Lance (Peter Lancelot) Hodgson
Ship name / Flight number: Strathnaver
Arrival Date: 14/06/1951
I was born during the Great Depression and grew up during World War2. My parents separated as the war started and my mother took my younger brother and I back to the village where I was born, Middleton-St-George. This was a few miles from where James Cook was born, the Cook who mapped the East coast of New Holland in 1770.
My mother worked long hours to support my brother and I which meant that we were left to fend for ourselves much of the time. Consequently, with the whole surrounding countryside to explore my childhood could be described as idyllic.
The war was endlessly fascinating with a large bomber airfield next to the village manned by the Canadian airforce. My mother drove a NAAFI van around the Lancaster dispersal stands for the groundcrew servicing the aircraft. As always, I listened one night as Andrew Mynarski, a mid-upper gunner, left for work, never to return. I believe he was the last WW2 serviceman to be awarded the Victoria Cross.
During the war a number of Canadian airmen started a church mission for the local children in the village hall. What they taught me has lasted all my life and provided me with my real Father who has guided me throughout all the subsequent years.
I attended the village elementary school where one of my teachers had also taught my mother. The first real trauma in my life occurred when I failed the year 11 examination to proceed to secondary schooling. At the time it seemed incomprehensible to me as I loved school and did well in class. However, secondary schooling was only available in one of the nearest towns and would have entailed constant travel to and fro for years.
The Headmaster had served in WW1 and had established a small war museum at the school. Needless to say it was greatly contributed to until one day a boy turned up with an incendiary bomb. It caused quite a stir. He used to tell us how to behave when the Germans arrived and executed him; fortunately that didn’t happen. Sadly, his son, a pilot, was found burnt to death in his Mosquito which had crash-landed on a local beach. As with so many others I accumulated a collection of souvenirs, including a Sten gun I found in a field, until my mother discovered it. I had a wooden crate full of items, including a number of practice hand grenades. Eventually, someone told my mother that they were live and ‘kindly’ took away the whole box. It was hard to forgive.
The next traumatic event was of course the end of WW2. An uncle had been a Chief Petty Officer in the Royal Navy and insisted that this was to be my destiny. I had no idea what life in peacetime was like and was in despair at being robbed of my future. However I discovered an advertisement in a Navy magazine about a training ship preparing boys for the RN. I persuaded my mother to let me join the ship and she reluctantly agreed. I travelled to the South of England to where the ship was berthed, a four-masted windjammer built in Hamburg in 1911 called Peking; it had been renamed Arethusa. I was 13 years old. Who would believe that forty years later I would visit that fabled city and the Great Wall of China!
I found myself in a world I could never have imagined. As a Geordie I spoke a different language to my fellow shipmates which made things difficult. The ship was run in much the same way as Nelson’s navy, ‘iron men for wooden ships’. Discipline was all and punishments severe. Although at the time I was the smallest boy seaman, I managed to keep up with the routine. The day started by climbing the ratlines up one side of the mast and down the other before breakfast, not so bad in summer but hell in winter.
Each day was rigorously programmed and full of activity. Training was designed to keep us occupied throughout the day and into the evening which ended with time for ‘make and mend’. We were in our hammocks by 2100 and listened to Vera Lynn’s Forces’ Favorites until lights out.
Still having civilian clothes I was co-opted to perform for the Princess Royal in London, demonstrating the transition from callow school boy to trained seaman. This was part of the annual ship’s presentation.
As one of two watchkeepers I was on a charge for requesting a waterproof coat in winter. I was found unconscious at the bottom of a companionway suffering from hypothermia and frostbitten hands. When I finally woke I was surrounded by hammocks in daylight and was told their occupants were victims of Polio.
The most serious incident occurred during winter in thick fog. I was given a boxed foghorn and told to work it constantly as a signal to other vessels. During the night I heard a vessel some distance away and getting closer. I was caught in a dilemma, did I rush below to try and warn others or stay with the foghorn? I knew the vessel was going full astern and eventually it loomed out of the dark towering over me amidships. Fortunately, it slowly slid away into the darkness. The next morning I looked over the stern and saw the RN vessel hard aground.
