Chapter 21

The letters to my Mother in Queensland from Marcia and me in August 1965 following my return from my first overseas trip have been interesting to read again in February 2000.
From that August through to November fairly frequent letters tell of the family activities, especially of the weekends. Some weekends were mainly concerned with maintenance of the household such as mowing, cleaning windows, cleaning the car, repairing or painting some item or continuing the constructing of woodwork projects such as the green cupboard and drawers (which we still have some 35 years later). Others included taxying children to tennis or to town for shopping, still others tell of drives in the country, often fitted in after a visit to the laboratory to do some task required to be done at that time despite it being a week-end. Specifically, in this period, as well as carrying out maintenance, we visited Ballarat and Daylesford, built a slot-car track (mostly Graham’s work), we took Graham and Ainsley to tennis lessons and G. played in competition.
Holidays were in the air and we eagerly awaited January 1966 because Mama Manson had found a house at the beach in Queensland that was available to rent for the fortnight we had allotted. Some of the visitors at Hone Avenue around this time were Dr Roger Watson and wife, Dr Jack Arundel and wife, Toby St George and wife, as well as a visitor from Thailand. Marcia’s Mum and Dad as well as my Mother had visited while I was overseas.
The financial state of our family should perhaps not be mentioned, as, after 16 years of working, it was woeful. There was seldom any spare cash, it appeared, but we were keeping our heads above water.
Cousin Eva had three trips overseas during this time. However, sadly, they were not all happy trips as both sickness and other problems occurred. One old friend who accompanied her on one trip turned nasty and caused Eva to cancel the trip and fly home.
Some of the letters written by Ainsley (10) and Graham (13) are quaint in hindsight, and all of them give insight into their characters at that age. Graham had completed the third year of high school. His exam results at the end of 1965 were very good being in the 80 to 90% range, and although they were just short of what was required for an Honours Certificate, they were adequate for a Junior Certificate. This paid towards schoolbooks for further years. Ainsley’s results were not detailed in this the last year of primary school, but she received an Honour’s Certificate. Robyn was about to start kindergarten.
Soon after the end of the calendar year, we set off for Brisbane by road in the EH Holden. Few details of this holiday seem to be available, but as we always enjoyed our holidays in Queensland it is probably safe to say that this was also an enjoyable stay. At the end of the stay in Queensland Marcia and I drove back to Melbourne, leaving the children to spend a little more time with Marcia’s folks. We drove down the coast route all the way. Some of the prices for motel accommodation are interesting. A room for one night could be had for $8.40. We passed through Sydney, staying at Mittagong then Moruya and Eden. Total petrol cost was $20. Soon after our arrival back, at a time when the “nectarines and apples on the trees were ripening” as were some grapes, we picked the children up at Essendon airport where they landed in a Viscount.
Returning to work after the break was hard, as always. The same was true for the children returning to school after the freedom of the vacation. One of the usual pleasures that softened the blow for me was reading the accumulated mail. This year was no exception. Amongst the mail awaiting me at work was a letter that proved to be very important to us. It was from Dr. Wallace Stableforth the former Head of Weybridge Laboratory, which is the centre for Veterinary Diagnosis and Research in the UK. He wrote from his position as the Officer-in-Charge of a project for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. In it he invited me to apply for a position working for one or two years in Turkey on research on diseases of sheep and goats caused by mycoplasmas. This was one of the major areas of work that I had been associated with at Parkville and on which I was considered to be knowledgeable
I was absolutely over the moon at the thought of it. With difficulty I forbore to mention it on my arrival home, but awaited an opportunity when we were all seated at dinner to announce it. With what I hoped was nonchalance, I asked the family whether they would like to go overseas for a year. The result was a resounding yes, but perhaps they individually picked out their favourite location. They were not familiar with Turkey, but were still keen when they learned that was the venue. This of course was a major opportunity in our lives. We indicated our strong interest in the proposal and accepted subject to some more details and permission from CSIRO. Over the next few months we made enquiries about schooling for the children, about housing and transport and other conditions of living. The conditions seemed to be good as the costs of the family to accompany me would also be covered, school fees would be paid, and some holiday time would eventuate and the salary was considerably more than I was getting at the time and was tax free. I would have to pay my own premiums to keep up the superannuation, but this was manageable. There was some allowance for rental assistance as I recall, so that there were not many out of pocket expenses. It all sounded too good to be true, and indeed in the event it gave our finances a much-needed boost and provided other benefits that should gradually unfold if you read on.
