The last man standing, Scottie Hoban tells his story

Scottie, and his family back in Scotland, were told he would be cared for amid the promise of a better life. 

More than 130,000 children were sent abroad from the United Kingdom between the 1920s and late 1960s, through their migrant programme. 

Scottie can remember arriving in Australia when he was 10. 

“They gave us suits to wear so we looked presentable and once we arrived, they took the suits and gave us shorts and a singlet and that was it. They took the suits back to England for the next boat-load of children,” he said. 

Once in Australia, Scottie was sent to the Clontarf Boys Town, a boys home for migrant children, just outside Perth where he remained until he was 18. Scottie also attended Tardun College near Geraldton where he learnt farming, carpentry and other various skills.

When the children turned 18 they left the boys home and had to look for work. 

“They were supposed to give us ten pounds when we left the home, I didn’t get any, all I had were my clothes. I had to save up for my plane fare to Cairns.”

Scottie flew to Cairns in 1948 and worked on tobacco farms for two years and also in a pub where he met his future wife, who originally came from Macksville.

In Queensland, Scottie also worked at the meat works, the railway and in the Army. 

“I was a jack of all trades, I did a lot of different work throughout my life,” he said. 

Scottie and his wife moved to Sydney for 16 years before relocating back to the Mid North Coast in 1988. He has lived in the Macleay for the past 30 years. 

Throughout his time in South West Rocks, Scottie has coached football teams, played golf and been an active member of the community.

For Scottie and his family though, they always wondered about his relatives who were left behind in Scotland.

Scottie’s daughter Maxine Dyson said looking into the family history was a long process. 

“They had changed the date of his birth and gave him a second birth certificate when he came here, so we had to track all of that down. When we finally found his family in Scotland, we found out that his mother had passed away 10 years before,” Ms Dyson said. 

Like many other families whose children had been sent to Australia, Scottie’s mother was told he had died. 

Maxine and her sisters, however, found a number of living relatives in America and Scotland. 

“We got a call at 3am from dad’s great niece in America, and found out dad had had two sisters,” Ms Dyson said. 

“The worst part was not having or knowing any relatives on dad’s side of the family, that’s why we wanted to look into this and find out about our family.”

Scottie and his family now keep in contact and he has travelled to Edinburgh to meet them.

Ms Dyson said her father still lives life to the full, even though he is turning 90 in just over a week. 

“All of this hasn’t stopped him from having a full life. He has six daughters and one son who has since passed away, he has 12 grandchildren and 20-something great-grandchildren.”

“I still play nine holes of golf every Monday morning,” Scottie added. 

Scottie receives a newsletter from Tuart Place in Freemantle that updates him on the other children who were with him when he arrived in Australia. In the most recent newsletter he found out he was the last one alive from his boat-load of 40 children.

“He is the last man standing from that group of children,” Ms Dyson said. 

Scottie is still an active member of the South West Rocks community – he sings in the choir at the Catholic Church, is curator of the church and he plays golf. 

His family have organised a 90^th birthday party for him on December 4 to celebrate.

“A lot of family and friends are coming, there will even be some surprise faces there that he doesn’t know about,” Ms Dyson said.