Brisbane, QLD


Friday, August 2, 2013

AN OLD SHIP

This is an old photo I found in my mother's album.  The ship at the back is the M.V. Georgic. It is on this ship that we migrated to Australia in 1949.
Printed on the back of this photo is: "GEORGIC" Alongside Princes Landing on Tuesday 11th January 1949, immediately prior to sailing with over 2,000 emigrants for Australia. (The dock was in Liverpool)

The Georgic was the last ship to be built for "The White Star Line". It was launched in Belfast in 1931. Most of "The White Starline" ship's names ended in 'ic' like the Titanic and the Britannic.
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Its first voyages were from Liverpool to New York. There were 3 classes; cabin class, tourist class and third class.


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In 1940 the Georgic was taken off commercial service and became a troop ship.


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In 1941 the Georgic was bombed in the Bay of Suez. She was raised and towed to Bombay where repairs were done and she sailed back to Belfast for more repairs. She was refitted as a single class ship and continued to carry troops.

Mum and I on board the "Georgic" 1949


In 1948 she was converted to a migrant ship for Australia and New Zealand. The Georgic's first trip to Australia was in January 1949 and I was on board with my mother, father and brother.
Families didn’t have a cabin of their own. All the women and young children were on the upper decks with 6 to a cabin and the men and older boys were on the lower decks. So my brother and father were separated from my mother and me for the 5 week journey. However we spent a lot of time on the deck together.



Arriving in Sydney 5 weeks later on 13 Feb 1949

47 comments:

  1. What brilliant photos Diane and a lovely bit of family history. The one of you and your Mum was special. So glad your family took all these great pictures so that you can share them with us.

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  2. Hello
    This is my first time on sepia Saturday
    What a great picture of you and your mum onboard the ship . They must have been so brave to up sticks and go on a journey so far away ... How travel has changed!
    Jackie

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  3. Fascinating story and photos Diane. I didn't know about the males and females being separated like that. How times have changed. I suppose that's all you would get for being a £10 pom eh?

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  4. The story of the Geordic is an interesting one. Whoever took the first snap must have been way up 'in the gods'.

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  5. the old ship sure had an amazing life... love that shot of you and your mum...

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  6. Wow, I learned something new today. Great post!

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  7. I love these photos. What a story that ship brought.

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  8. wow. a very long journey with separate family housing. interesting...

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  9. That must have been a very hard crossing. I can not imagine this. We like cruising, top luxury but what you did is, well... not decribable.

    When you see our cruise pictures and ships, what do you than think?

    Greetings,
    Filip

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  10. hi diane

    interesting story and photos. what fabulous photos, too. love old ships.

    have a great weekend!

    big hugs~

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  11. What an interesting life the ship Georgic had and what an adventure your family embarked on all those years ago. I also would never have guessed that males and females had separate cabins. I simply LOVE the photo of you and your mum. Thanks for sharing. Jo

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  12. Such an interesting story, and the photos made it even better!

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  13. Great old photos and lovely to have such memories.
    I have been reading back through your blog and you had a wonderful trip up to the Cape. I am rather envious as those places are still just names to me - maybe sometime?!

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  14. fascinating reading -- a story of a ship and a family. Also enjoy my first perusal of your mom's diary. Way cool.

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  15. Wonderful photos indeed. The Georgic doesn't look nearly as majestic (or as tall) in those shots of her as a troop ship. I wonder what they did to make the profile look so less impressive - perhaps just painting it grey was enough.

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    1. I forgot to mention that my grandfather sailed in the Titanic's sister ship, the Olympic, back to Canada after the Great War.

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  16. The ship looks so different as a troop ship. The post card with the art deco image is very nice.

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  17. The 10 pound Pom was a great scheme. I'm glad you came. Great post. I like your blog's title ! :-)

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  18. Wow---you have such an interesting Family Story to tell, Diane... I know that some of my relatives came to our country from England or Scotland ---and I've read how hard those long trips were on families.... Since you all were on that ship for 5 weeks and because of where you had to sleep, I'm sure that trip was hard --especially on your parents.

    So glad that you have photos to share --and can tell your 'story'.... SO important for future generations in your family.

    If you have a chance, check out my blog post today.. I did a Roses post --and hopefully, you will like it.

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  19. I think it's wonderful that you found photos (and history) of the ship that took you to Australia. I really like that picture of you and your mother on deck.

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  20. Love that photo of you coming into Sydney harbour - amazine.

