From Reporter Issue 93

“IT’S NOT A PLACE YOU MAKE MATES…”

In the second of an occasional series on the various national groups within our community, Patrick Middleton meets some of the Côte d’Azur’s Australians.

What struck me as I talked to our local Australians was how many of them were here by chance. They’d left their homeland intending to be away only a few months and in some cases decades later they were still here. That’s the case of a lot of the women. Take Lou Fiszleiber. Forty years ago, aged 18, she quit the small Victorian town of Nagambi (Ken Letts, Nice’s Anglican chaplain, was born just up the road, she told me) to embark on her O.E. or Overseas Experience, that virtually mandatory trip abroad made by so many young Australians. “In my case it was first to Italy where my dad came from and then to London where I met my first husband. After a divorce I met a chap from IBM and fourteen years ago he was posted to Nice and we’ve been here ever since although he’s retired now.”

Does she like it here? “In a way it’s a pointless question. The French and the Australians are just different animals and they can’t change their skins. We are very open and friendly people. It’s always Open House—that’s not just on Neighbours. The French are—how shall I put it?—always wary, much less welcoming. It’s not a place you make mates. I’m not surprised Neighbours got taken off here after a few months. They just couldn’t believe in people like that!” So would she think of going back to Australia? “When I’m there on visits I realise it would be difficult there, too. I’ve been away for 40 years more or less and so I’m a bit of an in-between person, really.” Yet she’s not forgotten some of her native kitchen skills. “I love making cakes and I still do a mean Lamington.”

Most of the men I spoke to were less critical of the French than the women although nearly everyone recognised that they were socially rather different from Australians. Chris Barry was a landscape designer in Sydney. He decided to spend some time in the U.K., came on a visit to the Coast, met Cora, now his wife, and settled here 11 years ago. He now runs a car-hire firm in Monaco. “I’ve got two young children and France is my home. That doesn’t mean I’m any less of an Australian. I want my kids to appreciate that part of their heritage and I’ve already taken them down there a couple of times. I’ve met people from Oz who aren’t really happy. But you have to come to terms with those you live with. For example, with the French you can’t just turn up at someone’s door uninvited. That’s a no-no.” Has he made mates? “Well, I’m part of French family and that’s helped. But yes—I’ve got good French friends, good mates.”

I got a similar story from Kim Grey. He was skippering marine biological research vessels out of Perth in Western Australia, he came on a trip to this area, met Florence Genovese and instead of returning to W.A. as planned ended up working with her running a fish and chip shop on rue Championnet in Antibes. “I feel very much at home here—it reminds me of my part of Australia. I meet a lot of people from down-under, mainly off the yachts, but I also get on well with the French.” Kevin Wilkins is less positive on this point. “I’m in IT and a U.S. company recruited me in Oz. I spent two years in Seattle and then they offered me a contract here. When that’s up, in May of next year, I’m out of here. Don’t get me wrong—it’s been a great experience. Not just living on the Côte d’Azur but taking weekend breaks all over. I’ve even been to Moscow! But there are two snags: First, it’s too cramped and crowded, and, second, people aren’t like I’m used to. Here in Sophia most of my mates are non-French. If I said to Jacques or Paul ‘Let’s grab a few tinnies and drive down to the beach’ they’d likely leave… in the opposite direction. Spontaneity’s not their thing.”

Among the Australian veterans here are who run the Cannes English Bookshop.  “We’re here by accident, too,” admitted Wally. “Just 20 years ago we came on what was supposed to be an extended holiday. We got the idea that a bookshop, if properly run, would be something interesting and so we started up, and that was two decades ago.” Now the Storers have decided to retire. “When,” explained Christel, “we find the right buyer. Could be tomorrow, could be… well, who knows?” And where are they retiring to? “We’re staying here—it’s a good life—but hopefully with regular trips to Australia. As so many people seem to have told you, Australians and French aren’t the same but in general they’re easy enough to get on with.”

One man who might be a tad sceptical about that is Bill Waardenberg who over half a century ago became “a new Australian.” “It was 1950 and life was tough in Gouda in Holland where I was born. I decided to try Australia so I went out to Sydney on a troopship. I started on the line in a car factory but I got the ‘Aussie battler’ spirit and I ended up running my own construction company, building supermarkets and malls.” In 1985 Bill came to live in Nice. “That’s right. I’d married a Frenchwoman. She wanted to leave. We did.” And does he like it here? “Let’s face it: people aren’t friendly like in Oz, they’re always out for themselves. For me, the French are a bunch of bludgers…”

Possibly our most courageous Australian is Gilbert Clark. A highly-qualified mining geologist, he met his French wife Johanna in 1992 when she was studying in Brisbane. “I realised when we decided to get married it would mean a change of life. Places like Kalgoorie where I had to work aren’t ideal for women and children so we moved to the Côte d’Azur.” And here Gilbert went into the wine business… selling Australian wines boldly on French terroir. “They’re realists, you know. There were some raised eyebrows at first, but now they realise our wines are strong competitors and they’re even drinking our stuff themselves with evident appreciation.” I put to Gilbert one question that has puzzled me: Why don’t convivial people like the Australians have an association here? “No need,” he told me. “You just call up your mates and get together over drinks.” Infact, some of my interviewees were less dismissive. If anyone would like to try to launch a group they should tell us, and we’ll announce this in our Clubs and Associations feature. Maybe the ice-breaking session could be over Gilbert’s wines and Lou’s Lamingtons…

© Patrick Middleton 

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