney on 24 April 1958, with just one suitcase for the family of six.
I can remember berthing in Sydney, with my Aunt Theresa and Uncle George there to meet us. As there was not enough room in Uncle George’s car, my aunt took us to Fairfield by train. That was an adventure in itself as there were no trains in Malta. All the questions that we asked my aunt as we travelled to Fairfield! What enjoyment we had on that train. Life to us then was one big adventure.
We went to live in a small house in Rosina Street Fairfield with my grandmother, grandfather and aunt. The house was not lined and it had no plaster, as they didn’t have enough money to complete the house at that time. It was so cold and I thought that we would freeze to death. The Red Cross assisted us again with clothes but we were still very cold.
The house had no water in the kitchen, so we had to go outside and fill buckets of water and leave them in the kitchen. When we first arrived my mother asked my grandmother where the toilet was and we were most surprised to find that it was just a pan in a toilet out in the yard. We were not used to that! My parents were so upset about the outside toilet that they wanted to go back to Malta. But they had no money to do so and decided to stay two years, when they should be able to afford to go back. By the time those two years had passed they no longer wanted to leave.
In the meantime we moved from my grandparents’ home to a garage in Linda Street Fairfield. My parents went out to work. My father had a job cleaning in a Sydney hotel and my mother worked in a nursing home at Neutral Bay. Her job was to wash all the old ladies, dress them and do their hair. We looked after ourselves and went to school, as well as doing the washing and other housework for my parents.
I went to Fairfield High School and it was the best time of my life. I struggled at first because I spoke no English, but that passed and soon I was able to communicate quite well. When I was 15 I wanted to leave school to go to work, so I found a job in Guildford making gloves at Nicholson Brothers. Soon I could make about 15 dozen a day. We worked on a bonus system and we used to race each other to see how much money we could each make.
We moved from the garage to a house – or at least a half-house. Many people built houses in that way until they could afford to finish them. They built the back section of the house and later added the front. There were many half-houses in the suburbs of Sydney. Ours had a kitchen, dining room, bedroom and lounge. It was made of fibro, as were most of the houses then, and later we added two bedrooms at the front.
I left the glove factory after about three years, and went to work at Coles supermarket in Fairfield. It was there that I met the brother of one of the employees, Paul. His name was Brian Bailey and we began to keep company. My parents did not worry about me going out with an Australian, as in Malta, there were many British men who had married Maltese girls. Of my three sisters, one married an Australian of Italian descent; one married an Englishman; and the other a Maltese man.
We married in the Catholic Church at Fairfield Heights and lived in a garage at the home of Brian’s parents. It was very small and looked like a doll’s house. We had our first two children there. Then we decided to move out on our own and for the next 20 years we rented. I finally convinced Brian that we should have our own home and we bought a block of land at Bossley Park and built on it. We remained at Bossley Park for another 20 years and by then had five children. We now have 14 grandchildren. We live on a lovely property at Cecil Hills and have been married for 40 years.
This intierview s part of the Fairfield Belongings project in partnership with the NSW Migration Heritage Centre in 2008.
Interview SummaryI was born on 2 August 1946 in the town of Tarxien, Malta. My parents were Zaren and Georgina Camenzuli and I had three sisters.
We lived with our grandparents in a rented stone house. Most of the homes in Malta were made of local stone. We were not at all well off and my father worked as a bus driver to support us all.
My mother’s parents and two of her sisters had migrated to Australia in 1955 and Mum was the only one left in Malta. Her parents wanted her to follow, but as my father’s parents were still alive, we could not think of leaving them. My Mum really missed her family and pleaded with Dad to let us go to Australia. Three years passed and when my paternal grandmother passed away the decision was made to leave for Australia.
My parents were sponsored by Mum’s parents, who had to agree to support our family until we could be self-sufficient. This included finding accommodation for us.
My parents sold all their furniture because they were only renting their house in Malta. In those days everyone rented and the rent was in the vicinity of A$10 a year. My mother started making us pyjamas and new clothes to come out with. It was all so exciting for us.
In no time the whole family were on their way to Australia. This was a somewhat distressing time for me as it meant that, although I was rather adventurous, I would be going to a strange country and would have to leave all my friends in Malta. Many of the children gave us presents and the whole class was crying as I left.
