Great Australian Railway Journeys "Adelaide to Perth: The Indian Pacific" Series 01 E03

[Music] by 1913 Bradshaw's handbook to the chief cities of the world has brought me to Australia I will ride some of the longest trains and the world's steepest railway I'll climb blue mountains and cross red desert I'll swim above coral reefs and walk upon golden sands as I journey across this spectacular continent I'll discover the gold and silver coal and wool on which this nation was built I'll encounter her indigenous people and her national heroes and discover the origins of the millions of immigrants who now call themselves Australians [Music] this rail adventure begins in the state of South Australia and I will ride the Indian Pacific one of the very few genuinely transcontinental trains in the world across the fearsome nullabor plane once described as the sole place one gets into in bad dreams towards hearse one of the remotest cities on the planet by the time of my diaper Australia was an independent federated nation yet the West with all its rich deposits of gold could be reached only by a long sea voyage politics and economics dictated that a railway was conquered the notorious nullabor my route which stretches nearly 1,700 miles starts in McLaren Vale the South Australian wine region then takes me north to Adelaide the state's coastal capital I'll board the mighty Indian Pacific Railway to travel deep into the desert I'll stop at the ghost town of cook before crossing into Western Australia and onto Kalgoorlie where the gold rush began my final destination will be Perth and its port of Fremantle where British combings and then orphans first set foot in Australia on my journey I'll marvel at the nation's riches what would they be worth do you think probably just shy of two million dollars singing right in front of us traverse the desert in style explorers perished crossing this plane today it's a little easier and take a gamble in the outback [Applause] in 1836 these rolling hills and fertile valleys became part of a new kind of British colony the white settlements in New South Wales and Tasmania had been established as penal colonies but South Australia by sharp contrast was created by voluntary emigrants who were free men adventurous and entrepreneurial some of them saw wine as a good business and the guidebook tells me that claret and burgundy types are now produced total yield in 1911 was nearly 6 million gallons of which over half came from South Australia Hugh Hamilton wines is Australia's oldest surviving family wine business it's boss Mary Hamilton contrasts the company's roots back six generations to one of those first settlers Mary hello Michael what a glorious location for the vineyard it's beautiful isn't it your business was begun I think by your great-great-great-grandfather that's right tell me about him Richard Hamilton was a tailor on the high streets of Dover in Kent and at the age of about 47 which in equivalent terms would have made him a very old man he packed up his whole life went and put down 80 pounds which would have been his life savings on 80 acres in a colony that was not yet formed called South Australia absolutely amazing and he had a family presumably yes he had nine children and so I guess he rolled the dice on their future as well packed them all up and they hopped on this ship called the Katherine Stuart Forbes 16 weeks at sea and then they docked here at Glenelg in Adelaide and that's where their new life began what an extraordinary thing to do have you speculated on why he wanted to make a new life he had two lives it turns out he was a tailor by day but by the light of the moon he was a smuggler he was very conveniently located in Dover to be able to hop down to the beach and receive some contraband Bordeaux from France on a regular basis oh so he was in wine in a way he was that must have been a real shock to arrive here and find that there wasn't a drop to be found so he penned a letter possibly in desperation an SOS saying for the health of the family this was to some friends in South Africa please send me out some great foreign cuttings he planted probably the first grapevines in South Australia he would have been producing more from what we can see then he could have personally consumed so he probably starts selling it to the neighbors fabulous Australian South Australian story and what do you make of this character your great-great great-grandfather what does he mean to you in in or of what he did but the pioneers generally I think it shows incredible tenacity just to even take on the whole challenge late in life of moving as far away as you could possibly go on the promise that life would be better here and then a and finds that his passion for wine is not accommodated so he does something about it today Australian wine is an industry of more than 40 billion Australian dollars and this state produces more than half of it here they grow eight different varieties on 80 acres well Mary you certainly chose the right spot for your tasting room didn't you it looks different every day which makes life interesting ah now tell me about this fellow here so this is our 1837 bloodline sure ours 1837 being the year that my great-great great-grandfather Richard arrived in South Australia it's what he planted first what is this wrapped around it this is Richard Hamilton's story that goes on every bottle lets goes on each bottle July 28th 1837 the Kent and Surrey news and advertiser Dover Taylor leaves for the new colony of South Australia under a veil of mystery mr. Hamilton Esquire of Dover Taylor and landowner of some repute for the shop on Stargate Street