By Ruby Lane
This article was originally published in August 2025 in Soul Search, the Journal of The Sole Society
LEYTONSTONE ENGLAND December 1914.
Mary and Tom Soall, the devoted parents of young Fred and his sisters, ten-year-old Mary, six-year old Lillian and three-year old Dorothy were to travel to Southampton and board the Orient Line’s mail steamer Osterley ready to set sail for Western Australia. Mary’s sister Annie and her husband Tom Vinten had left a year or so earlier with their family and had sent back glowing reports about there being plenty of work to be had in the Fremantle area and they would be willing to nominate the Soall family if they wished to emigrate.
Mary took a last look around her small two story home with its polished wooden banisters that young Fred kept highly polished with his constant downward sliding, the tatty red velvet lounge suite and worn but sturdy oak furniture. This had been their home most of their married life and she wondered what lay ahead of them and their young family.
Fred was born in August 1903 and on the 16th of September the next year young Mary Elizabeth Alice made her appearance. Their life was pleasant enough with the older Mary joining the church Mothers’ Guild and Tom having steady employment. As time went by and the another two baby girls joined the family, there was talk of war looming with Germany, resulting in many families considering moving from England to the safety of Australia, which offered good prospects for those willing to work. Now having said their goodbyes to friends and relatives they were about to leave behind all that they knew and set up a home in a far off land. With a weary sigh Mary closed the door behind her and joined Tom and the excited children waiting impatiently to get going.
Leaving behind their home and the life they had grown used to and not knowing if or when they would ever see it all again was a heart breaking feeling and both Mary and Tom left with very heavy hearts and a deep sense of anxiety about what lay ahead of them and their young family.
AT SEA. December, 1914
The sea voyage began badly for Mother Mary who was seasick from the very first hour, a condition that was to last for the entire six-week journey but Tom and the children enjoyed it immensely. There were many children on board and the crew organised a lot of activities to keep them amused. Young Lill was in such high spirits that she managed to fall and break her arm causing a headache for her parents and a bit of jealousy with her sisters because Lill was given lollies every time she visited the doctor.
While the children on board were oblivious to the seriousness of the world situation, the ships officers were well aware that their ship could became a target of the German warships reportedly scouting the oceans in search of enemy vessels. The Osterley was blacked out each night causing the passengers to be a little uneasy as they sailed steadily southward. It was later reported to all on board that the Australian Navy had sunk the German warship Emden a short distance away. Emden had been responsible for many British ships being scuttled in the Indian Ocean in the past couple of months. The Soall family must have been meant to arrive safely to their new country.
INTRODUCTION TO FREMANTLE WESTERN AUSTRALIA January 1915
They disembarked on a very warm day in January and after being interviewed by customs and immigration authorities they were met by Annie and Tom Vinten and their family, they then walked from the wharf and made their way to the township of Fremantle. As they passed the railway station the children were delighted to find a marble drinking fountain and they, being dressed in their heavy English clothes, were anxious to drink some cool water. Their cousins delighted in telling them that it was a horse trough not a human drinking place. That trough is still standing by the toilet block in the street opposite the railway station to this day.
Uncle Tom and Aunt Annie had arranged a small home in Palmyra for the Soall family to rent for a short time until they could make their own arrangements. The land was very cheap in Palmyra and Tom Soall was soon able to get some work constructing chimneys and fire places in the few new homes being erected in the area, so within a short time he was able to put a down payment on 2 quarter acre blocks at numbers 7 and 9 Hope Street. Their first dwelling was a rough structure made from bush saplings and covered in flour bags that were whitewashed to keep out the weather. Tom helped the Vinten family build a similar “house” on the block that they had bought in the next street.
Mother Mary found this way of living very hard to cope with. She had come from a nice home in England with nice furniture and fittings but now she had no floor coverings, in fact no floor, just sand. The wood stove made the small room unbearably hot. There were bush flies everywhere and blowflies that seemed to know the smell of cooking and quickly zoned in on the roast meat causing it to be maggot ridden in no time at all. Midges and mosquitos made life a misery and large angry red welts adorned the arms and legs of the children.
In spite of these drawbacks the children adapted well to their new way of life and the three eldest were looking forward to attending school at Bicton Primary in Harris Road. Having only been in the country for three short months there had not been time to make the acquaintance of many other children so when the big day arrived they fronted up to school in all their smart English style clothing. What a shock they got when it dawned on them that the other students were dressed in shorts, cotton shirts and nearly all bare footed and here they were in long socks and boots that came to just below the knee and required lacing up with a shoe hook. Some of the children were Indigenous Australians and nobody had prepared them for that possibility either. They had heard mother Mary referring to them with fear in her voice and now they had been sent to sit in a class with some of them.
Despite all the protestations from young Mary and Lill, their mother wouldn’t hear of them not wearing shoes to school. No child of hers would be seen attending class looking like a scruffy kid (even if they had only a sand floor) so the boots stayed on their feet until they got to the big gum tree behind the Bevans’ family dairy, where they would be removed and hidden under a zamia palm to be replaced on their feet on the way home.
To be continued…
