Ellie Duiker (Interviewee)

Letter from her son, John Duiker, after the interview and release of the film.

I am writing to express my experience of watching Simon Reich interview my mother regarding her memories of the migrant camp at Bonegilla in the 1950s. Initially it was quite a nerve-wracking experience for her. The whole process of recalling her past and the events that led to her family’s move from the Netherlands (which were fairly traumatic), and then the actual interview with cameras, lights and questions, could have been rather daunting for her. But through Simon’s compassionate, sensitive and relaxed approach , he was able to gently coax the information from my Mother and basically leave her in a ‘good place’ at the conclusion of the interview.

I believe this whole project to be an important one in documenting the experience of immigrants on their journey to Australia; particularly as it relates to the Bonegilla camp. It is important that this information is gathered now as many of the people that were at that camp are now elderly and the window for getting the info is closing.

Yours sincerely,

John Duiker

Paul Crowe (Interviewee)

Letter from his son, Peter Crowe, once the interview and film were released.

I was impressed by many things. He was actually on time which is always a good early indicator of a professional approach He was very organised. He had a lot of very high quality gear such as light boxes, microphone boom, an expensive microphone, video and digital camera and sound monitors.

He had a very gentle, supportive and sensitive approach towards interviewees in which he coached them to include each question in the response so that they and their story became the focus-not the interviewer,

He is very passionate about this project to pay homage to those thousands of of immigrants who had the courage to emigrate to Australia form war torn Europe and begin a new life for themselves and their children at Bonegilla as well as the many workers who ran the camp such as my father (school teacher), my mother (teacher as well) and my aunt (nurse for one year at the hospital)

Sadly. Many people who lived in Bonegilla have either passed away, are very unwell or have memory problems. So to capture the memories of those that can still share them is urgent before we lose the ability to capture the recollections of those who can still their story.

I urge you to please help support the funding this project.

Regards,

Peter Crowe

Nancy Darmanin (Interviewee)

Message from Diane Marie, her daughter, when podcast was released.

Such an amazing world you have created. Just listening to your podcast now. Mum is so overwhelmed with what you are doing . She continues to say thank you.

Diane Marie