is believed to have left with his family some intrigue surrounds mr. Hamilton who's rumored to have been dealing in contraband Bordeaux from across the English Channel a black sheep indeed mmm some lovely rich generous wine isn't it tell me about South Australians are they different from other Australians I think other Australians think we're different we often get ribbed a little bit for our Adelaide accent you all thought to be a bit posh English yeah I suppose maybe South Australians are quite proud that they arrived in a free settled state as opposed to arriving in Chains very nicely put to the Free State just west of McLaren Vale at Seaford I'm taking the Adelaide Metro into the city [Music] bradshaw's tells me it comprises two towns south of the river the commercial division and the seat of government six miles from the sea North Adelaide is laid out with the private residences of the wealthy on a gently rising Hill Adelaide had a reputation for being grand even posh from what my guidebook tells me it was also well planned [Music] stretching for 12 miles between the gulf of saint vincent and the adelaide hills Australia's fifth biggest city is famed for its green credentials affordable rents and laid-back lifestyle named after Queen Adelaide wife of Britain's King William the fourth its location was hotly debated but the surveyor General of the new colony Colonel William light pressed ahead with his plan to create a perfect capital it was to be laid out north and south of the River Torrens and circled by green open space a statue known as lights vision looks down over the city from Monte Fiore Hill he created a design with lovely squares in the southern part and here are the villas of the wealthy ascending the hill and he surrounded the whole thing with nearly two and a half thousand acres of parkland he said that he would leave it to posterity to judge whether he was worthy of praise or shamed his design is still recognizable in the city today and it has proved to be enlightened with its grid pattern wide streets and open spaces lights master plan was well ahead of its time and seems to me ideal for modern urban living what do you think of the plan in real city I think it's pretty good actually yeah it's pretty logical and easy to get around I've heard it called the twenty-minute city what does that mean and is that true I actually think it is 20 minutes to like half an hour maybe 35 well that's quite unusual I where big cities well kind of like a big little city from its foundation South Australia aim to be a utopia for free settlers with no religious discrimination or unemployment by the 1870s some trade unions had even achieved an eight-hour working day creating time for rest and relaxation at the time in my guidebook a dance craze that began in Argentina and swept across Europe arrived on these shores Andrew and Adrian Gill run classes here in the park [Music] was wonderful and Michael great to see you how let me see you both when did the tango rip Australia 1913 very early on not well-received at first it was a bit scandalous I think they were worried about a corrupting society to society it's kind of interesting I understand it because tango actually influenced a lot of the changes in fashion as well they were becoming a bit more daring to me so you know but the people loved it they were attracted to to this new phenomenon and it was taking off all over the world actually Adelaide's Tivoli Theatre tapped into the new trend free lessons were given daily followed by performances known as tango teas prompting a local clergyman to condemn it as voluptuous sensuous amorous dancing against my better judgment I'm persuaded to have a go the embrace is really important so I can't just go up to you and just give you a massive hug like this this nonono would be intimidating bit of a a nice way to invite a woman into your arms so what you can do is you can invite me by bringing your left hand up and and I can accept that you can bring your arm just across my back and complete the embrace now just take a deep breath and relax and let your shoulder strong all you need to do is clearly stand on one and start to go for a walk towards her more confidently you can walk the easier it is for me to follow you look at that now I can see you're worried about standing on her toes yes and that's making you avoid them a lot but if you went walking closer to her feet it's actually easier for your battery goes [Music] [Music] [Applause] as evening descends I must bid farewell to Adelaide to embark on the journey of a lifetime good evening very well thank you traveling how long will it take what a trip thank you so much g3 number one yes to get there you go through their glass doors just by the eagle statue and your attendant will be waiting for you at the door turn left at Eagle thank you very much have I done I am boarding the night train and not just any night train the Indian Pacific are we traveling more than 2000 kilometers - kalgoorlie that's almost half the total distance between Sydney and Perth and are we crossing the Nullarbor plain the most formidable barrier the most inhospitable environment ever encountered by the white man good evening G one for me one yes yes all right mark on my name's mouth I'll be looking after you for your truth thank you very much Blaine Award right right less lounge sculpted a bit like a a yacht or a private plane and this is just for the people in this carriage this is one of the world's epic railways stretching almost two and a half thousand miles from the Pacific Ocean on the east to the Indian Ocean on the west the modern design very spacious indeed awaiting me