The ship’s chaplain was the most supportive member of the staff, resulting in my being confirmed in the Anglican church by the Lord Bishop of Rochester in July 1947.
The culminating experience was seeing the Chief Officer working on the activities board and realizing that I could see what I would be doing four years into the future. I was fortunate in being one of the few able to revoke my apprenticeship and leave the ship. Two weeks after I left the ship’s company mutinied. They marched to the local newspaper office and aired their grievances, as a result significant changes were made to the administration of the ship. The ship has more recently returned to Hamburg where she has been restored to her former glory as the ‘Peking’.
While on the ship our only apparel was shorts from early Spring to late Autumn, consequently, I was deeply tanned and very hardened. To my horror I was informed that I had to return to school. By this time my mother was living in a nearby town so I was able to attend a Comprehensive Modern Secondary School. During the months I was there I was able to prepare for the final exams and came top of the results. The Headmaster told me he would personally coach me for higher exams but I told him I needed to find work, he was very disappointed!
My mother worked in a very large department store similar to David Jones. I was taken on as an apprentice window-dresser in the same store. While the work was interesting I felt that my future looked very limited. It was at this time that my mother told me about a young woman she worked with who was receiving letters from her boyfriend who had gone to Australia. The more she told me about his experiences the more interested I became. I discovered that he had travelled under the auspices of the Big Brother Movement and that they were looking for ‘likely lads’.
I thought that I was the kind of person they were looking for so I applied and was accepted.
I had to hand in my Ration Book when I left England and arrived in Sydney aboard the Strathnaver in 1951. I was sent to the holding property near Sydney and together with another boy was introduced to our “Big Brother” who took us to his home for the weekend. I was then given a rail ticket to Manilla. I left Central Station on a train I had only seen in Western movies. It had a cowcatcher on the front, a spark catcher funnel and wooden carriages with gimbaled lights. At one point the train stopped and when I looked out there was a wooden platform with a sign on it and nothing as far as the eye could see. I only hoped that someone would find me before I perished!
Having arrived at Manilla I was the only one left standing at the station, looking like the original ‘new chum’. The young boss walked up the platform and asked if I was the one he had come to meet. I told him I must be and he drove me to ‘Woodlands’. On the way I asked him when we would reach the town. He told me that was it, and I only realized later that we had bypassed the town as we left the station.
While I was waiting to leave England I visited the local library and found the only book they had on Australia was published in 1893. It proved useful as I was not surprised at what I found when I lived at ‘Woodlands’. Mr McDonald was very strict and prided himself on doing everything as his father had taught him, who, he told me, was the original selector of the property.
As you can imagine it was a steep learning curve. I had to learn to ride a horse and turn my hand to whatever needed doing. I do not know what the Boss and his son thought of me but I found the life endlessly interesting. Every day was a new experience, the light, the space, the work. The days I spent with my horse were some of the happiest of my life. At the end of the day when I removed the saddle and bridle she would walk with me to my hut and once even tried to get in the door.
My earliest impressions of life in Australia were that I had not experienced such hard and basic living conditions for so many people before. The climate, especially the intense heat, lack of water and hard yakka were difficult to cope with. While I was willing, the lack of experience made it hard to keep up with the boss and his son. None of the family spoke much and I was left to follow by example. Learning on the job was slow and sometimes I had to work out how things needed to be done for myself. The variety of work was interesting, felling timber, splitting posts, fencing, mustering sheep and cattle, boundary riding and general maintenance certainly kept me busy.
The country was in the middle of a drought and the days were hot, some days we had a break in the middle of the day when I laid on my hut veranda soaked in sweat. Learning about all the wildlife was a bit daunting, lizards, snakes, kangaroos, birds, spiders all took some getting used to before I finally felt part of it all, covered in flies just like my horse.
Life was very simple, up at sunup, bring in the horses, chop wood, have breakfast with the family, saddle up and start the day’s work. At sundown we returned to the homestead had dinner and off to my hut for bed until sunup the next day.
