`Yesterday's Children - Growing up Assyrian in Persia'.

Writing brings freedom for worldly woman
BY STEPHANIE CHARALAMBOUS
15/09/2008 9:55:00 AM

AS the sun set on the Iranian city of Maragha in 1917 and the sound of camel bells could be heard in the distance, Elizabeth Campbell knew what was coming.
Caravans bearing food, silks and other wares to stock the local bazaars poured into the city, their drivers seeking shelter.

Young children, of which Elizabeth was one, watched the daily procession always in amazement.

It was the only contact most of Maragha's people had with the outside world before the iron gates of the walled city were locked in the evenings and they were reminded that not too far away, the Turks, the Russians and the British were at war.

The families within Maragha were largely sheltered from the atrocities which occurred during World War I, but they weren't completely unaffected.

As a Christian in an Islamic society, Elizabeth was aware there had been calls for a Jihad from outside the walls of the city, but it never came.

The story of Elizabeth and her family spans four continents and involves two wars, an ancient race and a love of the Collingwood Football Club.

The telling of her worldly tale began 14 years ago at Traralgon's very own Neighbourhood Learning House.

Elizabeth decided to attend the creative writing class she had seen advertised in the newspaper and took in a short story she had written about her life.

``The first line I had written was, `although I'm not quite 80 years-old, I have yet experienced life as it would have been lived in the Middle Ages','' Elizabeth said.

``The teacher told me to write more of this and bring it in next week.

``In the class they used to fire questions at me and a book came into being in answer to their questions.''

In 1996 Elizabeth self-published 250 copies of her book `Yesterday's Children - Growing up Assyrian in Persia'.

It is now being published by American company Bazneta Publishing.

``I knew I had the ability to write but I'm very self critical,'' she said.

``I just wanted to type it and send a copy each to my family, I didn't expect it to get published.''

It was a commitment to keeping the history of her family alive which prompted Elizabeth to write the book.

In particular the plight of the Assyrian people, an ancient Christian race now scattered across the world.

``My Assyrian father escaped from Turkey at 15 and went to the US to become a doctor,'' Elizabeth said.

``He returned to go to Turkey but his town was in ruins, the Assyrian villages were all raised to the ground.''

Elizabeth's father went to Iran where he married her mother, also Assyrian.

The family lived in Maragha where her father was the doctor to the governor until Elizabeth was eight years old.

``In Maragha my father was called to the wounded soldiers, to the Turks and when he came back they came and took him away,'' Elizabeth said.

``For days my father was gone and they wanted 1000 gold pieces to let him go.

``I remember a lamplight, semi darkness, I heard noises, I woke up and came downstairs and my mum and grandma were hugging each other crying and my grandma was going with the money to free my father.''

In the post war days Elizabeth worked for the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company as a teacher where she met her husband George Campbell.

After World War II the company was nationalised and the couple moved to England and lived in Kent for two years.

``Then I found it too cold so I said `let's go to sunny Australia','' Elizabeth recalled.

In 1952 they arrived in Melbourne with their eight month-old daughter.

``We found a house that belonged to a family named Brewer,'' Elizabeth said.

``We put a deposit on it while waiting for finances to come from England but they seemed to like us that much that the lady of the house, Mrs Brewer invited us to move into the spare bedroom.

``They had a son called Ian who was a Collingwood star.

``He asked me `what football team do you barrack for?'.

``I said `I don't know we have been in Australia for about 10 days'.

``He said `please, please barrack for Collingwood', and since then I've been a one eyed Collingwood supporter.''

Elizabeth has enjoyed her quiet life in Australia but said she struggled with homesickness for her family who had immigrated to the US.

``I am really a family person and once I was deprived of that family I just felt like I was in a straight jacket,'' she said.

Elizabeth said writing the book made her feel free and gave her a connection with her family that she had so missed.

A printed copy of Yesterday's Children is available at the Traralgon Library.