Migrant Writes Satire On Life In Australia

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27425, 11 August 1954, Page 9

Migrant Writes Satire On Life In Australia

[From the Sydney Correspondent of The Press'*]

. SYDNEY, July 23 itXXX a ”F Jrterary value, nor tor slarrhXX or truth of reDromin.!, Australian reviewers giving boXXXi 10 a small > illustrated ortly to be published in .Sydbv y ’ a b Npw f US f 2 l ls the first attempt criticise PS £S lian to “alyse and life the old Australian way of

to l Au3? a iV a 000 ' 000 “iSrante have come b°, t A “ atra .h? 51 »ce the end of the war u“ed beC S Use they had been evlS derogatory words or theh- nSi lg g ’? . crltlcal thoughts in framed £ countrles they have ret heir Adopted eo°Sy faUl ‘- flnding * boo C k r which ? voida d hy all others. His is a k ’sTtii h h t C u lls As 1 see Them,” a . sa tire 'Vhich will be nublishAd ls I °ini l i«tr n t d° th *? nglish and nthl 1 A te u d father comically, by anHnXXX Kim StrcprstsXkrk. Cross 1 Sh^r as ? ost ,. to say about King’s centre of h Y??* He calls this “dirtv Mi£° t m d an hfe in Sydney the alivo and , says Jt 1S “the most alive, most popular and most cosmopolitan part of Australia” fights fll tmJh ere ? Ueer street hSz t°ugh policemen, (“copying Sovies"> OU w gUeS from American Sas «“t ° f h i S s ? tire he declares: a^w^^^y 13600 ™" prote be te< f e b W y sa a e n rffi U e a e geS ’ Y hiCh to !S a few of c Fi fice * • • 1 Personally know speaT te°^^ od e S 0 --* -ho can . Hungarian. They intend mapX f o d |,

naturalisation when King’s Cross will be officially declared as New Australian territory, but they must have the minimum of 10 years’ permanent residence in King’s Cross area or migrant hostels to get it granted.” Bitterly he describes in a chapter called, “Deep In The Heart of Australia,” his venture into the country on an advice to seek the great open spaces. As a preliminary to his excursion Holman wrote: “You ought to go to the country, mate. You’d like it there. That’s where you find the Australian heart. Go to Queensland, some little village, and you’ll see. Cities are no good, full of the wrong kind of people. You know, tricky loafers and ... by the way, you wouldn’t have two bob on you mate? I’m hard up these days because my wife is in hospital and I am out of work. T wouldn’t ask you otherwise.”

'So Holman went to the country but alas they did not take him to their hearts there with any more gusto than had the city cousins. “The only heart given to me was a heart carved out of wood by an aboriginal,” he writes, “and he threatened me when I gave him only a shilling for it. . .” But the author saves most of his satire for Australian wpmen, in fact, he goes so far as to declare that their npartlessness has driven many a poor lonely, single migrant back to his native land. Holman describes Australian girls as too materialistic and lacking in feeling . and temperament.” He adds: Australian girls have good looks, shapely figures—but no fire. They’re so cold. They are shocked when a ‘Naussie’ (vernacular for New Australians) pays them the European compliment of speaking to them in the street.

“Scores of ‘Naussie’ friends tell me Australian girls will only marry a man who has a good job and a secure future. In Europe a girl marries a man for love, even if he’s a pauper.” Holman, however, seems to have ie -fa* 6 . °f kis fellow single Naussies.” for he has an Australian girl friend named Jane.