one of the great marks of French Champagne [Music] [Music] come in good morning Michael morning Matt that looks very welcome here's your green tea I just put it here for you thank you are we still in South Australia we're currently still in South Australia but we'll soon be approaching the nullabor now have a look outside of course Oh wildlands that looks great thank you very much indeed you're very welcome explorers perished crossing this plane today it's a little easier by Federation in 1901 all six states were linked by rail except for Western Australia where there was still a gap of over a thousand miles between Kalgoorlie and the South Australian town of Port Augusta in 1912 a team set out from each end to lay the track five years later they met up at all dear on the Nullarbor plain having created a transcontinental railway I'd like to talk about all that with the Train manager Deb Mun at the time of my guidebook the Transcontinental railway was kind of breaking news the project joining West Australia with other states providing railway communications from Perth Adelaide and Sydney has now been adopted by the federal government why was it so important to the Australian Government to complete the railway and it was not so important to the West Australian government have their ability to be able to travel quickly across to the other states they felt very isolated they used to travel by the ship which would take weeks Western Australia had already built a railway from earth-2 Kalgoorlie is that right that's correct that was completed in 1896 I'm from Calgary to Port Augusta I mean that's a pretty large chunk 2051 miles what were the main difficulties of building across the thing it's the largest limestone plate in the world so when it rains out there it's very porous and the water runs away there's no fresh water there's really no trees to have shelter if there's a really harsh environment to survive in this summer the outside temperatures can get in excess of 50 degrees and then in addition to that of course it coincides with the first world war yes they found it really hard to find workers you've got a lot of itinerant workers Italians breats a lot of Chinese would have been out there as well when the railway was completed how did the locomotives pick up water they'd have to move water ad across the railway line and that's still done to this day this line famously includes the longest stretch of straight railway track in the world almost 300 miles long across the Nullarbor plain people had built the row a line they had such primitive tools and they did it with picks and axes and shovels and with the help of camels they did an amazing job around 14 hours after leaving Adelaide we enter the vast nullabor taking its name from the Latin nullus Arbaugh meaning no trees it's an amazing 100 thousand square miles of flat semi-arid desert although you can drive along its southern edge here at its heart the only way to cross it is by train our first stop will be cooked as well as topping up on fuel and water will drop off our drivers at the end of their shift they'll spend the night here before returning home in the morning Adelaide is 1,000 kilometres behind me and Perth 1600 ahead we are about a hundred kilometres from the nearest sealed Road and yet Cooke receives thousands of visitors from all over the world each year thanks to the Indian Pacific it once had a hospital and a school but no more it now has a permanent population of just four people [Music] hello mark preggers who and you've driven us here well thank you very much indeed is that fairly tiring you're driving all night weights it's 2 o'clock this morning it's two of us in here we do stints we take tunes and driving we do probably be at 2 hours each swap over you enjoy it oh I love it I wouldn't do anything else in the world be honest with you why is that oh you have the open you lie you cruisin along you've got really no one bothering you you know you'll see big storms coming in front of you then the next minute of sunshine you'll see fog you can't see two foot in front of you you know things like that it's just just blows your mind away I've offered to make myself useful helping Deb to top up the trains water have you any idea how much water you put on the frame it's about 30,000 litres each time we replenish our supply yes because I mean there are so many showers and looms all the way along the train up and our restaurant so if you want to just pull there just like that they should start feeling water coming through and this water is coming out of that water tower yeah that's great the water from here it's brought in by train it has a little way of telling you when it's finished [Music] [Music] from cook I'll cross into Western Australia stopping at Kalgoorlie my destination will be Perth the state's capital [Music] it's a really beautiful sunset over the Nullarbor plain and it's interesting because like this it doesn't seem such a very forbidding place and zooming through it in the luxury of this train you kind of forget that if by chance you left the train and were out there on your own you would die from 1917 Australians could travel the breadth of the country by rail although different track gauges meant they had to change trains at least five times but in 1969 the gauges were standardized and a year later the newly named Indian Pacific train embarked on its first uninterrupted journey although you can now fly across this continent in five and a half hours some Australians still prefer to take their time and enjoy it over four days what's made you want to do this by train we're actually celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary