“PEOPLE have no idea just how rough Africa is now,” says Terry O’Halloran, who brought his then much-smaller family to Collie four and a half years ago.
Terry fought for his life in his homeland and took a long time to relax in his peaceful new country, he said.
He and wife Johste (known as Jos) and their two oldest children – Justin, 10, and Tamrin, 8 – took the oath of allegiance in front of several hundred people at Collie’s Australia Day celebrations in the town square last Thursday.
Their three youngest children, three-year-old son Keegan and two-year-old twins Martin and Caylin were born here so already were little Australians.
The couple hailed from Pretoria, formerly the South African capital, but said life had become too dangerous there, as it was all over the country.
Terry and Jos emigrated to Australia because of its lower crime rate and the greater opportunities it offered them and their children.
They had been through many hairy experiences including an attempted car hijacking, an intruder in their house and an attempted bank robbery. These were the most visible symptoms of an overwhelming malaise in their homeland.
Most of Africa, from the equator south, was a perilous place, Terry said. “I don’t know what it is like in North Africa. Botswana is all right and so is Namibia but you wouldn’t want to live in most places.”
Terry was managing a bank when confronted by an attempted hold-up. “One would-be robber came inside and there were three outside,” he said.
“There was a scuffle and I put him in hospital for four and a half months and then I was charged.
“Two shots were fired at me at point-blank range, fortunately they missed, and I was hurt.”
The robber’s three accomplices fled when Terry fought back and he found it hugely unjust that he was charged for defending the bank.
Another shattering experience was the home invasion about a year before the family moved to Western Australia.
“A guy climbed over the electric fence and we found him inside talking to young Tamrin,” Terry said.
Terry is a professional forester and had worked in forestry for 10 years. “But I am learning to be a train driver now”, he said.
“I have been with the railways for a year.
He got to Australia on a skilled visa because of his forestry qualifications, and had permanent residence before arriving.
He began work here in the forestry sector but the worldwide carbon trading scheme collapse encouraged him to change career.
After the constant watchfulness necessary to survive in South Africa, “it took me six months to relax in the bush,” he said.
“I would go out in the bush and work with the others, but when it came time for a lunch break I would sit in the car with the airconditioner going.”
Avoiding attack was just a way of life over there.
Jos and Terry said it also took them a long time to stop looking over their shoulders at traffic lights and driving with all the car windows and doors locked to avoid hijacking.
The O’Halloran family’s ancestors have been settled in South Africa for many years. Terry’s people moved from Ireland 100 years ago and Jos’ ancestors moved from England 200 years ago.
But many have since fled to Australia. Terry’s sister, Heather Grobbelaar, and her husband Willie preceded them and encouraged them to move.
Terry and Jos investigated and were attracted by the stability and the impressive education system.
“My sister said Collie was a lovely place and the more I saw the more I liked it.”
The family arrived on a Sunday and the following day Justin started in the Amaroo pre-primary class. Terry had enrolled his eldest child by phone when the family was still in South Africa.
The O’Hallorans spent their first week in Collie in a caravan in the Grobelaars’ Coverley Street backyard, then moved into a rented house in Steere Street.
They bought their McCamish Crescent home, facing bushland with a small playground just over the back fence, about 18 months ago.
More family members have also emigrated to Australia. Terry’s parents, Vincent and Vera, arrived in Collie a month after them but beat them to Australian citizenship, taking their oaths of allegiance in December.
Jos said she and Terry wanted to do it on Australia Day because they so loved their new country and they wanted to do it in Collie not Bunbury.
So the shire council said their ceremony could be part of the Australia Day celebrations, as they are in so many places all over Australia.
Jos has siblings in Melbourne and the Gold Coast. Now her children are growing up a little, she is hoping to get across the Nullarbor to see them.
But she has been too involved in pregnancy and “little people” to travel so far.
Three-year-old Keegan was born in the Collie Hospital but the two-year-old twins Martin and Caylin had to be delivered by caesarian section, so were born in Bunbury. But they were brought to Collie after two days.
All of the children are being educated in Collie. The two eldest are at Amaroo Primary School and the littlies are at Collie Day Care and Jenny’s Day Care.
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