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Record #5547
Name :
: Joseph T. WHITE (1927 - )
  aka : Joe White


Father
:
Mother
:
BMD and other details
Date of Birth
: 1927 (approx.)

Marriage (1)
:
Marriage (2)
:

Date of Death
:
Abode (1) : Place of BirthEngland
Abode (2) : Place of Death / Burial
Sailing Information
Date of Arrival
: Jun 1928
Country
: Australia

Ship
: Ballarat

Placement Family
:
Homes / Agencys
Institution (GB)
:

Agency
: Fairbridge Homes
NotesIn 1928, Joseph T. White, 7 (along with brother, William W. White, 11) arrived at Fremantle, Australia in a group of children from the Child Emigration Society, The Strand, London, England.

Joe White said that his years at Fairbridge had an enormous, but negative, effect on his life. "Organisations of that kind tend to attract a bigger proportion of people included to be more sadistic than ordinary people," he said. He told of sexual deviance and abuse towards the boys with whom he resided.

"The farm consisted of a number of cottages, each containing 14 boys and presided over by a cottage mother. If you were lucky you got a good cottage mother; if you weren't, like me, you got a religious maniac. There is nothing worse in this world than a religious maniac."

In 1988, Joe White published his first novel, Pringle's War, which was reviewed in Australia by Martin Stewart:

"Joining army was a release

If a nation were to design an upbringing for its sons that would steel them mentally and physically for the rigours of military life, then this autobiographical novel could serve as a manual.

The initiative and resolve of White's character [in his novel, Pringle's War], Joe Pringle, is born of the brutality of an orphanage life, and there's no mistaking the identity of the orphanage which fostered such burning hatreds in this WA author's pen.

From the cover, Pringle's War is a war story set in the western desert, but in truth it's as much Joe White's battle with authority, pomposity and prejudice. As such it's a biting indictment of his minders at Fairbridge, where he was consigned at a tender age, and a bitter assessment of the British class system as it manifested itself through its military graduates.

Joe Pringle's war did not begin in 1939 but the day he was born. The attitudes founded in the indignities and deprivations of orphanage life carry on through his adult years; child as father to the man.

Joining the army for Joe Pringle was a release, his first glimpse that he was a normal human being with a mind equal to, if not better, than the next.

He is the epitome of the Digger and his story is told in the language of the Australian soldier -- crude and colourful. He distrusts authority in any shape or form, the stiffer the officer's uniform the stiffer the bristles on the nape of his neck.

He relies on his instincts and his mates. rules for survival that served the author well. Jose White survived the desert and the jungle and in reality has lived to tell some of his tale through this book. ...

Take from his Manchester home and family at the age of two, Joe White found happiness in his post-war marriage and a farming life near Dardanup.

He later founded the Rats of Tobruk Association, has had several short stories published and is now retired in Perth. He pulls no punches in this book, merely veils the targets by the simple expedient of writing in a novel form. But the real objects of his wrath are there for all to see."


Joe published his autobiography in 1993, and an article was written by Bruce Butler about it and Joe's life:

"War survivor reveals the human side

'War is a very confusing business,' said Joe White, 72. He has seen more of life and death than most.

For much of his youth, Joe could be excused for thinking life itself was confusing. After his father died in 1924 leaving a young wife and seven children, Joe and his older brother Wally were fostered out, then shipped to Australia. Joe lived eight years at Fairbridge, near Pinjarra.

He left at 15, joined the army and served five years on the front line in some of Australia's bloodiest campaigns at Tobruk, El Alamein and the Pacific islands.

In the madness of Beirut he briefly met a brother he never knew. They spent just one night together, in 1942. That brother, Jack, was killed soon after.

Wally, the brother he grew up with at Fairbridge, met an English girl, married her and returned to UK, and they saw each other only once more.

Mr. White, who has written two novels, has now completed a 453-page autobiography about his remarkable journey through life.

He met his wife, Madge, in 1943 and married her three weeks later. This year they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

Fairbridge was run by an ex-soldier who ruled with a strap, so Joe ws no stranger to discipline.

'I was a good solider. I was well trained," he said, "I sailed in 1941 and Wally, my brother, joined me at Tobruk. When we were in the breakthrough at Ruin Ridge (El Alamein), Wally was captured and later shipped across to a prisoner-of-war camp in Italy.

