Walter Edward Diacono's Oral History

Walter: I was born Port Said, Egypt, on July 22 1916. And Dad and Mum had migrated to Egypt. It was Dad who first went with his family to Port Said. And they had settled in Port Said for quite a number of years before Dad went to Malta and met Mum and got married in Gozo. It must have been quite a large reception at the wedding, judging from the photograph Dad had taken with Mum at the wedding. I went to school - it was French school run by the christian brothers of De La Salle in Port Said. I was there until the 4th or 5th class. When I was 14, Dad decided I should learn proper English and he sent me with my other 3 brothers to Malta to an English school which was Flores College in Valetta. I was at that school until matriculation but unfortunately in my last exam and quite surprisingly I failed in the Italian test. And although I had to repeat it, Dad decided I had learned sufficient English and decided that I should return to Port Said and should start working as [undeciperable]. Due to the recession things weren't very good with Dad at his work. In 1932 it was, no, 1934. My first job was an office boy with a car dealer. From there I moved to a French shipping company called Worms & Co. who were agents for a number of French shipping companies and Dutch as well as British and the Japanese line NYK. I was a junior in the passage department of that company. After three years there I moved to another shipping company, this time it was a British shipping company called the British Coaling Depots who were agents for a number of British companies, namely Frank C Strick and the British Tanker Company which traded between Britain and Iraq and Iran transporting oil back to Europe.
Phil: By then it would have been about 1937?
Walter: 1939. I was there at the BCD until war broke out and then as shipping, mostly tankers, weren’t clearing through the Suez Canal on account of the German and Italian submarine threat, business was very slack.
Phil: So there wasn’t much business because of the submarines
Walter: Yes, and also the Frank Strick Line ceased going to the Suez Canal on account of the war, they had to go around the Cape to get to Britain. The manager of the British Coaling Depot who was friendly with some British naval officers suggested that I move from his office to the Navy house where the sea transport service was located. And so I was civilian staff with the Sea Transport Service in Port Said and later on in Alexandria before I was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant in the Sea Transport Service of the British Navy. Going back to my young days, my recollection of my paternal grandparents is fairly vague because they died when I was very young. I remember once I went walking with my grandfather and although he spoke to me in Italian, I could not understand what he was saying, and he said to me “Can’t you understand what I’m talking about?” and I said “No, grand-dad”.
Phil: You knew enough Italian to understand that?
Walter: Yes. I also have a faint recollection of my maternal grandmother who was named Virginia and after whom my sister Gina was named. Grandfather’s name was Paul. That’s why one of my nephews is called after him. When I was at school in Malta, I lived with, first of all, my 3 brothers and myself – we had a house in Valetta
Phil: Which 3 brothers?
Walter: Wilfred, Edmund and Vincent. The house wasn’t very far from the school and we used to walk to the school. I was with them for a year before we returned to Port Said for our holidays. At that time, it must have been 1929, there was a big
Phil: You were only 13?
Walter: Yes, there was a big worldwide recession. And so my 3 brothers remained in Egypt and I went back to school on my own
Phil: Were they all older brothers?
Walter: Yes, I was the youngest.
Phil: We’ve briefly touched on your life up until when you joined the Navy and the sea transport service. Were you in the Navy for the duration of the war?
Walter: Yes. 1942? Until the very end of the war.
Phil: And where did you see service?
Walter: For a year I was in Egypt, in Alexandria, and then at that time, in 1943, they were preparing for the invasion of Italy, particularly Sicily, and I put in a request to be transferred to an operational zone because of my knowledge of Italian where I could be more useful than checking the accounts for the Sea Transport Service in Alexandria. My request was passed on to the commodore of the unit, he informed the commanding officer that my request to move to an operational zone had been refused and I had been appointed as secretary to Captain Bullock who was taking a divisional sea transport appointment in India (chuckles).
Phil: So did you move to India then?
Walter: Yes, I was quite disappointed not being able to go to Sicily but I couldn’t do much about it. And so I had to move to ... well, I said “OK, when do I go to Bombay, to India?” and they said “You’ll get your orders shortly”. And so, a couple of weeks later I got my orders to proceed to Suez when I embarked on a troop ship and sailed to Bombay. I also had to carry Capt Bullock’s heavy baggage which consisted of a very heavy trunk plus my own baggage. The journey was uneventful, on this troop ship. When we arrived in Bombay, we laid outside the harbour for a couple of days waiting for room for the ship to disembark and eventually I heard on the tannoy (that is the loudspeakers) that I had to report to the purser’s desk where I found a young officer who said “Capt Bullock wants you to disembark right away with all his gear and proceed ashore” and that’s where I met Capt Bullock eventually
Phil: You’d never met him?
Walter: No, not before, I knew of him, but I’d never met him. He was a Royal Navy Reserve officer who had been seconded from the ministry of transport to the sea transport office.
Phil: That was about 1943?
Walter: 1943.
Phil: How long did you stay in India?
Walter: We first stayed in Bombay for a couple of days and then we took a train to Delhi, General Headquarters, where we were there for ...
