'And look where you ended up: arguing with us on OLO.'

same place as you Mr Opinion. Shows what a tolerant lot we are.

I forgot to mention that my parents also contributed
to the Lithuanian Community in Sydney. Financially and
socially. They were well known in the community.

Then years later when mum moved to Melbounre after
dad's death she joined the Lithuanian Social Care
Women's Association in Melbourne. The Lithuanian
Choir with whom she toured and performed in Lithuania,
after Lithuania regained her independence. Our family
in general gave their time and willingly worked and
supported the Lithuanian communities strongly.

This at that time was fairly common amongst older
people and their families. Today
things have changed to the extent that mixed
marriages are far more common and choices for younger
people are becoming more acceptable. In times past
this was not the case.

I should also say that politically - our family
always supported the Liberal Party. I guess that
was true of the Lithuanian Communities in
general. This was due to the fact that our parents
had fled from the Communist Soviet Regime that
invaded and occupied our country. People at that time
associated the Labor Party with communism. So voting
for Labor then was not an option.

And for many today - not much has changed in the
Lithuanian community.

I don't remember much about the war. Dad was at Amberley before going overseas, & we lived in a housing commission or air force house in Ipswitch while he was overseas. I remember getting milk in a billy can from the dairy across the road, & the big hail storm that broke many windows in the school, but not much else.

Moved to Townsville when dad came back, it was a great place for a kid. We all walked to school, up to a couple of miles, I don't remember ever seeing a bus, school or public. All kids were barefoot, shoes were expensive, when you could get them. No one bothered with rain coats, even if they had them, you dried quickly in shorts & a shirt.

School was pretty serious. We were given a dozen words to learn to spell, & some arithmetic to do each night. You were tested on the spelling daily, & it was the strap if you got too many wrong, or hadn't done the math. We swam in shark proof [almost] enclosures on the beach, & we had never heard of marine stingers. Life was good.

Moved to Bathurst when I was 10. We lived in a dirt floored tin shed for 2 years, while dad built a house, when ever materials became available. Winters were very cold. We did not feel deprived, about a hundred or so families in the area were all doing the same. It was how you got your own house.

I got a bike, & a paper delivery job to pay for it. Someone gave me a horse, & like the other kids, rode it bareback. Saddles cost as much as a car. A farmer let me keep it at his farm in exchange for bring his cows back from the river where they grazed most days. We got our first after war car, life was great.
Continued

Continued
We moved to Young. I had to ride the horse 110 miles, as transport was too expensive. We bought a small orchard where I could keep my horse, & built another house. Small country schools were great, I was good at sport so easily accepted. Not many kids to chose from, so I was in the school senior football & cricket teams, the debating team, & an officer in the cadet core.

Small country schools were great. Young High had only 14 kids in 5Th year, so we got plenty of help from really great teachers, who really wanted to do their best for us. They ran after school classes for honor courses for kids trying to get scholarships to Uni or teachers college. They helped us greatly to put in the effort to succeed.

I went back a few years ago & saw that our old science/math master had made it to head, something he truly deserved.

Foxy,

Your mum didn't happen to be the Liberal Party's TV ad's famous Little Old Lady from Lithuania who scared people from voting for Labor by telling them how she had escaped from Communism?