We travelled by car to Valetta, the capital and largest town in Malta, and from there we immediately boarded the Norwegian ship Skaubryn. We reached her by a small boat. I have a photo of my family as we wait to board the boat. My mother, sisters and I are wearing the coats that my mother made especially for the voyage.
I do not remember much of my first sighting of Skaubryn, other than I was very excited to be travelling on such a large ship and to be going so far away. Of course we did not know at the time that there would be so much adventure for us in the very near future.
Skaubryn was only seven years old and had been fitted out especially for the emigrant trade. It had already made six voyages from Europe to Australia and many migrants have memories of arriving in Australia onboard the ship. She had departed Bremerhaven in northern Germany on 14 March 1958 and left Valetta eight days later on 22 March with 1288 passengers onboard. Of these, 168 were Maltese, while most of the others were German. There were 23 babies onboard and 186 children under the age of 10.
Not long after leaving Malta, all members of the family were seasick except for my father and I. My father loved boiled eggs and I can remember him eating them for breakfast everyday. Perhaps that stopped him from being ill.
On 31 March, the Captain Alf Haakon Feste ordered that the crew and passengers meet on deck at 2.30pm for an emergency drill. Some complained of the intrusion into what may have been their afternoon snooze. It was all to pay off very soon.
The voyage through the Mediterranean Sea was quite uneventful, but three days out of Aden, in the Indian Ocean, a fire occurred in the engine room, leading to a complete evacuation. We had all been in our cabins, ready for bed, when suddenly the ship stopped. My father looked out of the porthole and said that all he could see was water. My mother opened the cabin door and there were people running everywhere and smoke was moving through the passages. The sirens were blasting and my father ordered us out of bed and said, “Let’s go!”
It had been hot and humid in the cabin so all we had on were our nightdresses. We left the cabin without even our lifejackets. My father tried to go below later to retrieve them but the smoke made it impossible. There were no lifejackets on the deck either, so we were the first ones to be loaded into a lifeboat. Unfortunately it became jammed and could not move, so everyone was moving down to the water except for us. When they finally dislodged it they could not get the engine running. I can remember the men with the oars making a lot of noise and trying to push away from the ship. The fear was that the ship might explode or sink while we were close to it and we would be drawn down with her.
The water was calm and we could see sharks circling around us. Some of the people dangled handkerchiefs out and the sharks bit at them. We did not know it then but one of the men in our lifeboat, an elderly German, had died of a heart attack. We just thought that he was asleep. We had only our nightdresses on and had taken nothing with us. We lost it all! My mother had some gold jewellery in a money belt, but that was lost too. No doubt someone would have found it later as the ship was salvaged.
We children did not know the dangers, but our parents certainly did. They were terrified. At last we were towed out away from the ship, and as we waited for assistance I clearly remember people were praying and saying their rosary. There would have been about 20 to 30 people in our boat.
There was a tanker nearby, but it could not get too close so early after we evacuated in case there was an explosion on Skaubryn and the tanker exploded as well. So we just drifted for about eight hours. At least it was not cold. We had no food in that time but finally we were loaded onto the tanker, ironically named City of Sydney. My mother and father had to climb a rope ladder, which was very difficult for them. The younger ones went up in baskets and my parents had to watch us going up. The crewmen on the tanker were all dark men. Black! We had not seen black men before. Finally everyone from Skaubryn was safely onboard City of Sydney and Skaubryn came to an inglorious end. She was damaged in her centre superstructure during the fire and whilst being towed to Aden she broke up and sank. My mother later wrote a ghanja (Maltese ballad) about her memories of our fateful night onboard Skaubryn. The piece is part of my life and reminds me of that night in a small boat out in the ocean. As time goes by it means more and more to me.
The men on the tanker cooked us lots of pancakes and gave us cups of tea. We stayed on deck until the tanker finally arrived near Aden, where we were offloaded onto another ship named Roma. It was on its way back to Malta. I remember having to line up after everyone else for food, as we were the extras. At Aden they gave us clothes and shoes and took us on bus rides after we were physically examined in the hospital. The clothes would have been second hand, and I felt rather bad about this because we had lovely new clothes when we left Malta. We were also given a certificate from the Government of Malta as a means of identification for our journey to Australia, as all our documents were lost at sea.
