Melbourne
13.7.1981
Dear Alan,
Sorry I didn’t write last week after we got your letter. I
don’t know how long it took because it didn’t have a date and the post office
workers were on go-slow and letters were often held up for over a week before
being delivered.
Looks as if you arrived satisfactorily –I thought you would
be working in or near Capetown but Johannesburg is a very big city. I suppose
they both have a lot of black Africans in them. I was a little worried when you
said you would be working in Soweto but after all the trouble there has been in
England this week I don’t think it matters much where you are. I don’t know how
much news you can get but all this week on the TV we have been getting pictures
of riots in England in large towns all over the place. They look the same as
the riots in Northern Ireland-copied them I suppose from what they saw on TV.
Was it very hard to find work? I have been looking each week to see if there
are and jobs but haven’t seen any only one position from a dentist asking for
part time work. That’s all there has been.
When you have settled in you must write, and tell us what
the city is like. You didn’t say whether the address you gave was going to be where
you would be staying for long so this will not be very long in case you don’t
get the letter anyhow.
Pamela shifted at the weekend into another house. This time
with another girl she worked with at the Latrobe library. She has a house near
East Malvern station and Pamela can stay there until she gets married at the
end of the year. This is nearer the library she works and suits Pamela well but
it is only temporary.
Dad and I went up to Trentham on Saturday. This is the first
time we have been since the holiday weekend when you were here. The weather has
been so awful. The hockey has been cancelled 2 times in the last four weeks. It
has been wet and cold but Saturday afternoon was sunny and no wind at Trentham.
It was quite pleasant and we spent all afternoon outside. I fixed up the
berries. A few very large branches have broken on the cypresses and fallen
down. It was snowing heavily a few weeks ago-that most likely broke the
branches. Is Johannesburg a warm hot or cold place. I can see on the map that
it is about the same as Brisbane but I can’t tell how high it is. I suppose you can sleep a good bit of the time
and then took a few days to get into a cycle.
I don’t know if you can buy any Australian paper. If you can
that will be all you need but if you can’t buy one you could tell me what parts
of a paper you would like to be sent over. I could send over just the parts you
would like to read. I suppose your best way of keeping in touch with what is
going in Australia is by listening on the wireless to Radio Australia.
There has been a lot of fuss here about the South African
rugby team playing in New Zealand. Most people say they shouldn’t come but the
Prime Minister Mr Muldoon said the Rugby union had to make up their own mind.
Has there been much in the papers over there about it. Do
you find most of the people speak English or have they done what they wanted to
do and make Afrikaans the main language. It seems to me English would have been
the most sensible for the main language because so many other people speak it.
I hope you are setting into your flat and that you now have
something to do. Even if you are only there for a short time you might as well
make the most of your opportunity and spend your money and see the country and
the animals while you are there.
Love from mum.
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