and you boarded the train we're sipping how do you find it there beyond the Train so very long that's been absolutely relaxing Mitchum made some nice people they even have a few days some wise view that helps the journey of road it's just a different experience coming on the train there are two hundred and eleven passengers on board and it's head chef Sam Markham's job to make sure that they're all well-fed hello Sam so you have quite a task okay don't you and tonight we're doing something rather special we do an Outback dinner under the stars of Raleigh so we have a local lamb leg roasted chat potatoes and a cold soy put it up and we have a lamington cheesecake for dessert never was actually getting the sausages ready so yeah it's quite an operation isn't it it is yeah definitely so how many kitchens to your home of the trade currently we have three you only give me a hand I'd be delighted to we had a centimeter thick we Locker that's great are you doing a good job not easy when it's this tender it just tends to fall apart on you how different is it being a chef on a train to being in a restaurant it's completely different you're working with different people sort of every trip you don't have the ability to go home and race it like you would a normal restaurant okay Jani my six days at a time well I think I'm can happily tell the other passengers that we're gonna have a great dinner tonight or not here at Rowena in the middle of the outback we will feast in style is anybody hungry yeah whatever tea may I join you lamb is excellent but I think it's giving an extra flavor but being out here in the middle of the desert under a starry sky picnic-style to our continued journey oh nice to meet your chest I'm back on the train to continue my journey across Western Australia my next stop will be Kalgoorlie 250 miles away where I'll spend the night Western Australia is the country's largest state and there are vast areas that are uninhabited but this morning in one of its four emotive spots I'm surprised to discover a city Kalgoorlie says the guidebook is the headquarters of the East Pole guarded gold fields on a mineral belt that stretches five miles north and south and it has the feel of a frontier town but the Wild West not really bradshaw's tells me that it had a tram and electric lights and look at the architecture it is elegant and decorated the guidebook tells me that by 1911 the amount of gold mined was worth half a billion pounds in money of the day this wasn't Hicksville it was money's ville Kalgoorlie the largest city in the australian outback is home to around 33,000 people and mining on and around its golden mile is still very much alive twelve miles northeast is the canal a bel mind which began operations as recently as the 1990s an immense hole in the ground about eight hundred meters in diameter about three hundred meters deep I reckon I could bury the Eiffel Tower in there upside down it is a gold mine and the idea is that if you take out tens of thousands of tons of rock you will be rewarded with a few thousand ounces of gold and that will make you very rich I'm meeting local historian Timothy Moore to explore how this prized mineral transformed Western Australia I believe that was a gold rush in eastern Australia shortly after that in California but what happens in the West is much later is that right in 1893 gold is discovered here in Kalgoorlie by Patrick Hannon and Tom Flanagan and that starts the gold rush in Western Australia it's the biggest gold rush in the late 19th early 20th century all those small deposits have been discovered before in the state the irish prospectus found what became the most lucrative gold field in australia and the news spread like wildfire how quickly does it move from the little fellow to the big company we're looking at about five months that from the time that Hannon finds the gold and until the big mining companies come in within months they're sinking shafts into the Golden Mile and just hitting the walls of gold I was it Anglo Saxon money as well yeah all the wealth is coming from Great Britain so you've got all the big families they all want a piece of the action and this is the capital that you need to start the big mines so at the end of the 19th century a beginning of the 20th century this is boom time this is huge boom time this would have been just a sea of people 2,000 a week are coming on to the gold fields during the gold rush period such a place would need a railway yes and that gets pushed through real quick by 1896 so less than say three years there's a right huge railway system that stretched from the coast inland and one of the bribes that Western Australia was given during Federation was that will build you a railway across the country you end up with the trains Australia Bauer very important to have water and I don't see much water around here what do they do for that they built this pipeline one of the great engineering feats of the early 20th century is a pipeline that goes from Perth to Kalgoorlie see why I Connor the guy that builds the pipeline and he's like a god out here because he brings us the water Charles Yelverton O'Connor was appointed engineer in chief by Western Australia's first premiered on Forrest he completed his Gold Fields pipeline in 1903 bringing water 330 miles over the darling mountain range to Kalgoorlie it's still used today so what is the impact of these discoveries of gold on Western Australia up until the 1880s we have a agricultural society it's barely ticking over gold is found out in Kalgoorlie it explodes and this becomes the richest Colin in the world we all still