Christa Charlotte (Boltz) Champion de Crespigny (1939 – 2024) - The Global Tofay

Two weeks ago, on 27 August 2024, three days after her eighty-fifth birthday, my mother died suddenly at Krems, in Austria. She and my father had been holidaying in Europe, mostly in Germany, visiting places she knew and loved.

Christa Charlotte Boltz was born in Berlin on 24 August 1939. In 1950, at the age of ten, she emigrated to Australia with her parents, Hans (1910-1992) and Charlotte Boltz née Manock (1912-1988).

With uncertain prospects in post-War Germany, Hans sought a more secure future abroad for himself and his family. He was a map-maker by profession, the Australian Government was recruiting qualified men, and in 1949 Hans was appointed a cartographer in the recently-formed Australian Bureau of Mineral Resources. After six months probation in the post, Hans was joined by Charlotte and Christa in Canberra in 1950, sailing via Fremantle and Melbourne on the Lloyd-Triestino line’s Sebastiano Caboto.

My mother had begun to learn English before they left Germany. Charlotte wrote “die Kleine hat das Sprechentalent, was mir fehlt” [The child has a talent for speaking foreign languages which I lack.]

In 1951, a year after her arrival, Christa wrote a school essay about her journey to Australia:

MY JOURNEY TO AUSTRALIA.
After nine months working in Australia my father decided to settle in Canberra, and so my mother and I followed.
With help from the Australian Mission we started our journey. The R.A.F. took us from Berlin to Western Germany because it was too dangerous in our case to go through the Russian zone by train. In Western Germany we caught the train through Switzerland to Genoa. It was really wonderful to see the high mountains covered with snow on our way over the Alps. We reached Genoa two days before our ship "Caboto" was sailing. So we had enough time for a nice trip around the town and the beautiful Italian country in springtime. Our ship was not a very big one but nice and clean. My mother and I had a big cabin. On the ship we had a lovely sitting-room. It was not very hard to find friends. We children had a lovely time in the swimming pool, which was on the upper deck. After two days sailing from Genoa we reached Naples. From there we had a trip to the famous old city Pompeii which was destroyed by the action of Mt Vesuvius 79 years B.C. The last harbour in Europe was Messina. Here we had only time to visit some old churches.
We said farewell to Europe and sailed Port Said where it was very hot. As we arrived in the harbour a lot of little rowing boats came up to our ship and a big market was on. The Arabs tried to sell mostly leathern goods. We had a look through the strange town with very nice ships. Now we had to pass the Suez Canal. The desert on both sides did not look very pretty. Near the oases we could see some Bedouins with camels and the first flying fishes we had seen in the Red Sea. There the weather was very sultry and most people had a swim in the cool salty water of the swimming pool.
In Colombo we made a trip through the city and some villages near Colombo. The nice tropical vegetation with banana trees, coconut palms and bread fruit trees was attractive. After leaving this pretty town we passed the Equator; for this reason we had a big feast with a baptism ceremony. Neptune and his companions made a lot of fun. First the doctor came and gave you some medicine, then you had to go to the barber and he put some slimy stuff on you. After my mother had some trouble getting it out of my hair, then Neptune's servants came and tried to push you into the water.
After a long while we reached Fremantle. There we had only time to send a telegram to Daddy and we were sailing off to Melbourne. In the Australian Bay the sea was very rough and most of the passengers were sea-sick, but Mummy and I didn't get sick at all. Very happy we reached Melbourne after five weeks, where my Daddy was on the Wharf waiting for us.
CHRISTA BOLTZ 6B.

Sebastiano Caboto in Port Philip Bay, Melbourne, 1951

Christa Charlotte (Boltz) Champion de Crespigny (1939 – 2024) - The Global Tofay Global Today

In 2021 my parents compiled a brief account of Christa’s first ten years in Germany. It begins:

Before Christa left Berlin, her grandfather Emil Manock took her to visit the old imperial palace and the museums at the heart of the city, impressing her with the history and tradition.
He also gave her the picture book Deutschland. The inscription is dated on her tenth birthday, but was prepared for her eleventh, to be her first in Australia:
To my dear Christa for her eleventh birthday:
When you are in your new home and take up this book, it will remind you of the beauties of the distant Fatherland where you were born. Remember then, too, the family and tradition from which you come, and of the kinfolk whom you have left behind but who will always think of you with love.
Learn to love your new home,and be a loyal child of that country, but never forget Germany.
Be happy in your new home.
Your Opa Zoo
Berlin-Zehlendorf, 24 August 1949