I arrived in Australia from Alexandria in 1958, with my husband and four children. I was twenty years old. We sought a better life. First we lived in Napier Street, Fitzroy, then in Collingwood for a while, and then we came to Carlton. I have lived here ever since.
Australia seemed a nice, young country. It was very quiet compared to now. Now things have changed for the better, there are more people, more continental food, more nice clothes. But I always liked Australia for what happened to me and my family. You see, I was left a widow, my husband got sick and passed away. I really had it hard and didn't have it easy like some other people did, but I thank God that I was here in this country. When my husband passed away eighteen years ago he was only thirty seven years old; he had a blood clot. And of course me with five kids can you imagine it?
I worked at St. Vincent's Hospital when my husband was alive. He worked night shift and I worked day shift. We hardly saw each other, or had any family life together. We couldn't leave the kids, because there was only one creche, and it was booked out for years. You had to leave children with families where they could look after the kids. That cost more than I was earning, so he worked at night and I worked in the day. Three of them were starting school, the other two stayed with him. He would feed them and play with them. They would go to sleep and he would sleep a bit. I used to come home from work and wash and clean. It was a hard life. They started to grow up and he got sick for three years and then died and I had to work even harder to bring them up all by myself.
The people in Carlton at first were very isolated to themselves. They never mixed with other people much. At the weekend everything was closed. We used to go to the football. It was the only entertainment we had here because we followed Carlton, and my kids played with the school, and my husband and I were interested in these things. But I didn't mind it being very quiet because I was that tired from work so I needed a rest, with five kids to bring up.
The only person we knew in Melbourne was my husband's brother, the only brother he had. He brought us over because he was all alone here. I found the language hard in the beginning. But I'm a self learner. When I went to work at St Vincent's after I had been here for one year, I was desperate to know what people were saying. Sometimes you would think, 'They're talking about you', and that was what made me learn English. Then the kids studied English at school, and the television of course helped. Back home I had done my training as a nurse, and when I came here I had to do another year's course for being a Sister. But then I couldn't do it because of the language, and with my kids young I had to do shift work. So I said any work would do, and they gave me a nursing aide job. I was still doing beds and helping with all the other stuff. It was close enough to a nurse. I missed my Mother and Dad. After a couple of years they came over too. I brought them over, and my younger sister also.
At the time we first came, everybody was minding their own business. If neighbours met Rev. Lowe, Church of All Nations Minister welcoming newly arrived migrants outside, if it was a warm day and I was sitting out in the front yard, they might say, 'Hello, how are you', if they happened to open their front door. It was strange but I got used to the idea. I reckon it was better. Where we come from every neighbour and every friend would pop their nose into other people's business and here I found it beautiful. It's too much for people to interfere in your house. It's nice to have friends but to overdo it is terrible. You need your privacy and peace and quiet.
Anything I want to learn in life I learn. If I set my mind to it, I can do it. Other people don't bother and I'll tell you why they don't bother. When they find people from their own nationality they go into groups and speak the same language all the time. I wasn't like this, I wanted to be more with Australian people so I could learn English. And many people said, 'But why do you speak English to your kids at home? You should speak a different language for them to learn.' I said, 'Look, we're not planning to go back anywhere else. We want to live here. So it's better for them to learn the proper language as they're going to live the rest of their lives here. And this way I'm learning from them too.' The children started at Lee Street Primary School and then went to Princes Hill High School. They all did well at school.
It's like you started a new home from the beginning. Life wasn't meant to be easy. I don't complain of my misfortunes because if they're meant to happen they happen. I was lucky to be in this country because if I had been back home it would have been terrible. Here they help people, I mean the pension. Pensioners won't eat properly with the money but they won't starve to death like people do in some other countries and for that we have to be thankful to God. I worked hard and paid my taxes, and they overtax you of course, but if I live for another thirty years I'll get my money back.
My husband was happy; he liked Australia too. He liked Carlton Cemetery and he begged me to bury him there, and I did. He wanted to face the football ground, and that's how I asked the undertaker to do it. He had Carlton Football Club cufflinks and tie and he wanted me to put them on when he died. I forgot and at the last minute in the church when they do the Last Rites I remembered. I gave them to the undertaker and he put them on.
Many other migrants were people who used to live in small villages where they had really had it bad in the war time. We didn't in Egypt. We had bombing but not as hard as other countries and we had food and everything. Those people who came from the villages starved during the war time. When they came here they worked like mad to survive, to get houses and properties, and they starved themselves to death even here because they had got used to the idea. But where I come from we used to live like here. I never tried to just save. Whatever comes, goes. We can't kill ourselves. But those other people found it hard because if they got a house they wanted another and a better one. All their lives they starved and when they got here they wanted to conquer the world. They thought they were doing something and half way through life they looked like old people.They didn't dress properly, they never bought things they wanted to buy and they would buy rubbish stuff, bones for soup. They never bought something nicer or more expensive to enjoy. They harmed themselves to death.
I always thought Carlton was a beautiful place and that's why I've stayed here. We visited people in other suburbs and I didn't like it. We went to Yarraville; most of the people there are Italians or Greeks. I don't like Yarraville at all to live, or Newport. Carlton is in the middle of the city, and because I've always been in a city I like it. But of course then it was rather quiet, but now it's getting better and better and I like it even more. But even then it was the best suburb to live in. Even 30 years back I still liked it when it was quieter and there were a lot of old houses.
I like Melbourne more than Sydney, Adelaide, Canberra. I went to Surfers' Paradise for a holiday; it's nice but it's boring. The same things all the time. I'd never live anywhere else than Melbourne. And why should I spend all that money to go back to visit the place I came from? I saw Egypt and Greece before I came over. I know every step of the way there because I grew up there. I don't want to see it again. Most of my friends have died or gone. From what I hear from other people, it's completely, different. I wouldn't like it any more.