My father's brother departed for Sydney on the "BORDA" on 12th Jan 1928. He was one of five children and he was the oldest, so he was sent to Australia for "a better life". I am 74, and I am not sure if my memory plays me a trick, but I think I can vaguely remember the advert. It appeared on cinema screens between pictures, and might have been entitled "A Better Life", and encouraged parents to send their children there. Times were hard - but this wasn't the real reason the government wanted kids sent out there.
Australia was under-populated and weak. The UK wanted to build up the country to make it safer from any conflict that arose from an outside source. That was why they were encouraging
families, as well as kids, to go.
Can you imagine the heartbreak of a boy of 17, standing on a ship waving his family goodbye, knowing that he would probably never see them again? He had been brought up in a small place called Sandford, near Strathaven. According to my father, it was a wonderful place to grow up, with great countryside, and lots of places for boys to explore....
He never married and died alone in a Sydney hotel.