We started to make plans for a positive outcome and decided to rent 10 Hone Avenue and to store most of our goods. We would take most of the kitchen equipment, personal items but no furniture. We made enquiries about schooling for the children, about accommodation and what equipment we should take with us.
As CSIRO was no less a bureaucracy than the Public Service the pathway to acceptance was strewn with problems. From Section Head to Officer-in-Charge to Chief of Division to Executive each step involved delays. In 1966, leaving CSIRO for long periods was regarded with some disfavour, possibly because of a possible brain drain. It was a prized perquisite (even though it was to the benefit of CSIRO for personnel to have such an experience. This type of absence was perhaps less of a problem because it did not tap into the small budget allocated to overseas trips. Anyway it was April before I received permission from CSIRO to be absent for a year and we still had to wait for definite word from FAO. A lot of work had to be done just on the expectation of going, without the guarantee that it would happen. When FAO finally contacted us it was in the form of a cablegram. This itself implied urgency and after having waited nearly five months, I tore at the envelope feverishly. To my astonishment it told me that I was expected to report to FAO in Rome in 10 day’s time. We laughed hysterically. Although it was a profound relief after so much waiting to have confirmation, it was impossible to agree to the date. Immediately I had to request that the date be put back to allow about 6 weeks to complete arrangements. These covered getting medical advice and vaccinations, arranging education in Turkey , deciding on equipment, packing up household goods to be sent to Turkey, renting 10 Hone Avenue, shopping, changing business addresses, writing to friends and relatives about the move and arranging banking. Even so the rate of completing the arrangements had to be stepped up.
Around February Mitzi came down from Brisbane to spend some time with us. No doubt this was just before she was due to start at the Uni. We took her out to see the sights as often as we could. It was not easy combining outings for a visitor with the needs of the household, the schooling of the children and my work, and the added complexities of the proposed overseas trip and closing off avenues of research. However Mitzi seemed to enjoy it despite that around her life had to go on as usual or even faster.
It should be mentioned here that my Mother kept all our letters to her from the time we left Brisbane in the 50’s, through the 60’s and into the 70’s and even the early 80’s. From this valuable collection I have been able to record detail that almost certainly could not have been provided without them. A bonus for Marcia and me in going over these letters was the delightful surprise that there were a number of letters from Graham, Ainsley (aka Elisabeth) and Robyn amongst them. On reading them we appreciate how much pleasure these would have given Mother C. at the time.
Our parents decided that they should visit Sydney and combine it with a farewell to us as we were going away. A few days before our departure date Marcia and the children flew up to Sydney and stayed at the Hotel Metropole. Unfortunately I had to work right up to the day before our departure from Sydney so I flew up after work in time to join in a family farewell dinner. Next morning when we were just about due to go to the nearby terminal of Qantas, one of our children was missing. Great panic ensued with much rushing around trying with limited resources to cover all the twisting corridors of a large hotel. However one of us finally found the missing child who had taken the opportunity to visit the gift shop but had got lost in the labyrinth trying to return to our room. We whizzed around to Qantas where we found the airport bus for our aircraft had left. With very commendable speed Qantas hired two cars and we were sped to the airport at or above the speed limits, making it in time to hear a boarding call for the flight. There were the inevitable forms to be completed before we could leave, and with the final boarding call ringing in our ears we just made the flight. In the years to come we would have other close shaves but this one was memorable. Our farewells with our folk were somewhat rushed but did not mar our appreciation of their presence and the warmth of their farewell.
The aircraft was a Boeing 707 that was in those days the most up to date transport, pre-dating the Jumbo. No record seems to have been kept of the stops we made on the flight or how well we withstood the rigours of the flight that was much slower than it would be today. Marcia recalls that we landed in Darwin and Colombo before reaching Rome. We did have to go to Rome before Turkey, as the Headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) was situated there and new appointees had to attend briefing sessions. Hence I learned about the responsibilities of being in a foreign country, of being under the United Nations umbrella with some Diplomatic privileges, how the finances were worked and of the dire need to make reports to Head Office. For this purpose a portable typewriter was issued forthwith and carried the proviso that we practically had to guard it with our life.
We were put up in a pensione in the via Cavour and I made my way to the FAO headquarters which was near the ancient hippodrome, in the via Della Terme di Caracalla. The atmosphere of this part of Rome was something to savour. Roman remains lined the route to FAO and the Colosseum in all of its glory was nearby.