have mining here for a long time I've got other minerals like nickel but gold is still king around here once the rock is cut out of the mine the dog has to be extracted at the processing plant Jim Watson is the general manager Jim Michael thank you good to see you they've got some enormous machinery in play here what is it doing it's basically taking rocks it's grinding them up into really really fine particles are about talcum powder sighs and then from there we add chemicals for that material and to try and extract the gold from there so from that much rock how much gold you get out anywhere from 2 grams to 10 grams in a ton of rock I thought one big hole in the ground is the area full of mines right now yeah lots of operations around the districts we operate for underground mines and the gold price is going well there's a little bit of a mini boom in Kalgoorlie and we're really exploring the district for more gold so once you've reduce it to talcum powder size how do you get the gold outfit we so we basically put it into water we add some chemicals and then we place it on to what we call carbon we pull that car went off and take it to the Gold Room to heat it up melt it and make it into gold bars now I have to see man yes absolutely the mine operates 24 hours a day seven days a week with up to 40 people working every shift I'll tell you what I love about this I've been to many steel plants which are on an enormous scale but with a precious metal it it's smaller it's almost like a cottage industry an amazing amount of heat is being generated so clearly the gold is in there that's why yes so we've put it into this crucible here and we're heating up to 1,300 degrees centigrade when it gets the right temperature we're going to lift it up and pour it out and the cost of gold is really heavy it'll sink to the bottom and then we'll form God boss gold bars so you can see the crucible now tipping up the goal is going to be coming out any moments you can see it coming now that is spectacular and it is creating a cascade a waterfall as it moves from mold to mold a fluid burning River making its way downstream how absolutely super sparkles like little stars are twinkling within the molten liquid oh that's an amazing sight once the bars have been cooled in water they're cleaned off ready to be sent to the mint in Perth it's extremely heavy it's not quite as refined as the bar of gold that you might find in a vault it's got little jagged edges here three delightful gold bars there what would they be worth do you think so we have here about a thousand ounces so probably just shy of two million dollars seeing one in France wonderful my retirement as a booming mining town Kalgoorlie became notorious for its drinking dens brothels and gambling one of the most popular betting games from the gold rush era is still enjoyed by the locals just outside town Danny Sheehan hosts weekly sessions out in the bush I've clearly come across a classy gaming joint but the rules of the game are obscure to me spinning coins heads and tails but there are two points not one [Music] are you Danny yeah tell me about this game traditional why Australian game League I yeah so up in the 1890s when I first discovered gold here in Australia it was very big because people just love gambling they were gamblers to come here they were actually gambling with their life could get tie for it or get lost in the bush but the chance was they could find all this gold and get really rich so when you got a whole town full of people like that mmm well all gambling is gonna flourish and to up was the game of choice and this sort of arena that we're in here this kind of pit is this traditional place where it's Paige yeah that's it a purpose-built facility who built this pit made a Denny's might and is this game legal yeah it is legal in Western Australia you can get a permit to run it it's illegal out here for years you know if it wished to run it illegally but then they change the laws of it dead stay it was incredibly properly you know get hundreds of people at it but now our you get like 40 or 50 people so it's not it's not a really big thing but you've got your regulars who really love the game yeah can I see the method we put little crosses on the tile side see what you're trying to do is you're trying to get two heads to come towards come up you win bets ladies and gentlemen place your bets very good alright so if you head them you win you win $50 all right and if I tails them bad luck for you [Applause] in the remotest parts of Australia's vast outback it can feel like little has changed since the gold rush over a century ago bradshaw's warns me that to the west I will encounter mainly waterless desert in fact the state of Western Australia is about ten times the size of the United Kingdom with a tiny population very sparsely distributed providing it with medical services has always been a challenge [Music] at the airport on the edge of town is the Kalgoorlie branch of the nation's Royal Flying Doctor Service one of five facilities across Western Australia Andrew Barnes originally trained as a GP in London and has been a flying doctor for over 20 years hello Michael very pleased to meet you oh it's wonderful to be here what a very smart aircraft and this does a pretty good job for you you know it may have just one engine but can get up to almost 500 kilometres now so what is the maximum distance that you might have to travel to see a patient from top to bottom is about 1,500 kilometres so although that may be only three and a half four hours of flying time you'd have to refuel in the middle plus there's a pickup time so for the people in