Bonegilla Migrant Hostel, Victoria

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TitleBonegilla Migrant Hostel, VictoriaPhoto Number006637Date1960DescriptionBonegilla Migrant Hostel, Victoria - the first accommodation for immigrants to Australia.

Moritz and Elisabeth Raemer and their son, arrived in Australia on the Castel Felice 20th April 1960 to Melbourne, Victoria. Their departure from Germany was due to an advertisement in the German newspapers that Australia needed tradesmen. Moritz had a trade as a printer in Trier, Germany near Luxembourg.

The family lived for three weeks at Bonegilla Hostel, Victoria before moving to Fairy Meadow Hostel NSW on 24th May 1960, just north of Wollongong.

Moritz worked as printer for Australian Iron & Steel at Port Kembla until his retirement.

They moved from the hostel at Fairy Meadow and rented at Figtree, a suburb of Wollongong NSW, before buying a ‘Hooker Homes’ Cottage in Oak Flats in 1964 where they live to-day.

Elisabeth worked in the spinning industry in Germany, and in moving to Oak Flats, worked for a short time at Thomas French & Sons factory in Industrial Road Oak Flats making curtain tapes. Also she learnt to speak English while doing house- keeping for some local residents.

When they arrived in Oak Flats in 1964, the section of Lake Entrance road (now Old Lake Entrance Road) since the Oak Flats Interchange was built, was the main thoroughfare. They recall the traffic was noisy due to the bitumen road always in bad repair. Many German immigrants live in this street, the reason for the Holy Cross Lutheran Church being built here.

They met Father John (Johann) Krewenka of the German Catholic Church when staying at Bonegilla Hostel, where he was the Hostel Chaplain. He later moved to Blacktown NSW and would visit Wollongong and Oak Flats to say Mass for the German people, where Moritz and Elisabeth continued their contact with Father John.

Moritz was a member of the German Male Choir at Berkeley and Elisabeth has her spinning wheel and loves knitting. They have three grandchildren.
Moritz and Elisabeth became Australian Citizens on 17th April 1968.

Having lived in Oak Flats for over 40 years, Moritz and Elisabeth say they would ‘not live anywhere else’.

Information by Moritz and Elisabeth RaemerDonorRaemer Family

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Bonegilla Migrant Hostel, Victoria