The 10-pound Poms who stowed away

David Green was from Knockmullin, New Ross, Ireland. He married Mary Ronan, also from New Ross and they had 11 children. They came to London during the War and by 1949 were living at No.1 Lanhill Road, near the Chippenham Road. They had moved near Paddington Recreational Ground, renting a cramped two rooms and a kitchen at 168 Kilburn Park Road (since demolished), when they emigrated to Australia in 1956 on the “10-pound Poms” assisted passage which required them to stay there for two years. The cost was £10 per adult, the children travelled free.

The Greens sailed on SS Strathnaver and arrived in Fremantle on 7 July 1956, and then travelled on to Ballarat, (about 70 miles from Melbourne). Molly soon found she was unhappy with life in Australia. She said it did not stop raining in the promised ‘land of sunshine’. ‘We imagined Australia, being a young and growing country, would be progressive. Instead, it’s so quiet here in Ballarat, it’s just like Ireland.’ In Australia David Green was working six days a week, and with overtime he earned £19. Their rent was £3 a week. Molly said he earned the same in London, but the cost of living is higher here.

Molly Green with ten of her children

On 22 October while David was at work as a roof tiler with their eldest son, she took her 10 other children, aged from 14 months to 12 years old, and hid on the SS Orsova, in an attempt to return to England. Once the ship was at sea, Molly told the purser they were stowaways. The crew were very kind and the family were given food and a cabin. The crew even managed to raise £480 of the £880 the Australian Government wanted for the return trip. Unable to raise the full amount, the family were taken off at Adelaide and returned to Ballarat.

Molly Green takes six children back to school in Ballarat

The publicity resulted in questions being raised at local government level and the Green family were offered a plot of land and a house for £500. However, they said they had no hope of raising that much money. Despite this, the family decided to stay in Australia where the children grew up.

Between 1947 and 1955 Australia accepted 479,000 people from all over the British Isles. Of these 28,000 (6%) returned. By 1982 there were over a million immigrants from Britain.

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