the remote areas it may be several hours before they get decent medical help and these people who might be out on a cattle station or sheep station do they have a kind of dirt runway yes it can be I mean the reality is it's all very professional these days but we do still land with flares you know just oil flares at night that still happens depending on the state of the airstrip the service the first and now the largest in the world was founded in 1928 by a clergyman John flame originally from Melbourne trained as a pastor so it was actually not medically trained but he did a few expeditions into the outback and realised that the the medical care for people in the outback is often very difficult something which he he described as the tyranny of distance it was his determination and vision that led to the formation of the Royal Flying Doctor Service so in the old days how would a patient communicate with the doctor it started off with the Morse code in pedal Wireless and of course since then has been development to VHF radio which was the main way of communicating in the 50s and 60s and now of course most people have got mobile phones mobile phone towers and in the very remote areas satellite phones what's it like to be part of this service I ask you because you come from Britain you're not an Australian of Richmond yes I got lost I look for me I mean coming from the UK this is the dream job it's incredible the variety of things that I can do I can do general practice in very remote areas with very nice of people and some the following day I could be flying in the middle of the night with an extremely sick patient on full life support it sounds like you may have quite a sophisticated aircraft may take a look on board yes of course Michel can make you very much welcome to my office the intensive care in a telephone box it's more like the TARDIS it's it's it's impressive so you can have two patients in here you can have to structure patients in one sitting patient the principle of this is that we bring the hospital to the patient so we bring all the technology bio major surgery well this is a mechanical ventilator this here is a monitor for example which would measure blood pressure pulse oxygen saturation what's the most dramatic thing that you've had to do in midair oh the most dramatic thing is without doubt having to apply non-invasive ventilation to a patient who's having trouble breathing and is the service pretty much constantly in use oh yes on an afternoon like this we would expect to have six or seven aircraft in the air at a given time across Western Australia in Flynn's time maybe they would be flying a couple of hundred patients a year these days across Australia the Royal Flying Doctor Service transports over 300,000 patients every year super nearing the end of my 1,700 mile journey I'll surely be arriving in the capital of Western Australia I'm using the Transperth suburban railway to enter Perth for the first time I'm promised trees which afford a grateful shade during the hot summer but today is a perfect autumn day in the southwest corner of this continent on the Indian Ocean the nation's fourth city is closer to Bali than it is to Sydney birth says Bradshaw's in a beautiful natural situation on the Swan River about 12 miles above Fremantle which forms its harbour at the mouth of the river in 1890 when West Australia became a colony with a responsible government there were no more than 90,000 inhabitants this remote city capital of a vast unpopulated colony struggled for survival propped up by convict labour and till the discovery of gold since which time it's done pretty well founded in 1829 it's still one of the most isolated cities in the world but with this population of 2 million forecast to more than double by the middle of the century huge investment is transforming its central business district the Swan River flows through the city center Southwest to the port of Fremantle at the newly developed Elizabeth key I've been promised a bird's-eye view on a beautiful day for flying perfect [Music] an exhilarating rush wind as we begin to build up some speed [Music] [Music] [Music] the greater urban area of Earth stretches around 50 miles along the coast the port city of Fremantle was originally separate from the capital but is now part of the Perth metropolitan area [Music] fremantle says the guidebook the principal seaport of the state an important business center a well-ordered city with ample communication both by railway and steamer with Perth in fact Fremantle was founded before Perth further up the Swan River it received 37 shiploads of convicts including Australia's very last the town's fortunes were made when the harbour was redesigned by the same architect responsible for the water pipeline out to Kalgoorlie people here remember his name CY O'Connor and you can see why following the convicts of the 1800s Fremantle during the early 20th century became the Gateway for a very different group of Britons to uncover their story I'm taking a suburban train south to the small town of pinjari Western Australia says Bradshaw's is only 10 or 11 days sail from India it is the nearest of the Australian states to England ten thousand eight hundred and fifty miles you sent that relative proximity today there's a nonstop flight to London and the time difference is only seven hours beginning in the 18th century Britain used Australia as an annex to its prison system in the 20th century it began to export a different kind of social pop and sparsely populated Western Australia was the recipient thank you very much bye-bye in 1913 a small group of British children began a new life here