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  21. You look so happy on deck with your Mum .... I guess at that age it was a real adventure.

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  22. Must have been difficult to make the break from England to a new land, but I guess it had to be done.

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  23. Diane, you do have an interesting family history. Cool shot of you and your Mom on the ship. I do not think I could take 5 weeks on a ship! Great post, thanks for sharing. Have a happy day!

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  24. Such interesting photos and family story. I sometimes read other blogs in which the story and photos focus on an ancestor who emigrated from wherever to wherever, but seldom is the emigrant the blogger him/herself.

    I don't think I ever noticed that White Star's ships ended in "ic," so that is an interesting little tidbit to me.

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  25. A brilliant post with wonderful photos, That trip must have been a great adventure even though you were separated most of the time. The Georgic had had a chequered career before you came to use it. 5 weeks - much shorter tan the 3.1/4 months the clippers took a hundred years earlier.

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  26. Thank you for this family history story. It reminded me of what I could research too, as my Aunt Peggy and her new husband Con sailed feom Liverpool to Australia in 1950, shortly after their wedding and settled in Melbourne.

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  27. Lucky girl ! you did your first cruise already as a child, lol ! What an adventure ! But your parents were right, you had a much better life afterwards, even if the start was very hard !

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  28. Quite an adventure - I wonder if you had any inkling what was actually happening to you and your family.

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  29. I found this very interesting and loved all the old photos

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  30. I would have been worried you would slip through the railings with your feet hanging over like that!

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  31. Lovely photos to have in your album Diane. And I'm with Kristin (above). Your mother must have worried the whole time about you getting close to the edge.

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    1. I must admit I thought the same as kristin when I first saw the snap but It wasn't the side of the ship but an internal rail. There was another deck underneath. My dad took the shot probably from the steps.

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  32. As a mother of a young girl, all I could think looking at your photo was "she must be more relaxed than I am" haha. I wouldn't have let my daughter climb like that on a ship. :-) Time were definitely different. Thanks for the post!

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  33. How wonderful that you have these photographs to illustrate your own history.

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  34. I've finished the big journey at last, got home on Sunday. I am finding your sepia posts to be fascinating. The topics are such a great opportunity for you to tell more of your story.

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  35. I really enjoyed this and have book marked to read the diary at a later date. I love the photo of you and your mother. How wonderful to have this. Have you written about your memories of the journey?

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    1. Sharon, I don't remember a lot about the journey but I have added to my mother's account when I was transcribing the diary. Also, I continue the story from where my mother's diary finished under the Heading, "My Story- Settling in Australia" on my sidebar. Thanks for being so interested.

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  36. How lucky you are to have these photographs Diane, We emigrated the same way in 1954 when we left Scotland for Rhodesia. We do have boxes of old photos and one of these days I must get together with my sisters and go through them. I love this last image with the very faint view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

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  37. This was fascinating to see, Diane! I often think of what my ancestors felt when they traveled over the ocean from Europe to immigrate to the USA. It looks like you were enjoying the voyage form the photo. Did you get sea sick at all?

    My husband's family migrated from Italy to the USA when he was seven. Luckily they were able to fly, but it was a day long trip with three stop overs back then. The arrived on Halloween which was always a well celebrated holiday here in the US but unknown in Italy. He and his siblings were very confused by all the decorations they saw.None of them spoke English yet they began school the next day. Children adapt well, it was harder for his parents.

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    1. According to my Mum's diary , I was sick one or two days but she never was. My Dad was very ill in the bad weather. Her whole diary can be read from the link on my sidebar "My Story-Migrating to Australia"

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  38. Wow what a treasure...photo of 1949 trip...so nice to see it. You looked so happy

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  39. What a great find with the picture of the ship. I am lucky that I still have many photos, but I just wonder what my Mum threw out when we left S. Africa to return to the UK in 2002. There are many photos I remember and now cannot find! Have a good week Diane

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  40. Some day, (if not already), your children and great, great, (etc.) grandchildren will call you blessed for recording all of these wonderful stories, and bits and pieces of your history. They will love seeing their ancestors come to life through you! Your blog is such a wonderful journal of your life and adventures as well as a history of your family. I hope you are printing it out in book form each year for safe keeping!!!!

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  41. I'm a little late with this reply, Diane; but I just wanted you to know that I love this post -- that picture of you and your mother is fabulous; both of you (with father and brother, of course) on the way to a new adventure. It must have been such a relief after the war...

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