One morning the boss said my lantern had been on for some time after I had gone to bed. I told him that I had been reading for a while. He told me if I kept that up he would take away the lantern. As the paddock was alive with snakes I needed that lantern to get to my hut, enough said.
Mealtimes could be a bit uncomfortable. The boss and his wife were not really speaking to each other and I found myself the go-between. I understand that she was a Sydney girl who was captivated by a dashing bushman who took her away to the outback where she had remained ever since. The homestead was very basic and dusty and she desperately wanted to grow some trees to shade it from the sun. Although there was a windmill nearby with piping and other materials lying around my hut, she wasn’t allowed to use the water for a garden. There was an older couple living in a homestead near one of the boundary fences. The wife had planted a real oasis and had a dam nearby. I believe that was a constant reminder.
The boss told me that decades earlier a German carrying his swag arrived at the homestead. He found out that he was a carpenter and let him stay for his tucker while he built stockyards, shearing shed, machinery shed and other plant. The boss thought that was a good deal.
I believe that the boss had a reputation for raising a good horse and certainly there was a mare with a fine filly in the back paddock. One day he took me for a drive to some neighbouring properties. The talk was about the filly and how much it was worth. He told me that I could have the horse and pay it off over two or three years while I worked for him. I thought about it and realized that without pay and having a horse, I wouldn’t be able to leave for years. It dawned on me that he needed to give me a horse to do my work, which he was already doing, so declined the offer.
We eventually brought in the filly and were able to get a bridle onto it. It was sent off to a horse breaker. I arrived back at the homestead one afternoon and saw the horse standing in the paddock streaked in sweat. It looked so forlorn that I walked up to it and stood there talking to it. It seemed very subdued. I suddenly heard a lot of shouting and two or three men burst out of the homestead, they were yelling at me to get away from the horse. It turned out that it was the horse breaker and he had just told the boss the horse I was talking to had been the most dangerous horse he had ever broken. The young boss took it over and they made a fine pair.
The boss prided himself on his bush knowledge but even the best get caught out. One day he decided to burn off a paddock, assuring me that he knew what he was doing. I am not sure what happened but the fire took off and we were left running for our lives. It was frightening how fast and high the flames were and eventually the boss keeled over. I managed to drag him into the end of a small gully which had a pool of muddy water in it. I got hold of a small branch with some leaves on it and tried to wet it in the pool. The flames came roaring at us and seemed terrifyingly high. The next thing I can remember was being on my knees with a blackened twig in my hand and the fire had gone. It seems that at the last moment the wind shifted and blew the fire back on itself. With nothing left to burn it just died out. The boss came round but we were stuck for quite a while as the ground was too hot to walk on.
I was riding in a back paddock one day when my horse got very skittish. I got down and looked around until I discovered an obvious grave. Sometime later I asked the boss about it. All he said was “we don’t talk about that”.
One day the boss and his son went off somewhere for the day. In the evening his wife told me to sit out in the house paddock and watch for their headlights as she turned the radio on to ‘Amateur Hour’. Fortunately it finished before they returned.
It is amazing how quickly you get used to things. Before arriving at the property I had never seen a snake. Because of the dry conditions snakes were everywhere. I was careful to see where I walked and looked before picking anything up. However, I was not prepared for what happened one night. I was asleep in bed; it was a bright moon that night when I woke up feeling a heavy weight on my legs. Lying very still I peered down the bed and found a snake tightly coiled on my legs. It was the worst thing to keep my legs absolutely still while reaching for my rifle beside my bed. It took what seemed like hours to cock the rifle and aim it at the snake, then realized if I shot the snake I would shoot myself in the foot! As I took up the first pressure on the trigger the room was plunged into darkness. When the light flooded the room again I couldn’t believe the snake had gone! When I tried to stand up my legs were so cramped I fell over. Fortunately the snake was nowhere in sight.