at Fairbridge farm school the Fairbridge scheme was the brainchild of South African born philanthropist Kingsley Fairbridge with the support of both the British and Australian governments he aimed to ease the pressure on British orphanages and at the same time to boost Australia's population and provide much-needed labour but this was to become a dark chapter in both nations histories the school is now a heritage site opened to the public former pupil Derek Smith is president of the old fair Britain's Association Derek how did the idea come about to move children from the United Kingdom to Australia well that was Kings he favored his vision he observed the condition the children were in and in the work houses in London his vision was to move these to a better climate and a better health environment but he was able to gather support from some fairly well healed people the likes of Rudyard Kipling here what were the children to do in Australia they would learn the practice of farming bearing in mind that all the children that came here in the first two to three parties were boys initially the children lived in tents on a farm just south of in Jarrah and were cared for by Fairbridge and his wife Ruby but in 1920 the couple bought this site and began to build accommodation he set this place up as a family-style thing each each cottage had twelve to fourteen children and a cottage mother later ventures they end up with children in dormitories and there is no privacy Fairbridge died in 1924 but during the 70 years of the scheme's operation more than 3000 boys and girls became pupils here this is a bit basic isn't it there's seven beds and they're just very basic on were conditions like this for you what beds were these are the cottage in 1921 which the children came to and they lasted to basically 1939 and then they went through a whole modernization program the dining room evidently kids ate together well where was the cottage mother that was your accommodation there oh yes just a bit more comfortable for her so Derek how did you become a Fairbridge kidding come to Australia I was brought up by my grandmother my grandmother passed away and I was put into the favourites game what what age were you um I was born in 1944 and I arrived in 1953 so I was 8 when I got here what was your official legal status here when we stepped off the ship at Fremantle we became Ward's of the state that means the child welfare department was responsible for our health education and general well-being what was your routine here very structured we would get up usually at sunup and wash make your beds have breakfast work in the garden go to school there was an evening meal everyone was in bed by 9:00 and it was power off looking back do you think you were reasonably educated ah absolutely there was things that were drummed into me they were politeness punctuality and presentation I've always followed those wherever I can what was the discipline like discipline was simple there's a line drawn in the sand you knew that if you went across that line you were punished whether the punishment was justified you had no one to complain to the punishments were what beatings some people got beatings excessive use of the cane while you were here did you experience any warmth love affection no total absence of it it was very clinical love that just didn't exist there was no one to go up when you had a bad day you cried no one to cuddle yeah they just didn't exist Derek left the school at sixteen and worked as a civil engineer and lecturer do you look back and think that the parish scheme helped you I didn't have any structure to my life you know one thing this organization did at least gave me the opportunity I am my own house I have two wonderful children and a wonderful wife for me personally I think it was a most wonderful thing that could have happened to me but for some of my friends here here I think it was the worst possible thing that it could happen to him and I think everywhere in between in its early days the scheme was regarded as a great success and more schools were opened in Australia Canada and Rhodesia now Zimbabwe but in 1949 a report by a former principal told of exploitation slavery and sexual abuse came back as far as the 1930s it was ignored and British children continued to be sent to the schools former pupils like Roz Crawford and Richard hinge remain affected by their time here how old were you when you came here was I turned 12 in a month after I came here I didn't want to come I cried and nobody listened did make no difference of course you had no choice no choice no choice whatsoever how would you summarize your experience of average well you took the good with the bad I think in my case I try and remember that I enjoyed I loved the church the church for me played a big part so we just have to it was one of the jobs we had to do we had to come up and clean it used to come each Sunday and once a month you had evensong I used to come up and we always to sing our happy he means you know Richard he'll be six oh six good at 106 days I've got good memories and bad memories the good memories are to do with the kids I probably I'm gonna shabi it sounds like the bad memories were to do with the stuff pretty much yet I hated going to school here once I left this place I suddenly thought to achieve something I needed a study I put myself through University I spent 32 years in the fire service here in WI rose to the top of the trees you don't feel you owe it much for anything to Fabrice no absolutely not what I've accomplished I've done after I left here with no help from anybody the British and Australian governments