'I got postcards, with very basic details, saying he was okay, then I learnt later that he escaped and lived with the Italian partisans. He was badly frost-bitten and later lost his legs as a result of those injuries.

'I saw him briefly after the war but I never saw him again after that. I couldn't find him.'

From Tobruk, Joe moved on to Palestine and up through Syria to the Turkish border to stop the German advance via turkey to the Suez Canal. In Beirut, he was re-united with Jack.

'I got a 24-hour pass and that's where I had to walk up to a bloke and say 'I'm your brother Joe'. I'd never seen him since we were children, but it is a funny thing when you know he is your brother -- there is a bonding. We both got pretty full.'

Then they went the ways of their units and Jack was reported killed in the Sicily landing.

'I was lucky not to be a part of the main body of men who were lost. But the desert was tough -- there was no food, there was no water, it was a bad time. It was so hard', Mr White said.

'We would be in a vehicle, it was incredibly hot and dusty, swirling into our eyes and hair. Our food was covered in dirt.'

Mr White said the emotion of war -- and its traumatic effects -- were difficult to cope with.

When he returned to Perth in 1945, he was so badly affected by his experiences he could not use a telephone or ride on a bus.

'After it was over you wanted to go back to war.'" 
ContributorsCreated : 2009-03-13 17:06:02 / From original database

Last Updated : 2009-03-13 17:47:18 /

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Surnames starting with:   A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z  30 Entries        
Page: [1] 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 253 Entries        
IDNameDOBPlace of birthArrivals & ShipsDest.AgencyFamily links
21189 ADAMS, William1916ENG, WAR, Aston Jan 1927 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
25954 ARMSTRONG, Benjamin John Emmerson1918ENG, HAM, Hartley Wintney Nov 1929 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes splmum , Pinjarra1929  
5496 ARNOTT, Anthony Robert1923ENG, DUR, Darlington May 1934 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
5497 ARNOTT, Michael1925ENG, DUR, Darlington May 1934 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
25140 ASHTON, Ivy1923ENG,    , Wolverhampton May 1934 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
26826 ASHTON, Lucy1922ENG, STS, Wolverhampton May 1934 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
12135 ASHURST, Henrietta1918ENG, CHS, Birkenhead May 1928 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
12136 ASHURST, Lily1917ENG, CHS, Birkenhead May 1928 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
25141 ATTWELL, Richard1916ENG, SRY May 1928 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
12078 BAKER, John1916ENG,     May 1928 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
12079 BALDWIN, David1917ENG,     May 1928 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
12028 BANFIELD, Charles A1913ENG,     Jan 1927 : Ballarat AUS Barnardos  
21190 BARRETT, Arthur William1916ENG,     Jan 1927 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
25955 BARTLEY, Phillip1918ENG, LND, Marylebone Nov 1929 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
26875 BATES, David1920 Nov 1931 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
12029 BATES, James E1910ENG,     Jan 1927 : Ballarat AUS Barnardos  
12080 BATTERS, Thomas Edward1917ENG, YKS, Halifax May 1928 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
12081 BAYLISS, George Charles1916ENG, WAR, Birmingham May 1928 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
5400 BEALES, Frederick James1918ENG, LND, Bethnal Green May 1928 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
12030 BEISLEY, Ernest J1912ENG,     Jan 1927 : Ballarat AUS Barnardos  
21191 BEISLEY, Sidney Silas1916ENG, LND, Lambeth Jan 1927 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
12082 BELLINGHAM, Arthur Harold1917ENG, LND, Lambeth May 1928 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
25957 BENNETT, Robert Edward1916 Nov 1929 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
12083 BENSON, Alexander Stuart1918ENG, LND, Southwark May 1928 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
12137 BENSON, Ellen Frances1916ENG, DUR, Hartlepool May 1928 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
12084 BISH, George1915ENG, KEN, Malling May 1928 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
25956 BISHOP, Owen George Frederick1916ENG, LND, Lambeth Nov 1929 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
26876 BISHOP, William1920ENG, LND Nov 1931 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
8781 BRIDGER, John1915ENG, LND, Lambeth Jan 1927 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
12138 BRITCHFORD, Gwendoline Marie1921ENG, LND, Marylebone May 1928 : Ballarat AUS Fairbridge Homes  
IDNameDOBPlace of birthArrivals & ShipsDest.AgencyFamily links
Page: [1] 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 253 Entries        
Surnames starting with:   A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z  30 Entries