I was riding along the road with the boss one day. As I passed a culvert I heard a squeak and leapt off the horse. Jumping down I pushed my hand into a clump of grass thinking that I would grab a rabbit, instead I had a handful of snake! I believe the snake had the rabbit otherwise I wouldn’t be here today.
One day three or four fellows turned up at the property and were yarning in the woolshed. They started talking about snakes and things got pretty lively. I was sitting on a wool bale and looking down saw a rope end sticking out between other bales. After a while I yelled out “snake” and pointed at the rope, they all leapt up and flew out of the woolshed. I laughed my head off until I looked down and found the rope had disappeared! I flew out of the woolshed after them, very subdued.
One time I became very sick so the boss drove me to Manilla where I saw the chemist. He told us that I had pneumonia and sold me a number of cans, telling us that I needed to stay in bed for a couple of weeks living on the reconstituted powder. After three or four days the boss told me I needed to start work again but stayed on the powder until it was finished.
The boss harvested a crop of wheat and I had to sew up the bags which were covered in Redbacks. He said not to worry, just brush them off which I did. I never did get bitten as you can see. He bought galvanized sheets for a silo and the young boss and I went to the river and loaded the tray truck with pebbles. Most of them were left on the road by the time we got back to the property. We used the pebbles to make a foundation for the silo. I would hand up the sheets to the young boss who bolted them together; they were red hot and blistered my hands badly. However we finally finished it. I don’t know if it was ever used.
Because of the drought I had to climb Kurrajongs and lop off branches to feed the sheep. When it came time for shearing I was given a go. It was obvious I was never going to be a gun shearer so it was left to the young boss while I did the rest. After work I had to catch a sheep in the killer paddock, cut its throat, hang it from a branch, skin, gut it and leave it for the wife to butcher the next day. Not a job I enjoyed.
Occasionally the young boss would drive to Manilla and would sometimes take me with him. I was introduced to tennis by some young people and because of my quick reflexes and agility managed to survive. I also was able to swim in the river. One day a young fellow dived into the river and was almost impaled on a snag which made me very wary. One day I pushed through the batwing doors of the pub and stepped inside. Some of those inside told me to get out but when I asked why they fell about laughing. Because I often went without a shirt I was very deeply tanned. I had noticed a tarpaper and tin camp nearby and when I asked about it was told it was where the abos lived and to stay away. I think the young boss was seeing a girl in town and sometimes it was quite late when we left. He told me not many girls would want to marry a bushman and was thinking he would have to sell up once his dad passed on so he could move closer to some town. It made me realize the future might be bleak.
Once a week I used to ride to the mailbox near the road. There usually wasn’t much but one day I found a card addressed to me. A couple of days later I told the boss that I had been registered for National Service. He told me not to worry as they would never find me there. When I told him that I didn’t mind being called up he said, with an attitude like that I could pack my bag and leave. He drove me into Manilla the next day where I found a room at the pub. A couple of days later the young boss arrived and gave me five pounds as he said I hadn’t been paid enough.
I rang the Big Brother office and told them what had happened and was told to return to Sydney. During the day a fireman burst into the room and out the window, yelling the place next door was on fire and to get out quick. When I got to the street it was full of people watching the large produce store blazing.
This was my first work experience, sunup to sundown, seven days a week, no days off, three pounds a week!. Nevertheless, I am forever grateful to BBM for providing me with an introduction to Australia I wouldn’t have missed for quids!
Eventually I arrived at the office in Sydney and was told they couldn’t help me because of the registration. I was staying at the YMCA and rapidly running out of money, so I decided that as I was being called up anyway I may as well get in first and join up.
I went to the Combined Recruiting Depot at Rushcutters Bay intending to join the RAN but ended up in the RAAF! It was a Friday and I was told to return on Monday to sit some exams. I didn’t tell them I was homeless and destitute. After a week of exams I was told I had inadvertently been sitting the annual aircrew selection course and had done well but they couldn’t accept me for aircrew because I didn’t have a Leaving Certificate! I underwent recruit training at RAAF Richmond. At the time recruits weren’t paid for some weeks after enlistment. My fellow recruits wanted to know why, being the only one destitute, I was the happiest of all; I told them that with three meals a day, a bed to sleep on and a roof over my head, why wouldn’t I be happy!
