Living History

Great value for ten pounds

Having been born on a small island just off the NW coast of England, my childhood ambition of becoming a chef had no chance of success. UNTIL... towards the end of my two years of national service in the British army I picked up a copy of the Daily Telegraph whilst in an army canteen and found in it an advertisement from a hotel in London calling for applications for the position of commis (trainee) chef.

Off went my application and I was called for an interview and was accepted for the job. The hotel was at Richmond in Surrey and overlooked the river Thames.

After eighteen months of hard training there, I was accepted for a position at the Grand Hotel at Frinton on Sea, Essex. This was very upmarket compared to the last job... one duty I always remember was to wait up until 10 o’clock every Monday night for the arrival of two boxes of live lobsters by train from the Billingsgate fish market in London and to cook and store them before I could go to bed!

I was very conscious of my lack of experience in the handling and cooking of fresh meat. This was caused by the fact that food rationing in England was severe, even though the war had been over for a few years. Diners could be served no more than three farthings-worth of meat per meal!

What to do? My answer was to apply for a position with the P&O shipping company... and within three weeks, at age 21, I joined my first ship, the SS Mooltan.

We sailed in January 1950 with a load of migrants as well as young Australians returning to their homes after visiting the UK.

It was the right decision for me as there was no shortage of food on board... after all, ships can take on food at any country through which they pass and Australian ports could provide all of the ship’s victualling needs. As for cooking experience, the preparing and cooking of food for over one thousand souls, three times a day provided me with lots of it!

One vivid memory always remains with me... as we approached Fremantle on that first voyage; I was enjoying the sun on deck as were many passengers, when a musical fanfare came over the ship’s loudspeakers. All at once passengers began to clap and cheer and to shed tears! It was not until later in Fremantle that I discovered that the fanfare was the introductory music to an ABC news broadcast, something that the returning Aussies had not heard whilst away from home!

Fremantle, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and back... it was like paradise to me! Sunshine, friendly people, (shockingly cold) beer and unlimited food... even lots of the lollies that I had craved after for years.

At last I knew why the older crew members referred to Oz as “The Land of Golden Opportunity”!

Back in frigid London, the chef announced that I was to be promoted in rank and transferred to the newest liner in the P&O fleet... the SS. Himalaya... which, coincidentally, had been built in my home town of Barrow in Furness! This provided lots of first class experience for me as a young chef, it was hard going too, as seven days a week and ten hours a day in the galley was the norm... and there are no days-off at sea!

Trips to Oz on the Himalaya were much faster than in the old Mooltan. We even made quick stops in places like the Hook of Holland and Kalamata in Greece to pick up more migrants.

In the Northern summer, the Himalaya would do two cruises, each of two weeks duration to Mediterranean ports including Casablanca, Naples and Malta, while in the southern summer we would embark on another two cruises from Sydney to Pacific countries which included Noumea, Fiji and Port Moresby.

In Sydney I would visit English friends and learn more about Australia... all of it good!

After about one year on the “Himalaya”, I returned to work in London where food was much more available as rationing eased. My experiences there included jobs at the Waldorf Hotel and later at a very exclusive restaurant in Mayfair called Le Coq d’Or where Elizabeth and Margaret, fondly known as the two princesses, were occasional guests.

After a couple of years ashore I suffered from severe attacks of itchy feet and so applied once more to the P&O Company, and was posted back on to the Himalaya. This time, Australia seemed even more attractive, and the weather in London on our return never seemed pleasant. Additionally, I had met the Australian girl who was later to become my wife. So what to do? I applied to Australia House for a ten pound migrant ticket to Oz. My application was successful and a letter came advising me that I was to report to ss Himalaya, sailing just two weeks after we docked in London... and so I was elevated to the tourist-class decks!

My promotion from galley-slave to passenger was a real treat and after a most enjoyable four-week trip, I disembarked in Sydney with sixteen pounds remaining in my wallet to be met by friends and my wife to be.

Very soon I was working as a chef in Sydney in the new hotel group which was being developed by the real-estate tycoon Sir Leslie J. Hooker and was soon appointed to the position of the first Chef de Cuisine when his newly spruced up Carlton-Rex Hotel in George Street was opened.

In 1966 I was encouraged to apply for a position as a teacher of commercial cookery at the Food School which was situated in the very old building which had been the Darlinghurst Jail... the first permanent prison to be built in the colony of New South Wales.

The first two years were heavy going... classes could start as early as 7 am and the last ones finished at 10pm. In addition, teacher training and other studies had to be included in the work-week.

After two years I was informed that in order to achieve promotion, teachers had to spend two years working at a country college... and as the most junior member of staff I had been selected to take over a new school with its first batch of twelve students. “Where was this”? I innocently asked and was informed that it was in Canberra. “And how can I get to Canberra every Wednesday”? “ No problem” came the reply, “we will fly you there and back so that you will be here to teach in Sydney the next day!”

And so it started. More students were enrolled as time went by and more classes started, until I was informed that I and my family were to be transferred to Canberra for the start of the 1972 academic year.

The following year I had the great good fortune to be awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship. This enabled me to do further study in London, then at the Statler School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University in New York State, followed by studies in Advanced Gourmet Cookery at the Culinary Institute of America in Poughkeepsie, NY.
Enough to make one who left school at the age of fourteen feel a bit proud!

Following retirement, I performed voluntary tasks for AESOP (the Australian Executive Service Overseas Program). I was sent to Tonga, Manus Island in PNG, the Solomon Islands and three times to Thailand, in each case training hotel and restaurant workers.

And my family? I can claim now to the patriarch of a mob of seventeen fine Australians, three of whom are now working as chefs! Sadly, one is now missing as my wife passed away in the year 2000.

And to think that Australia got all this for an investment of ten pounds in a migrant fare to Oz... as well as thousands like me!

Stephen, Dickson, Australian Capital Territory

Look at more contributions:

previous | next