journal week 5

Maria Elvira Blanco was born in Madrid, Spain on the 22nd of September 1958, to a Schoolteacher father and a stay-at-home mother, now with 4 children all under school age. Maria was the baby of the family with an older sister Maria Violetta and two rowdy brothers Manuel and Fernando (Fenny).

Life in Spain was very expensive especially in Madrid, even though her father earned a modest wage as a teacher, Raquel wanted more for her four children and someone they knew suggested to migrate to Australia.

Raquel finally persuaded her husband that they would have a happier and easier way of life in Australian and he would be able to get maybe a promotion in his field and if he were so unhappy they would all return back home together.

The paper work was sent off, photo’s taken and they had to wait for notification. In Spain the family lived in a two roomed home but could not afford a bigger house. Maria had darkish olive skin and very light blue eyes; her mother would whisper that, she had gypsy blood in the family way back. Which is a true story.

Word had arrived and the family packed to go to their new home.

The Blanco family arrived in Sydney N.S.W when Maria was three years old, this would have been in the early 1960’s and according to the class handout survey many families with a skilled profession were arriving from many countries other than England. So the totally white migration act was starting to be relaxed and more cultures were arriving and even Asian migrants were coming.

Maria Elvira and Fernando stayed at home but the two elder children started school at Crows Nest primary school. Life was busy but none of them including the father was able to speak the language so the father had to go to school to re-do his education in English but until then – which could be a few years- he accepted a factory job as part of the migration deal was to be employed.

Life started to improve with the older children learning to read and write English and teaching everyone at home. Raquel met a few people from the Spanish club in Sydney’s CBD and everything seemed to be going smoothly until one after noon the father came home and said they were all going back to Spain because he felt like a failure in this country working in a hot factory whereas in their country he would be a teacher, and have respect. The older children enjoyed school and had friends and Raquel could feel Australian had more to offer her family than going backwards.

So they agreed they wanted to stay so without any more notice the father left his job, education and family and flew back to Madrid. He promised to send some money for the family to live on.

Money arrived but apparently it stopped when he started drinking. So with not much money –probably some Government payment- the family moved to a small terrace house in Newtown, which is closer to the city and her friends at the Spanish club.

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Raquel was a great cook and started cooking a few meals here and there for her friends from the Spanish Club who were mostly musicians and would visit her and eat late at night.

By now Maria was almost old enough for school and Raquel had trouble learning English as she spoke Spanish at home and with her new friends and she even shopped at Spanish grocery shops. Because of the husband’s alcohol problem he was only able to do tutoring at home which was a one-room bungalow, Raquel started to send him money hoping he would return to his family as they all missed him very much. He led them to believe he was saving to return and it wouldn’t be long. After many months of struggling to survive Raquel realized he was not returning, the money he was telling her he was saving for his fare back and to help her - the lot it was non- existent - she knew she was on her own she had to support her family keep the children at school and some how with still no English skills find work Raquel thought of going back to Spain but with air-fares and then resettlement it was out of the question even though she had her sisters and family back there.

That’s it the rent was due, many bills and food but Raquel had no money, the family had to leave there home in Newtown, and once again a new school for the kids and having to make new friends. The eldest boy was getting into a lot of trouble from the Police for stealing as he pined for his father and tried to help his mother.

Then Raquel got the luck she knew she would get by coming to Australia “ the land of opportunity” some-one offered her a place to live fairly cheaply but it was an old shop down stairs and upstairs a small one bedroom flat. They took it. Some friends from the Spanish community help paint it and put in a small temporary kitchen. The children came home from school and washed floors, windows, cleaned up the flat and then it was time to open the doors and see what happens? The Restaurant was situated on William Street at Darlinghurst near Kings X there was quite a lot of passing trade.

With no money for food for the customers Raquel would get the older kids to take the orders and put little Maria out the kitchen window into the back lane which was where the prostitutes and tranny’s started work about 9pm, so Maria would take a list of the ingredience needed for each dish and run down the back lane to the Spanish grocery store as fast as she could and then run back with the bags and the workers in the lane would look out for her and help her back into the kitchen window where Raquel was cooking away. This would go on until there was enough food for the menu. The working girls would order food out the back window and the older school children added up the bills and charged the customers and tidied up. If there was only a couple of customers then the children only got left over bread to eat.

After awhile people where starting to return and the grocer started to make deliveries and the children were enrolled in private Catholic schools close by. The bills were being paid and after the tables were cleared and the customers gone the large table in the Restaurant was set and the children ate their main meal of the day. Some days Maria said she felt faint from no food and too many late nights. But the family stayed together and worked together. The shop was known as a family Restaurant and many people brought their own kids and didn’t mind the children serving them, as the food was very traditional Spanish dishes. page 2.
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Raquel went on to own “Casa Raquel’s” at Surrey Hills, “Raquel’s” near Taylor’s Square and to this day “RAQUEL’S TAVERN” on Oxford Street at Darlinghurst Sydney. I have worked at all the Restaurant’s and gone to the Flemington markets and the fish markets at Ultimo with Maria many, many times to pick up stock at 5am.
All the children had private educations and Maria Violetta’s best friend is Kerri-Anne Kennerley. Big Maria was working as a private secretary at Westfield’s and Associates (Lawyers) who overlook all the Westfield shopping centers. She married one of the partner’s- lawyer Michael Page and they live in Michael’s family’s home at Rose Bay on the harbour.

The reason both the girls’ first names were Maria was by a law, introduced by Franco that all girls born in Spain would have a Catholic name. So each family took one name Catherine, Therese and the Blanco family took Maria but when the girls started school in Australia the first name given is whom they are known as. So it was always big Maria and little Maria.

Maria visited her father a couple of times in Madrid but felt sad for him as he has missed out on his family and the changes a new country may have brought him. Instead he chose to return to his country mainly because of the shock of change, which I have heard before about some migrant men, he wanted respect from his family and friends and didn’t like the idea the kids were becoming smarter than him. He felt without the knowledge of language he couldn’t fit in, yet he didn’t feel comfortable speaking another language. He really didn’t want to speak English.

Today Maria and Fenny do most of the cooking and manage the Restaurant and Fenny has 5 children and they all help out after school. Raquel is near 70 now and still goes into the Restaurant most nights to say hi to her second family – her customers. People come from everywhere to book a table at Rachel’s there is photos all over the windows and walls from visitors and the great attraction besides the company and food is the entertainment. When the Spanish Club closes about 11pm the musician’s often call by for a song and a drink, birthdays are celebrated with Spanish dancing and many wines. Maria bought a house at Bondi about 10 years ago and has slowly renovated it. Raquel never remarried and lives with Maria Elvira my best buddy whom I have known since she was 19 yo. I spent many Xmas’s with the family having lunch at the Restaurant. I used to do the salads, garlic or herb bread and the sweets menu. I worked hard but so did everyone and when the crowds started to leave the table is set and the staff and family all sat down to a shared meal and a chat over a glass of wine or two.

What a great story of survival from a family that arrived in Australia with no money, no friends and no language skills but with a desire for change and to succeed. I miss them all very much but meet up at the Restaurant whenever I get to visit Sydney.


CHRIS HICKS
WOMEN’S STUDIES
JOURNAL WK 5.
27-8-2007