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I was born on 17-3-1944 on my maternal grandfather's farm 'The Outwoods' near Burbage in Leicestershire, England. We moved a few times between Leicestershire and Birkenhead- my father's home town. In later years I came to realise that my parents did not have a happy marriage and that what I thought were visits to 'The Outwoods were probably Mum leaving my father.

When I was about 7 and a half or 8 my parents split up altogether and were divorced. Strangely for those times my father, a coal miner, was given custody of myself, my sister Marilyn ( Lyn was about 2 years younger than me) and my brother Michael, aged about 18 months.

Eventually, with no supporting father's benefits, my father realised he could not cope with working full time and trying to look after us so my sister was returned to her mother, my brother was fostered out while I remained with my father. There were periods when I went back to 'The Outwoods' and I can remember Lyn and me being in a children's home called 'The Holt' at one stage but no-one seems to know why we were put there and by whom.

After a rather traumatic and troubled time of living with my father and various of his relatives he made the decision to send me to Australia with Fairbridge- one of the Child Migrant organisations which took children from orphanages and broken families for a new life in 'the Colonies'. "Boys to be farmers and girls to be farmer's wives" in the words of the Fairbridge song.

On the 11-11-1954 my father took me down to Knockholt in Kent to a Fairbridge Society house where, in dribs and drabs, a group of around 20 of us was assembled until ready to sail. (See Photos of me and the boarding party in the Fairbridge Gallery).  We left Tildury docks in London on 8-2-1955 on board the P&O 'Strathnaver'. Sailing via Suez, Colombo, Fremantle and Melbourne we arrived in Sydney on 13-3-1955. After a day disembarking etc it was on to the Forbes Mial train for an overnight trip to the Fairbridge Farm School at Molong, NSW.

MORE OF FAIRBRIDGE LATER.

As one of the so-called 'Child Migrants' I had no family to speak with and lost most of my history.

A year ago I became aware of the remarkable story of Phoebe Jane Biggs- a distant realtive of mine who, in the early 1860's, finding that her husband was a bigamist, left him. What she then did was what fascinated and astounded me: with 3 children under 7 and a few belongings in a pram she walked from Hall ( on the Northern edge of today's Australian Capital Territory) to Forbes- A distance of some 200 miles.

In May of this year (2010) I will be making the same journey, following as far as I can, the original roads and tracks that she would have followed. Along the way I hope to rediscover some of the places she may have gone though my journey will be easier than hers: my cart will have pneumatic tyres, I'll have a mobile phone, the roads are well defined and I won't have three children to care for.

As a retired teacher I plan to talk to historical societies and particularly with school groups and maybe inspire some students to love our history and do things they might think too hard.

As a member of Lions I also hope to raise the profile of Lions and the work the clubs do in the communities. Even better would be if my walk could raise some funds for Lions as without funds they cannot support the many and various causes of the community.

Please offer your support by donating to my Lions Club.

-Send cheques to the Lions Club, PO Box 28 Highfields, QLD 4352

or

Direct Deposit Highfields Heritage Bank, BSB 638-080

Account Number 4328094524

Follow me and support me as I take on this adventure over the next month.

I thankyou for your interest and hope you become inspired to find more of your own history and to do those things which might seem too hard.

Regards, John