have apologized for the treatment of child migrants former Fairbridge pupils have won compensation and others continue to pursue claims fabric will go down in history as a scandal because human rights of the children were overridden when they were brought here and then some were clearly physically and sexually abused on the other hand some look back on the experience and think that they did better here than if they've been left in the United Kingdom and it seems that the origins of the scheme were idealistic in an age where paternalism ruled but none of those who went through this place and remember anything resembling love [Music] [Music] back in Perth's central business district amongst its shiny skyscrapers there are reminders of Australia's colonial past although this nation has forged its own identity since gaining independence in 1901 it's still part of the British Commonwealth and the British monarch remains head of spent to trace this city's royal past I'm meeting history blogger Jessica Barrett here we have statue of Queen Victoria and we're in the Kings Park when does that first a royal visit to Australia the first royal visit was in 1867 with Prince Alfred Queen Victoria's son Prince of Wales the future king over the eggs came here after World War one tell me about that visit he arrived in Perth on the 1st of July 1920 travelling by train from Elba knew he spent 10 days here within Western Australia it was part of an extensive tour from May to August around Australia over a hundred towns quite a work rate it certainly is he would have been exhausting for him what do you think was the British ambition for the tour why did it occur it was a way to say thank you to the Australian people and to the soldiers who participated during the war there lots of different abalzer civic events organised and he came here for a garden party haha you had the invitation civic garden party in honor of HRH the Prince of Wales to the officially enclosure in front of the Queen Victoria especially the very place where we are now on the 3rd of July 1920 what was the princes moved during the tour he found it a little bit over planned I think and in particular with the garden party event he actually had to stand in front of Queen Victoria and acknowledge a horde of Western Australians who filed past him all the time raising his hat to them for 45 minutes he was on his way north towards Bridge town when he was in a railway accident the tracks had spread due to rain and his carriage toppled over into the ditch was injured I know he wasn't injured one newspaper reported that the prince was saved by a cow that the cow was on the track and the people were just shooing it out of the way so the train was just booting up speed again he was said to have emerged from the carriage and said at last we have done something that is not in the program the fact that he was in an accident they considered him a good sport that he still carried on with the tour by the time he left he was referred to as Prince Charming these days the royal family are more frequent visitors down under but I wonder whether they're still as popular Jessica has invited me to join her family and friends for a barbecue good to see you okay so I believe this is in the Australian DNA absolutely barbecuing mm-hmm those prawns look nice I will take them over thank you can I join your Barbie it seems to me that Australia used to be very much connected with Britain but less so now well I feel like Australia is more multicultural than ever but I think that's a positive thing hmm yeah I think we're not just connected to a brilliant way connected to everywhere in the world now who's a Royalist here secret secret royal royal is 50-50 yeah fifty-fifty any Republican even in a few years time you know when when things have changed a bit they were a vote in Australia on the monarchy what do you think might happen I think after the Queen's gone it will be less keen on the monarchy because she's been on the throne since 52 hasn't she she's been on the phone since the week I was born or the other way around resurgence of the popularity of the younger members the royal family I think it's gonna stay I would I believe you praise the changes for long time well love you see you all [Music] birth is about as far from Adelaide as London from Sicily or Boston from Miami with little habitation in between there was also a cultural gulf between convict assisted Western Australia and South Australia who's proud population had arrived by choice by the time of my guidebook the West have been lured into Federation with the rest with the promise that its isolation would be ended as I traveled on the Indian Pacific I glimpsed that history was awestruck by the distances and marveled at the railway engineering that brought Australia together next time I'll discover the cultural and sporting capital of Australia this is a temple this is holy ground have a close shave with a sheep-shearing years of Terror before I'm officially and ride the rails through a rain forest oh wow look at that [Music] next here this evening qi XL takes umbrage well we have reached q for quarrels after all on BBC sounds now every episode of the compelling true story of bravery and escape under the berlin wall tunnel 29 and now over on BBC one live from the Royal Albert Hall the Royal British Legion festival of remembrance [Music] you

Channel: JOURNEYS

Views: 235,212

Rating: 4.84127 out of 5

Keywords: Great Australian Railway Journeys, MichealPortillo, Sydney, Australia, Adelaide, Perth, JOURNEYS

Id: MXz8oK54UXE

Length: 59min 18sec (3558 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 25 2020