"*On the SBS website*":http://www.sbs.com.au/immigrationnation/interactive/ the voice-over gives the "impression" that the multicultural nation that Australia is today, was achieved via a carefully worked out plan, while at the same time using the phrase: "Against the odds."
Please take a look - on t.v. and the website. There certainly is a lot of information, to evaluate.
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Again I emphasise that, like so many Dutch immigrants (as was expressed by someone speaking to the Dutch radio program, on SBS) my parents wanted to "believe" the version of what they would find in Australia, as presented during an information evening, in Gouda.
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But after landing in Port Phillip Bay and living in four different migrant hostels (bare ex-army accommodation) there is a photo in my collection, of us talking a walk through the streets of Matraville when I remember clearly, my mother and her friend, Gerda, joking about how the streets were not quite as paved with gold as we'd been led to believe and it would take a while to achieve living in sunbathed bungalows, as shown in the slides.
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As always, I emphasise: We also laughed a lot. Found it to be an adventure. The adults made many friends, in the hostels, as often happens when we all realise we need each others' help.
And things got better and better.............. and now I could not live (permanently) in Gouda.
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Very nice to visit.
