South Yorkshire Times, February 17, 1951
Conisbrough – Kirkby Couple
Set Sail for Australia
When Mr. George Albert Blanchard, of 10, Barnsley Avenue, Conisbrough, lands in Australia to take up employment as an electrical filter under a three-years contract with the Australian Government, he will not be breaking new ground, for he visited his new country during the war as an Able Seaman in the Royal Navy.
But there will be a difference. Accompanying him this time will be his wife and their three-year-old daughter, Lynne. The three of them left Conisbrough station yesterday on the first stage of their 5,000 miles journey.
Mrs. Blanchard told a “South Yorkshire Times” reporter on Wednesday that although her husband’s contract was for three years they were hoping to stay “Down Under” permanently.
She and her husband have been married four years, but they have not had a house of their own. They have lived with relatives, including Mr. Blanchard’s parents at Camp Road, South Kirkby, and for the last two years with Mrs. Blanchard’s mother, Mrs. Edna Mead, in Conanby.
“We have had our names down for a house at Conisbrough,” Mrs. Blanchard explained. “In Australia we are to get a furnished bungalow, but we shall try to buy our own house after we get settled in the country.”
Mr. Blanchard, who is 26, has been employed by Firth Brown Tools, Ltd., of Sheffield. Mrs. Blanchard is 26 also. The first stage of their journey took them to London, where they joined a special boat train for Southampton. They are sailing on the s.s. New Australia for Bathurst, New South Wales, and Mr. Blanchard hopes to start work in his new job as soon as possible after his arrival on March 19th.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Blanchard are keen readers of the “South Yorkshire Times” and one of their final requests was that the paper should be sent out to them every week.
Daughter Lynne would not believe that she was going to Australia, and told her grandmother yesterday that she would be “back to-night.”
The family hope to have a holiday in England in five years’ time.