Boat 8 "Rangatata

Our most recent boat person is Randall's mother Rita who took a window of opportunity in 1945 to catch a recently liberated Australian POW when he arrived in London at the end of WWII. By this stage boat people processes were a little more sophisticated than they were in convict days, although the Australian officials in England must have had their hands full in finding ships for the many other women who teamed up with Australian soldiers for an opportunity to escape war torn Europe. In any case Rita sailed away on her NZ shipping company ship “Rangatata” in 1945 and found her asylum down under. Rita came from London as did most of her family before her. Whilst we will not be returning to London on this trip, we will spend some time in Hertfordshire where she served with the Land Army during WWII. We might even catch up with Rita's niece who now lives in near Cambridge, not too far from Hertfordshire.