
It is not very often we hear the stories of migrants who were employed by Commonwealth Hostels in the Illawarra, yet their migration history is just as valuable. Their reasons for migrating to Australia are very similar to those migrants who worked for private employers such as the steelworks. Some migrants would be employed by the Commonwealth Hostels Limited (later known as Commonwealth Accommodation and Catering Services Limited) or employer operated hostels, as cooks, kitchen staffs, cleaners or groundsmen.
There were also some migrants who would become part of the management staff after they had arrived in Australia, had been first employed where assigned by the Government and housed in a Commonwealth Hostel with communal living arrangements. Migrants fulfilling managerial roles normally would be housed in manager’s quarters which quite often were separated from the main hostel campus, some with boundary fences to ensure segregation. Managers were usually housed in a Quonset Hut, which was fully contained with internal laundry and bathroom facilities, living and dining rooms as well as a kitchen.
Arthur James Povey was an English migrant who found himself employed in managerial roles for the Commonwealth Hostels not long after he arrived in Australia. Arthur’s employment saw him and his family move many times to Commonwealth Hostels in a number of states throughout Australia. Arthur was employed by Commonwealth Accommodation and Catering Services Limited for 21 years.
Arthur James Povey was born on 11 June 1931 at Wallasey, Cheshire, England and attended secondary school at St Anselim’s College at Birkenhead. From June 1946 to March 1947 he was employed as a factory worker at Gandy Belt Co. Ltd, a leather belt manufacturer, at Wallasey in Cheshire. He then joined North Wales Steam Ship Company as a Deck Boy and then as an Ordinary Seaman for another shipping firm Alfred Holt and Co Ltd. From 1949 to 1951 Arthur joined the Royal Air Force as a clerk/personnel administration with the rank of Senior Aircraftsman. After leaving the Royal Air Force he was employed by two shipping firms, Coast Lines Ltd and CWS Steam Ship Company as an Able Seaman until March 1954. After leaving life at sea, he was employed as a factory worker for Cadbury Bros. Ltd in Moreton in Cheshire where he remained until he left the UK for Australia. Arthur, his wife and two children lived in Wirral, Cheshire, England immediately prior to their departure for Australia.
Arthur first approached Australia House about migrating with his family to Australia in 1957. On his application form dated 1960, he sought an industrial job nominating New South Wales as his preferred state in which to settle. Arthur’s application for immigration to Australia as a Commonwealth Nominee under the Assisted Passage Migration Scheme was accepted and he was notified by letter from the Chief Migration Officer, Australia House, Strand, London, dated 30 March 1961. This letter also advised that he had to pre-pay £20 as his contribution towards passage money for himself and his wife, his children being under 19 years of age travelled free. They were all to be in possession of a current International Certificate covering vaccination against smallpox prior to reaching Australia. This was standard for all immigrants to Australia under this Scheme.
Arthur Povey departed from Southampton on 22 July 1961 with his wife Sheila (nee Clairmont), his seven-year-old son David and daughter Christine who was 6 years old. They travelled onboard the Fairsea to Australia under the Assisted Passage Migration Scheme. They came to Australia via Aden and Port Said and Christine recalls being a bit of a novelty in Port Said as the English girl dressed in a sailor suit. She also recalls little boats pulling up alongside the Fairsea to sell their wares which were transferred to the buyer by rope pulley system. Christine’s parents bought her a little toy camel which was filled with sand but once she arrived in Australia, the camel was emptied of its sand content by the Australian authorities.
When Arthur and his family arrived in Sydney they were taken by bus to East Hills Hostel. Christine remembers it as a cold August day pouring with rain. Adults were crying, but the children were happy.
Arthur found work straight away with Dr Lovinsol & Co, possibly a printing company in the Sydney area until 1963. It was purely by chance that Arthur was offered a job with the Commonwealth Accommodation and Catering Service Ltd when in 1963, whilst in the office paying his hostel tariffs, he mentioned that he was looking for another job and was offered the role of Catering Manager there on the spot at the East Hills Hostel where he was living with his family. His first position was as Catering Manager at the East Hills Hostel. His work with the Commonwealth Accommodation and Catering Service saw Arthur, with his family in tow, posted to different states across Australia that included Government Guesthouses in the Northern Territory and the ACT, a Lodge for International Students in NSW as well as hostels in NSW, Queensland and Victoria.