Marcia and the children spent time walking around the many streets in the vicinity of via Cavour about which I cannot report. M. says there was a favourite Ristorante where the waiter took a shine to the family and presented M. with a dish, which only recently she passed on to one of them. We took a Pan Am flight to Turkey and at Yesilkoy airport we were met by Stableforth himself in the Fairlane station wagon that I later came to know so well as it was our transport daily to work. We drove from the airport all the way to Pendik, taking in the walled city of Istanbul and the vehicular ferry over the renowned Bosphorus with its long history. Mosques thrust their minarets into the sky, higher than all other buildings. In fact we learned that no building was permitted to be higher than the mosques. We pulled up at the Dr. Erdun’s Tesisleri right on the water, with its own beach (plage). A bunch of Caucasians later straggled up and were introduced. It appeared that these were some of the other workers at the lab, who had been forced to walk to the motel from the lab to get their lift in the Fairlane back to Bebek. It was not a good introduction to them as they were put out by the use of the car for the so and so Australian family when they wanted to get home.
We needed to decide whether to live somewhere near Pendik and the lab, or to live as some others did near Istanbul in a suburb known as Bebek. The advantages of living in Bebek included proximity to the Robert College, an American school to which the children would go, so the decision was straightforward. With some help from members of the staff in viewing flats, we finally settled on a large ground floor unit that happened to be next door to Stableforth’s unit. He and his wife also had a home somewhere near Pendik.
After finding an unfurnished flat the next step was to get beds and chairs and a table, refrigerator and some appliances. There were other “expatriates” known to Project staff who were able to advise and in some cases to sell equipment as they were leaving. Quite soon we had most of the essentials for living. Turkish striped sheets were used as curtains, the iron beds were made to size, so in our room we had one single 6-foot bed and the other was 7 feet long.
Settling in was harder for Marc. and the children than for me. Each morning I showered and dressed, breakfasted and was picked up by another Project member for the drive down to the ferry. All this was carried out without the need for speaking Turkish, although it was our intention to learn some of the language. The fares were paid with a coin or a token. We were able to relax for the journey across the Bosphorus and to the appropriate ferry stop at Kadikoy. The ferries were well built and well maintained and some were carried vehicles as well as passengers. One could have a drink of tea (chai) or dilute yoghurt called ayran. Long after we left Turkey a bridge was built over the Bosphorus somewhere near the Rumeli Hissar.
Most of the people one sees are men. Women tend to remain in the homes more, although young women often worked in the business part of the city, and they usually dressed in western clothes. In the suburbs or the countryside, the women work in fields while the men discuss “matters of state” grouped together in the tearooms.
Many ferries ply their trade on the Bosphorus and there is a constant cacophony from the blowing of ship’s horns. The old city of Istanbul is very picturesque as seen from the distance of the waterway. It is constantly fascinating presenting differently in different lights. Further from the city, the newer areas that can be seen on the banks are nearly all medium- rise apartments. There is no land to speak of that is not built upon and parks are very rare. To the westerner there is a definite ambience of the East aroma included. Wile building and houses and other structures may be modelled on western ones, these do not appear totally western. You know you are not in a western city.
At this stage in later 1966, the work is going very well. I have isolated many strains of what appear to be several different mycoplasmas from diseased sheep and goats selected by Bill Watson the English Veterinarian with whom I work. We look forward to identifying these organisms and testing their pathogenicity. Bill is very competent and we work with two Turkish veterinarians whom we are committed to train in research methods. They are Fahri Arisoy and Oguz Erdag, and we find them very cooperative.
So far, when moving amongst the people, we have come to appreciate their good qualities. There is no overt friendliness neither is there any hostility. (An occasional older fellow witll spit in front of us as he approaches and it is hard to tell whether this is a natural need or a gesture of distaste for the westerner). Another possibility is that the common habit of chewing betel nut was responsible as it is said to encourage excess salivation. The faces of passers by usually are impassive. Shopkeepers can be very helpful. They almost always offer tea before settling in for a session of negotiating. If one is leaving and is uncertain where the next stop is, a boy will often be allocated to walk us to that shop. Incidentally the tea is always black, as milk is not generally available. Goat’s milk is more readily available than that from cows, but now some of this has changed with the advent of more tourists. Marcia shops at Taxim or Bebek and seems to get on with a minimum of the language and a lot of pointing. It would be difficult to write a thumbnail sketch of Turkey, or of Istanbul or of the culture. We are able to observe, but cannot communicate adequately nor read the papers so we do not know what Turks are thinking. There is a small paper in English and of course some citizens as well as expatriates can speak English and do pass on quite a bit about the culture.