Paul Kurtz and I became very close over the months – he was also released and he found a position with a lanolin factory in Abbotsford, in Victoria. And when I was released, I went to see him and he held regular, Sunday afternoon tea parties for the ex-Dunera boys.

I was sent to work to a factory which made steering worms for Bren-gun carriers in South Melbourne. And I found board and lodging with an Austrian Family in Burwood. I worked 12 hour shifts, and life seemed to be pretty good.

My tutor in camp had taught me so well that when I got into the factory, I walked up to the lathe when I first saw it, and was operating it within a few hours, without any further mishap. After a while it became such a routine, boring job that I could virtually do it in my sleep. My opposite number on the other shift, was producing seven blanks per shift, and within two or three weeks I was making seven, eight, and then nine per shift without any effort. By the time I reached 12 per shift, the shop steward took me aside and told me that Jack on the other shift couldn’t keep up with me. Of course he couldn’t keep up with me, because he slept three hours, every night, in the crate that the machine came in. It was such a boring job that it was better to keep busy. And I finished up producing twelve, thirteen and then finally fourteen per shift. When the union boss told me I should be careful walking home in a dark lane up to St. Kilda Road, I finally decided to put a stop to it and put aside four blanks per shift into a box for the other guy. Well that made him happy because he would get half a nights sleep on his shift. In the meantime I’d been watching the foreman sharpening the tools as they got blunt and after a while I decided to sharpen my own rather than sit and wait for him to do it for me. And within a couple of weeks I did the sharpening of tools for my machine, and for most of the others.

Then suddenly a couple of week later, everybody was transferred to the main factory in Richmond, except me. They introduced me to about 8 or 9 women who volunteered to work for the war effort, and I had to teach them how to work the machines. A lot of them hadn’t been used to factory work and they wore gloves. But they were very willing, and they tried very hard. And within a fortnight we were producing more than the previous team did in the factory. Mainly because all of them worked 12 hour shifts without sleeping. And this went on for about 6 months when it was decided to finally close down the factory altogether, and move us all to Richmond.