Lewis's speech at a primary school
Created by Anne 4 years agoI have with me today a class photo taken in 1940 at Windsor State School (the former Name of Stonnington Primary School), the school I went to 70 years ago. This was during World War II.
There is a saying that every picture tells a story and this one certainly does. It is a photo of grade 3.
Firstly, look at the number of students. There are 45 kids in the photo. I am not sure of the size of your classes but I would assume that they would be less than half this size. Also note that there are no Asian children there. The reason for this is because Australia had a white Australia policy so that no Asians could migrate to Australia. This policy was not changed for another 30 years when this racist policy was abolished.
Also look at the names of the students. There were no European or foreign names but only English names such as Billy Holdings Kevin Brown and Alec Thompson. Australia was then almost completely of a single Anglo culture and people still spoke about mother England.
Then look at the clothes the children wore. They were all dressed in their Sunday best with most of the boys wearing ties. There was no school uniform and the students had been told to wear their best clothes for the photo shoot. There were no school sun hats, or use of sunscreens since the danger of the sun to health was not known.
And now look at the 8-year-old boy in the front row, fourth from the left. He is wearing a sailor suit, which was very European and that is a picture of me, Lewis Lustig.
My family had arrived in Australia as refugees from Nazi Germany only two years earlier. My father had been sent to the notorious concentration camp, but was fortunately released. So my family came to Australia to be as far away as possible from there. There were a number of other Jewish children at the school who had arrived in similar circumstances.
I stayed at the school for over 2 years till my family moved to Malvern, and I then attended Malvern Central School, later Melbourne High School and Melbourne University. There I studied to become a dentist, a profession that I practiced for 45 years.
Malvern Central is now the name of a well-known shopping centre.
Some of my fellow students from Hornby Street later became well-known doctors, lawyers and leaders of industry.
The lesson from that is that there is no limit to what any of you may achieve in life. At that time there were no computers, no tv, no mobile phones, blackberrys, etc. Most families did not own cars, so all the children walked to school.
Some of our favourite activities at school were marbles and chess. There was a peppercorn tree in the schoolyard and many of the kids made their own peashooters from cylinders like an enlarged straw and fired peppercorns at one another. Footballs were difficult to obtain due to the fact that rubber was needed for the war effort. However we made our own footballs by tying together small bundles of newspapers tightly wound together with string.
Upon our first Christmas in Australia all children were invited to the Prahran Town Hall to each receive a present from Father Christmas. I still remember the small cricket bat I received, and my parents thought what a wonderful country we had come to, although they had no idea what cricket was all about.
Air raid shelters were later due out in all the schoolyards when Japan entered the war, to protect us from bombing by enemy aircraft. There were all kinds of shortages, tea, coffee, sugar and butter were rationed and ration cards were required to obtain them.
Every Monday morning the whole school assembled in the schoolyard, the flags of the Union Jack and Australia were raised and we saluted the flag, as we sang God Save The King. We were very much a British colony. When Britain declared war on Germany in 1939 dutifully Australia followed.
Most homes burned wood in fireplaces and chimneys as their sole method of heating. We did not have electric washing machines or clothes dryers. Washing was done in a large copper tub in the laundry. There were no ballpoint pens and when on was old enough one could use ink from inkwells on the desk. This replaced pencils, slate board and chalk.
I still feel blessed that our parents came to Australia. It was a wonderful country then and it still is.
There is a saying that every picture tells a story and this one certainly does. It is a photo of grade 3.
Firstly, look at the number of students. There are 45 kids in the photo. I am not sure of the size of your classes but I would assume that they would be less than half this size. Also note that there are no Asian children there. The reason for this is because Australia had a white Australia policy so that no Asians could migrate to Australia. This policy was not changed for another 30 years when this racist policy was abolished.
Also look at the names of the students. There were no European or foreign names but only English names such as Billy Holdings Kevin Brown and Alec Thompson. Australia was then almost completely of a single Anglo culture and people still spoke about mother England.
Then look at the clothes the children wore. They were all dressed in their Sunday best with most of the boys wearing ties. There was no school uniform and the students had been told to wear their best clothes for the photo shoot. There were no school sun hats, or use of sunscreens since the danger of the sun to health was not known.
And now look at the 8-year-old boy in the front row, fourth from the left. He is wearing a sailor suit, which was very European and that is a picture of me, Lewis Lustig.
My family had arrived in Australia as refugees from Nazi Germany only two years earlier. My father had been sent to the notorious concentration camp, but was fortunately released. So my family came to Australia to be as far away as possible from there. There were a number of other Jewish children at the school who had arrived in similar circumstances.
I stayed at the school for over 2 years till my family moved to Malvern, and I then attended Malvern Central School, later Melbourne High School and Melbourne University. There I studied to become a dentist, a profession that I practiced for 45 years.
Malvern Central is now the name of a well-known shopping centre.
Some of my fellow students from Hornby Street later became well-known doctors, lawyers and leaders of industry.
The lesson from that is that there is no limit to what any of you may achieve in life. At that time there were no computers, no tv, no mobile phones, blackberrys, etc. Most families did not own cars, so all the children walked to school.
Some of our favourite activities at school were marbles and chess. There was a peppercorn tree in the schoolyard and many of the kids made their own peashooters from cylinders like an enlarged straw and fired peppercorns at one another. Footballs were difficult to obtain due to the fact that rubber was needed for the war effort. However we made our own footballs by tying together small bundles of newspapers tightly wound together with string.
Upon our first Christmas in Australia all children were invited to the Prahran Town Hall to each receive a present from Father Christmas. I still remember the small cricket bat I received, and my parents thought what a wonderful country we had come to, although they had no idea what cricket was all about.
Air raid shelters were later due out in all the schoolyards when Japan entered the war, to protect us from bombing by enemy aircraft. There were all kinds of shortages, tea, coffee, sugar and butter were rationed and ration cards were required to obtain them.
Every Monday morning the whole school assembled in the schoolyard, the flags of the Union Jack and Australia were raised and we saluted the flag, as we sang God Save The King. We were very much a British colony. When Britain declared war on Germany in 1939 dutifully Australia followed.
Most homes burned wood in fireplaces and chimneys as their sole method of heating. We did not have electric washing machines or clothes dryers. Washing was done in a large copper tub in the laundry. There were no ballpoint pens and when on was old enough one could use ink from inkwells on the desk. This replaced pencils, slate board and chalk.
I still feel blessed that our parents came to Australia. It was a wonderful country then and it still is.
Pictures
Lewis School 1940