Lois Salvisberg hits milestone of volunteering at the Bonegilla Migrant Experience reaching her 300th hour the past year

Her time in the camp with her husband and their two children, though short, continues to hold great significance.

This was so important to Mrs Salvisberg that she later decided to work as a volunteer at Bonegilla Migrant Experience.

The 12 years and more than 3500 hours she has spent doing so were celebrated yesterday as she clocked up her 300th hour of service for the past year alone.

The retiree said she derived great pleasure from her role.

Her own family arrived in Australia from their home in Switzerland in 1969, travelling as part of the assisted passage scheme after seeing an advertisement calling on people to travel to the other side of the world.

The Salvisbergs spent just 11 days at the camp, having arrived with nothing other than two suitcases of belongings.

After that, they travelled by train to Western Australia to settle in Perth.

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Several years later, Mrs Salvisberg returned to the Wodonga region and was only too happy, through volunteering, to share her passion, knowledge and experiences with visitors.

"When I came back to the area, I didn't realise it was where we started right away," she said. "It has so much history, and it's a lovely place to volunteer. Everyone that I meet has their own stories; it's very interesting. But it's not just about me, it's about this place, it's about all the migrants, and I can throw in some of my experiences, too.

"I look forward to volunteering each week, and I'm enthusiastic about it, and I do a good job. I feel appreciated."

When her family arrived, they were handed blankets and pillows and shared the camp with thousands of other people, in a place where there was no heating.

"But it was clean and tidy, and we got fed," she said.

"With all the different nationalities, it was quite interesting. The food was good, people in the camp cooked, we had a lot of French people around us, so we got nice French food, there were no complaints."

Mrs Salvisberg said she enjoyed meeting people from right across Australia and from overseas.

"They all have a little story to tell; some of them have a connection with their family, and it can be quite emotional coming back to their first footprint," she said.

"Some have no connection, but they are just interested in the history. Every story is different, and it's lovely to speak to people and look at their records and show them around."

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