Phil: Not for the British Navy?
Walter: Yes, well, it was the GH for all the India Command
Phil: So even the Navy was there even though it was hundreds of miles from the sea
Walter: Yes, well, we had to be close to the government of India with all their personnel because although we were in the British Sea Transport Service we were attached to the Indian Sea Transport Service and we came under the command of a Royal Indian Navy Commodore who was stationed in Delhi. We were in Delhi, New Delhi for about two months when I contracted malaria and I was sent to hospital. When I recovered the Capt said he was moving to Calcutta and as soon as I got better I had to join him in Calcutta. We were in Calcutta for a about a year, over a year, Calcutta was the advanced base preparing for the invasion of Burma. The Sea Transport Service organised all the transport of raw material and troops to the advanced ports in Burma. One of them was called Cox Bazaar and, what was the name of the other port?
Phil: Rangoon?
Walter: No Rangoon was further south and still occupied by the Japanese. There were two ports, Cox Bazaar was the advanced one and there was another one on the other coast - can’t remember the name of it. We were in Calcutta for about 2 years and then due to an explosion in Bombay in one of the docks, the Capt of the Sea Transport Service in Bombay must have been reprimanded because he was transferred to Calcutta and Capt Bullock was appointed Divisional Sea Transport officer in Bombay and he asked me to stay in Calcutta until the new Captain familiarised himself with the procedures in Calcutta, before I joined Capt Bullock in Bombay. Capt Bullock stayed in Bombay until the surrender of the Japanese in Singapore. By then, we were preparing for the invasion of Burma; we had, oh, about 50 ships being prepared, being loaded with ammunition and troops. I remember going with Capt Bullock to the lighthouse at the entrance of Bombay harbour where he wished the captains, the masters of the ships, proceeding to Singapore, “Bon Voyage, and Good Luck” in their ... this was just a couple of days, more than a couple of days, nearly a week before the Japanese surrendered
Phil: The surrender of Singapore?
Walter: Yes. When Capt Bullock returned to England – the ministry of transport requested him to return to England – another commander took over from Capt Bullock and I was his secretary for about a year, it must have been 1947
Phil: Still in India?
Walter: Still in India, yes.
Phil: In Bombay?
Walter: In Bombay. Until I got my orders for release and I was asked if I wanted to return to Egypt. And I said “no, I didn’t want to go back to Egypt because there was no prospect of employment” so I asked to be released in New Zealand where my commander had a brother and he said “Go to New Zealand and my brother will look after you when you arrive there.” I think his brother lived in the Bay of Plenty in New Zealand.
Phil: What made you think New Zealand, apart from him having a brother there, was there any other reason?
Walter: I didn’t know anyone in Australia at that time
Phil: But why New Zealand or Australia, and not Italy or America
Walter: The reason was I wanted to get as far away from Egypt and I couldn’t be released in another country except a British country like either Australia or New Zealand or Britain, and I didn’t want to go there. Then I heard that some of the family friends were living in Australia, it was Arnold Bonici who was a good friend of my brother Vincent. So I got my orders for my release in New Zealand and I left Bombay on a British India ship called the Chupra and after nearly 3 weeks at sea, we arrived in Sydney and where I landed and I went to a hotel at Kings Cross which was called the Oriental Hotel which was not very far from where my friend Arnold lived. He had a room with a family called Camilleri. I was in a hotel for about 2 weeks when Mrs Camilleri came to see me and she said, “Why are you staying in a hotel? You can live with Arnold, there is sufficient room in the house where he is living for you to stay there”. So I left the hotel and moved to Brougham St and that’s where I met Mum [chuckles].
Phil: So how did you first meet Mum. (Mum is Patricia Maria O’Leary).
Walter: The Camilleri house is number 60 ...
Phil: (68 and a half, Mum reckons)
Walter: and Mum lived in number 62 Brougham St. And when I met her, the day I met her, I was out talking and she said “OK, I’ll see you later” and I said “What time?” [laughs].
Phil: How did you meet Mum, though, was it at the Church or was it through Mrs Camilleri matchmaking?
Walter: It was through Mrs Camilleri because Mum used to be very friendly with Mrs Camilleri and used to visit Mrs Camilleri a lot and that’s how I met Mum, through Mrs Camilleri. When I arrived in Sydney I had to report to the British Naval Attaché and let them know I had decided to stay in Sydney and not proceed to New Zealand as there was quite a waiting time to get transport from Sydney to New Zealand as shipping was very scarce. I was advised by some friends on the way over from India not to go to New Zealand as employment was quite difficult over there. And so, I started looking for employment in Sydney and as my mail was being sent to Thomas Cook in Sydney, one day I asked if there was opportunity of being employed by Thomas Cook and the lady who looked after the mail said “Oh, certainly, I’ll put you in touch with the manager of Thomas Cook”. His name was Sellers and he asked me to put an application for employment which I did. And a few days later he called me and he said “OK, you can start working for us” [laughs].
Phil: What was your first job with Thomas Cook?