After completing the Recruit Training Course at RAAF Richmond I was given a rail ticket and sent on my own to Melbourne! After further training I was posted to Airforce Headquarters at Victoria Barracks, given a living out allowance and told to find my own accommodation. I spent six years in aircrew postings during which time I gained the Leaving Certificate. One year I returned to work in January after leave and saw Judy, my future wife, for the first time. It was the day after her 17th birthday, she was a Public Servant working for the Department of Air.
Unfortunately, her mother did not see me as suitable for her daughter and we had to wait until she turned 21 to marry. By that time I had left the RAAF and went to work for the Department of Navy as a Public Servant at Albert Park Barracks. I also spent some years in the CMF.
In the meantime we bought a block of land in a new development on the outer fringes of Melbourne and, eventually, we had three daughters Ruth, Lisa and Sarah, all of whom married late in life so no grandchildren. Judy and I were baptized into the Church of Christ in July 1961.
I later worked as a Pensions Examiner for the Department of Social Services and eventually the Department of Overseas Trade, later Austrade. During this time I worked in Hong Kong and later in Melbourne developing trade with China. I started learning Mandarin but was told that language skill was not required and had to stop. I did continue China studies as well as participating in local Chinese activities.
Judy was studying at Monash University and I joined her there in preparation for work as teachers in China after I retired. Unfortunately she died of diffuse melanoma of the brain in 1990. At that time I was deeply depressed and suffering from heart disease so my employer decided it was time for me to take early retirement.
Some years later I met my wife, Sandra, at our local church. To say that she has transformed my life would be a gross understatement. She used her Long Service Leave to take me back to England for the first time in 49 years. We travelled via Canada where we visited former RCAF members from the war years and saw a Lancaster flying for the first time since 1945. We were given an inspection of the Lancaster by a former Pilot.
Later we also renovated our home before she retired from her position as Chief Librarian at St Vincent’s hospital and we ran a house group of our church for 18 years. Following a visit by an evangelist our church agreed to pay for a new school to replace one swept away in rural China. Later he asked for volunteers to teach English at a rural high school. My wife suggested we could do that and consequently we spent 2007/8 in China. In 2008 a certain Xi Jinping organized the Olympic Games, the same Xi Jinping who now rules China. At the time I told the students that the celebrations starting at 8pm on 8 August were to celebrate my birthday. I don’t think they believed me! During our stay in China I discovered computers and the internet. This was how I found a one year Bible reading plan and have used it every year since.
Following our return from China Sandra and I joined the Idlers 4WD Club and spent the next eight years enjoying many wonderful trips together, including of course, the Simpson Desert and Big Red! We recently disposed of our ‘Pathfinder’ after 22 years of faithful service!
In 2023 we decided it was time to revisit Manilla. It might have grown somewhat but seemed to have retained its old ambience. It is extraordinary that Sandra met two women visiting from Gunnedah while in the local museum. It turned out that one of them had been the local historian for many years and was a relative of the McDonald family! We arranged to meet her when she returned home and we spent the day reminiscing about the early days. I was interested to learn that the young boss had married a local girl but died a few years before our visit. His son died quite young and ‘Woodlands’ was sold not long before we arrived. I was able to provide her with two photographs of the young boss that had never been seen by the family which made me feel the visit was pre-destined. Incidentally, before leaving Manilla I looked in the local collectibles shop and found a wall plaque of the Durham coat of arms! Is that an example of life turning full circle?
It may be of interest that of the six members of my family, four of us are graduates of Monash University. Judy gained a Bachelor degree while I have a post-graduate Dip.Ed, Sandra and Ruth have Master degrees.
Our lives are very full with our church commitments and other activities. Having now reached my Nineties I am looking forward to what the future holds and thank our Father God, for the wonderful life he has given me as I continue to live ‘The Dream!’
Lance Hodgson
[Likely Lads and Lasses by Alan Gill]