At last we boarded another ship, Orsova, and were once again heading for Australia. We had fun on the Orsova as we crossed the equator. The Red Cross gave us dress up clothes to wear – I dressed as a Hawaiian girl and my sister dressed as a bird. There was also a pool on the ship and we had so much fun. We really did not have time to think about what had happened to us. My father bought a souvenir felt pennant onboard Orsova, which I still have today. It is a very special memory of my late father and the ship on which we finally reached Sydney on 24 April 1958, with just one suitcase for the family of six.
I can remember berthing in Sydney, with my Aunt Theresa and Uncle George there to meet us. As there was not enough room in Uncle George’s car, my aunt took us to Fairfield by train. That was an adventure in itself as there were no trains in Malta. All the questions that we asked my aunt as we travelled to Fairfield! What enjoyment we had on that train. Life to us then was one big adventure.
We went to live in a small house in Rosina Street Fairfield with my grandmother, grandfather and aunt. The house was not lined and it had no plaster, as they didn’t have enough money to complete the house at that time. It was so cold and I thought that we would freeze to death. The Red Cross assisted us again with clothes but we were still very cold.
The house had no water in the kitchen, so we had to go outside and fill buckets of water and leave them in the kitchen. When we first arrived my mother asked my grandmother where the toilet was and we were most surprised to find that it was just a pan in a toilet out in the yard. We were not used to that! My parents were so upset about the outside toilet that they wanted to go back to Malta. But they had no money to do so and decided to stay two years, when they should be able to afford to go back. By the time those two years had passed they no longer wanted to leave.
In the meantime we moved from my grandparents’ home to a garage in Linda Street Fairfield. My parents went out to work. My father had a job cleaning in a Sydney hotel and my mother worked in a nursing home at Neutral Bay. Her job was to wash all the old ladies, dress them and do their hair. We looked after ourselves and went to school, as well as doing the washing and other housework for my parents.
I went to Fairfield High School and it was the best time of my life. I struggled at first because I spoke no English, but that passed and soon I was able to communicate quite well. When I was 15 I wanted to leave school to go to work, so I found a job in Guildford making gloves at Nicholson Brothers. Soon I could make about 15 dozen a day. We worked on a bonus system and we used to race each other to see how much money we could each make.
We moved from the garage to a house – or at least a half-house. Many people built houses in that way until they could afford to finish them. They built the back section of the house and later added the front. There were many half-houses in the suburbs of Sydney. Ours had a kitchen, dining room, bedroom and lounge. It was made of fibro, as were most of the houses then, and later we added two bedrooms at the front.
I left the glove factory after about three years, and went to work at Coles supermarket in Fairfield. It was there that I met the brother of one of the employees, Paul. His name was Brian Bailey and we began to keep company. My parents did not worry about me going out with an Australian, as in Malta, there were many British men who had married Maltese girls. Of my three sisters, one married an Australian of Italian descent; one married an Englishman; and the other a Maltese man.
We married in the Catholic Church at Fairfield Heights and lived in a garage at the home of Brian’s parents. It was very small and looked like a doll’s house. We had our first two children there. Then we decided to move out on our own and for the next 20 years we rented. I finally convinced Brian that we should have our own home and we bought a block of land at Bossley Park and built on it. We remained at Bossley Park for another 20 years and by then had five children. We now have 14 grandchildren. We live on a lovely property at Cecil Hills and have been married for 40 years.
Details
IntervieweeMary BaileyInterviewerShirley Kingsford McLeodDate of interview21/04/2008DurationTotal interview 00:50:08Transcripts availableYesRightsFairfield City Council Access ConditionsAccess open for research, written permission required for personal copies and public use
Connections
Oral History ProjectAll Oral HistoriesExhibitionFairfield Belongings - 2008
Mary Bailey - Oral History - Fairfield Belongings. Fairfield City Heritage Collection, accessed 08/03/2026, https://heritagecollection.fairfieldcity.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/3417