Walter: It was as a travel consultant, they said I would be very useful as I could speak several languages and I was first assistant to a consultant and eventually after a few months, I became a full consultant.
Phil: So this would have been 1940 what? When you first arrived in Sydney
Walter: 47 wasn’t it, Pat?
Pat:: 1947 yes, because we were married in 48
Walter: At that time there was a substantial migration from Greece and Italy and migrants used to arrive by chartered aircraft into Sydney and because I could speak Italian fluently and I had a little knowledge of Greek, I was asked to go to the airport and meet all these migrants and arrange their transportation into Sydney and their onward carriage to either Melbourne or Adelaide.
Phil: They’d be fairly well off, if they’d be flying not taking a ship, these migrants?
Walter: These chartered aircraft must have been ex-bombers as they had very limited seating. I think they had bucket seats [chuckle] these poor people when they arrived in Sydney they were very ... their flight must have been quite a number of days before reaching Australia, there must have been quite a number of stops for re-fuelling and catering, if they had catering.
Phil: Where would you stop imbetween Rome or Athens or Sydney
Walter: They would have stopped in Cairo and possibly in Iraq, Baghdad, and New Delhi and Darwin before reaching Sydney.
Phil: So quite a few stops
Walter: They had to stop for refuelling, they would have been mostly DC4s, it would have been DC4s, converted bombers, American or British. I could handle the Italian migrants quite easily even though they spoke different dialects, but with the Greeks it was a bit difficult and I always had the assistance of a Greek person from Sydney who helped me with their onward transportation to the other capital cities in Australia.
Phil: What did you know of Australia before you arrived, did you have any conceptions or misconceptions?
Walter: I had very little knowledge of Australia, although I remember Dad used to say “let’s go to Australia, it’s a good country, we’ll make a fortune in Australia” and Mum would say “oh no, Australia is too far from Malta, no, we won’t go there” but eventually a year after I arrived in Australia, Dad and Edmund and Gina came to Australia.
Phil: This is migrated I suppose?
Walter: I told them it was a good country and Edmund would find employment here quite easily, he was in the Navy as a writer, he went back to Port Said where he was working with the English Coaling Company. But Dad was very happy to be in Australia, even though he was in his late 50s, he decided to work and found employment as a fitter with an Electrical company.
Phil: What was your Dad’s full name?
Walter: Edward Placido, he had a Latin name after Edward, he had 3 names. But he was quite happy working here
Phil: He was a fitter - what does that mean?
Walter: He used to repair electrical goods, mostly little appliances. Dad had quite a good knowledge of mechanics. I remember whenever he used to buy a car in Port Said, a few days afterwards he used to strip it to pieces, strip the engine to pieces and put it back again. And we used to say “do you know what you’re doing” and he used to say “of course, I know what I’m doing, you think I’m a fool?” He used to be quite good at mechanics, really good, I don’t know how he managed to do it, he really was quite good, especially taking all the machinery to pieces and putting it back again. I remember when he was sick in bed he used to ask me “go to the garage and get me one these pieces of machinery and bring that to me”. And I used to say to him “you cannot work while you’re in bed” and he used to say “Don’t tell Mum I’ve got this piece of machinery here. Get me a blanket or a towel and put some newspaper over the towel.” I think it used to be a magneto, because he used to play with it all the time, winding it and seeing if it was working. At one time he had an Austin 7, which ... he dismantled the wheels, carried it through a gate in the garden and started to check the engine and all the various pieces of machinery. And when he put it back together he said to me, “How are we going to put it back on the road?”
Phil: Too big to get through the garden gate?
Walter: So we had to take the wheel off with a couple of friends we had to lift it and put it through the garden gate and back on the road [laughs]. I don’t know how many cars he had. He started with motorbikes. I remember when I was quite young, still in school in Port Said, he imported a BSA with a side car, he said to me “I want you to go and look and keep an eye on this new motor bike which is at the customs in Port Said”, and the Customs were quite a distance from the city. I used to spend a whole day [laughs] keeping an eye on the motorbike even though it was school days, Dad said “don’t worry, about missing school I’ll give you a certificate that you were sick”.
Phil: How old were you then?
Walter: I must have been about 12. And I said “but what happens at night when I’m not there, someone can come” he said “the gates were closed at night and no one can come into the Customs sheds”. And after 3 or 4 days the bike was cleared. It was a very good motorbike with a very nice side car and once I went with Dad in the side car with a group of his friends who also had motor bikes all the way to Cairo
Phil: How far was that?
Walter: It must have 100, nearly 200 km. He sold that one for quite a good price and bought an Indian American motorbike the make was “Indian” it had 4 cylinders, no, 2 cylinders, it must have been an old wartime (First World War), motorbike because it was painted khaki and it was a huge side car, quite wide, big wide handles, and I remember it could move back, it had a reverse gear. Dad used to always dabble with engines, always, always. In fact, one day he said “I’m going to invent an engine that would run without Petrol, it would be by air compressure”. And I said “how it’s going to work” and he said “you wait, I’ll do it, I’ll know” - he used to always dabble.

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