As a Manager, Arthur’s responsibilities included all aspects of operation of the hostel, financial administration, catering, housing, hygiene, maintenance of buildings and areas, safety and fire control and liaison with other Government Departments. On a personal level, Arthur had written that he always had a special interest in resident services of welfare, youth activities, health, education and childminding. The population of the places Arthur was appointed as manager ranged from 120 to 1400 where the residents were either migrants, refugees, public servants, Royal Australian Navy personnel, tradesmen or students.
Shiela Povey, Arthur’s wife, also worked and often found employment in clerical roles, her first employer in Australia being H.G. Palmer in Sydney.
After Arthur had become the Catering Manager at East Hills, he then posted to Matraville Hostel in NSW. Next was another Catering Manager position at Cabramatta Hostel for just a few months before he and his family were sent to Wacol Hostel in Queensland where he was employed in another managerial position. In 1965 Arthur found himself a manager at Fairy Meadow Hostel where he remained for about 10 years. Wollongong turned out to be Arthur’s favourite place and the longest duration of his many postings and it was while he was working as manager at Fairy Meadow Hostel he purchased land at Towradgi where he would build his family home and return to it after he retired.

Arthur and his family arrived at Fairy Meadow Hostel in 1965. The family lived in Hut 4 of the Managers’ quarters. The Managers’ quarters were within the Fairy Meadow Hostel complex which was surrounded by a boundary fence. The Povey hut was a 3 bedroom Quonset Hut with its own laundry with a washing machine, which Christine remembers as front loading, and they had their own external clothes line. The hut also had a kitchen and the food (groceries) was ordered weekly by Mrs Povey from the hostel and was delivered to the hut where it was cooked in the kitchen by the family. The linen was supplied and laundered by Hostel services.

Christine was about 11 years old at the time the family arrived at Fairy Meadow Hostel and attended Towradgi Public School. For Christine and her brother, life for them as a manager’s children living at the hostel was no different to the other migrant children whose company they would enjoy. Christine remembers playing netball and softball and playing in the Hostel’s Recreation Hut. During school holidays she would participate in the school holiday activities provided by the Hostel by the youth leader who was called a “Skip”. The migrant children always seem to remember their time at hostels as lots of fun and games with adventures playing in nearby creeks or going to the beach. It was mostly a different experience to that of their parents.
During his tenure at Fairy Meadow Hostel, Arthur applied and was granted Australian Citizenship on 10 August 1967. Arthur attended Wollongong Technical College in Lysaght Street, Fairy Meadow where he underwent a Management Certificate Course in 1968. Managers were encouraged to develop their managerial skills often with the assistance of the Commonwealth Government or sometimes at the insistence of the Commonwealth Government. It is understood that Mrs Povey continued to work as well while living at Fairy Meadow Hostel.
After Fairy Meadow, Arthur was posted to manage Commonwealth accommodation at Darwin in the Northern Territory, then in 1975 it was onto Puckapunyal in Victoria. The Povey family was lucky to see a lot of Australia as they drove the family car, a Hillman Gazelle, to each of these postings. Christine did not accompany her parents to Puckapunyal because by then she had married.
In 1980 Arthur was posted to Hereford Lodge at Glebe in NSW to establish accommodation for students who came to Australia Under the Colombo Plan to study management. The Commonwealth had acquired Hereford Lodge. Arthur received a letter of recognition for his part in the management Hereford Lodge. This would be Arthur’s final posting.

In 1984 Arthur Povey retired after having been employed in accommodation and catering management positions for the Commonwealth Hostels. Christine remembers him as being very conscientious about his position which he took very seriously, perhaps his own experience of moving his family to a new country and living in hostels played a role in approach to his position.
After retirement Arthur and Sheila returned to the family home in Towradgi that he had built in 1980. Arthur even took up the ukelele which he had bought whilst on holiday in Hawaii and started learning with a group of like-minded people that met to practice at the Fraternity Club, Arthur being the oldest of the group. On Anzac Day, Arthur would stand at the bottom his driveway at Towradgi and played the last post on his trumpet which neighbours would appreciate, and come to expect, every year.

After retirement, and the death of his wife Sheila who passed away in 2013 after 60 years of marriage, Arthur remained very active and did not suffer any major health problems until the last six months of his life. On 18 July 2023 Arthur Povey passed away leaving behind his two children, David and Christine, ten grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren. Arthur also left behind his legacy of being part of the Illawarra’s migrant history.
Photographs of the Fairy Meadow (Balgownie) Migrant Hostel during Arthur’s tenure as Manager have been generously donated by Arthur’s family and can be viewed from the Gallery or from the link below.
