Last month I wrote about the "discussion' with my dad as to what was OZ like, would it be like America or Britian. Well on first impressions back in '67 it was very American, wide open spaces, single story homes on large blocks. Big (city block long), used and new car yards, lots and lots of (to an impressionable young Scot) cars, mainly large! Wide streets and laconic people. Just as I said, like the America we think we know. The truth is tho' that even then and more so now Australia is simply Australia. Very different to UK very different to US but with bits of both in the mix.

Outback Australia, and I've been there, is enormous. You see skies at night like you wouldn't believe. Great swathes of white stars (the Milky Way) in all their glory. You are so far from cities that there is no ambient light to destroy the effect. Great flat sweeping plains - the Mulga - we call it. Dry, oh so dry, especially in South Australia - The Driest State in the Driest Continent so called. Snow country - We've been there too! Tropical rain forests and deserts. Australia has everything. Great cities, mainly perched on the coastal belt.

The cities are complete unto themselves almost due to the vast distances between them. Take Melbourne (please, it's abit like the English - Scottish divide for South Australians!!!!). One of the great sporting cities of the world (witness the recent Commonwealth Games). Each weekend there are at least 5 (used to be 8 before National league commenced) games of Australian Rules football on there. Average attendance 30.000+. Melbourne has 3 million population. All Capital cities have similar situations. In Sydney, Rugby League and Union are the big ones. The same in Brisbane, which also has 3 time National Champion Rules Team the "Bears". Adelaide and Perth both have 2 teams in National League with attendances averaging 35,000 (Hearts and Hibs if only).

Each State has its own devolved Parliament. We have more Politicians than Britian!!!! Because of the countries size we are prepared to travel to see or do. For instance, my wife and I, just before Easter, drove a round trip of approximately 1500K to see Dick Gaughan, but then we like him and he was not coming to Adelaide! It's not unusual to drive 100-150K to visit friends.

Which brings us, to us and who we are. I often wonder who I would be if I had stayed in UK. I have spent over half my life here so the influences that have shaped me, and all migrants are different to those we would have been exposed to in UK.

It takes courage to up stakes and move 10000 miles to a strange land. That of course applies to everyone who has done it. However, very few people acknowledge that or even attribute such to themselves. Trust me, it is scary arriving in a totally new environment alone or that's how it feels at the time, even if met by someone you know.

So I am not the person I would have become had I stayed in Scotland. Whether that is good or bad is for others to judge (if that is possible). Over the years here I have done quite well, reaching senior status as a nurse (equivalent to assistant Matron in old terms) and also reached rank of Major in Australian Army. Mainly in 'Reserve' but with one year fulltime Military. One would assume that I would have done as well if still in UK. There would have been more opportunity closer to home in UK for advancement. Living conditions are certainly much more attractive in the main here - weather, environment etc. We live in a spot that lets Koalas wander into our garden. So almost rural but within 30 minutes of city centre. Not that we go there that often as all we need is close and handy.

It should be said tho' 'You can take the boy out of Scotland ,but not Scotland out of the boy' I am, I suppose, Scottish Australian. Certainly proud of my heritage but also proud to be an Aussie. Mind you, they still have difficulty understanding me here (the accent) trouble is when I come home they have trouble as well!!!! That brings up 'If we go to Scoland for a Holiday, we are going home, time to come back to OZ, we are coming home! I can't think of two better places in the world to have as home.

Interestingly, now that my children are grown up. My son lives on an 80 acre property in the Adelaide Hills. My daughter has just bought a flat off Dalry Road, Edinburgh!!!! She went to Scotland for a working holiday in 1990 and loved it so much she stayed!!! The biter bit! How can I complain. I know now how my parents felt when I left to start the journey to a new life so far away. I suppose that you could say that I have a knowledge of Emigration from both sides due to that. The major factor, I suppose, is what one misses by migrating, especially family activites. Think of the family events that occur. Births, Marriages even Deaths that we are too far away to be part of, the concommitant inability to give physical shoulders to cry on (and vice versa) or be involved with family and extended members, so there is a price to pay. The question is, is it worth it? I can't answer that (Surprisingly) what I can say is that I have had a good life here. Would I change things? well there are always things one would change if one could but, coming to OZ is not one of them. The price is heavy (for reasons mentioned) however, my life in this Southern Land is very good. I set out not really knowing what I was in for, but hoping to "Better" mine and my children's life. That has occurred. Someone else will have to decide if the cost out weighed the benefits.

.........to be continued.

(article by Eric Ford, Australia)