I was 12 when my parents told me we were moving to Australia.
asserted
we → tell → Australia
It felt like a dream finally coming true.
asserted
It → feel → dream
My mother’s brother had migrated under the assisted passage scheme in the early 1960s; her mother and sister followed.
asserted
mother → migrate → 1960s
Melbourne was all I heard about as a child: the wide spaces, the opportunities, the family reunions without us.
asserted
I → hear → us
As a preschooler, I begged to be enrolled in English classes before I could even read or write.
uncertain
I → beg → classes
But arriving here at 12 was not the seamless beginning I had imagined.
asserted
I → arrive → 12
I had even carried the flag and led my school in the 28 October Ohi Day parade – the first girl ever chosen.
asserted
I → carry → girl
There, I knew who I was.
asserted
I → know → ?
My new school had no uniform, the subjects were different, there were no grades and students called teachers by their first names.
asserted
students → have → names
My textbook English was worlds away from the way Aussie teenagers spoke.
asserted
teenagers → speak → way
I stood out in my stiff, formal clothes while my classmates wore trackies and runners.
asserted
classmates → stand → trackies
I had come to the country of my dreams, only to find myself a stranger in it.
asserted
myself → come → it
Even Greek school, where I thought I would belong, was complicated.
asserted
I → think → ?
My Greek was far better than that of my Australian-born classmates, and they called me a “tape recorder” – not out of cruelty, but because I sounded like the homeland they had never known.
asserted
they → bear → homeland
School, once my greatest joy, became something I dreaded.
asserted
I → become → ?
Dog-paddling in the Aegean had not prepared me for an Australian swimming carnival.
asserted
paddling → prepare → carnival
Nor had a childhood under the Greek sun prepared me for “Slip, Slop, Slap”
asserted
childhood → prepare → me
After one painful sunburn, my aunt covered me in yoghurt and cucumber slices.
asserted
aunt → cover → yoghurt
From then on, being sun-smart became part of my Australian education.
asserted
being → become → education
We were learning that identity could be negotiated in small, everyday choices.
uncertain
identity → learn → choices
So did Special English classes in a portable building beside the school oval.
asserted
classes → do → oval
I asked to join them even though my teacher protested, “But you’re an A student!”
asserted
you → ask → them
There I met other newcomers: sisters from Sicily whose home had been destroyed by an earthquake, and a Vietnamese refugee named Thao.
asserted
home → meet → earthquake
She and I ate lunch under a tree.
asserted
She → eat → tree
We had few shared words, yet somehow we communicated.
asserted
we → have → words
Her family had fled war and endured a refugee camp before finding safety in Australia.
asserted
family → flee → Australia
Hearing her story placed my own difficulties in perspective.
asserted
Hearing → hear → perspective
At home, my brothers and I gradually began speaking English to one another.
asserted
brothers → begin → one
We anglicised our names.
asserted
We → anglicise → names
I went from Polyxeni to Jenny – a name that was familiar, easy to pronounce and, to my 12-year-old self, unmistakably Australian.
asserted
that → go → self
We were learning that identity could be negotiated in small, everyday choices: the language spoken with friends, the clothes worn to school, the name answered to in the playground.
uncertain
name → learn → playground
My parents worked relentlessly.
asserted
parents → work → ?
My father painted houses, worked in a bakery and a chemist, cooked dinner, then left for a night shift at an aluminium factory.
asserted
father → paint → factory
My mother worked as a machinist, sold cookware, catered at events and cared for four children and her elderly mother.
asserted
mother → work → children
Their lives in Australia bore little resemblance to the lives they had left behind, but they accepted every sacrifice as an investment in their children’s future.
asserted
they → bear → future
Slowly, Australia entered our home.
asserted
Australia → enter → home
We watched A Country Practice, Neighbours and Hey Hey It’s Saturday.
asserted
It → watch → Practice
We cheered for Australia at the Commonwealth Games, barracked for the Bombers, and spent summers absorbed in cricket.
asserted
We → cheer → cricket
Greek radio still filled the kitchen, while SBS brought Greek films into the lounge room.
asserted
SBS → fill → room
We were not replacing one life with another.
asserted
We → replace → another
…and 18 more, not listed.
The Aporia
