I love Australia (D6)

Sydney is a great city. Marilyn and I went into the city and had lunch with Dave and Vivianne at one of the harbour cafes. We went into the Opera house, walked through the botanical gardens and generally chilled out. We came across a plaque to a guy called Philip. He apparently took this Aboriginal fella to London some time a couple of hundred years ago. Dressed him up in western clothes, and exhibited him to London society. The guy died of smallpox soon after.

Vivianne has just come back from a trip to Mauritius. We talked about life in Mauritius and the history of the family. The skeletons came tumbling out.

Dr Hector Clarenc, a French doctor and Diplomat and my great great great grandfather, established the Alliance Francaise in Mauritius. It was the largest outside of France itself at the time. That's why we hold doctors in such esteem in our family. I suppose he's the reason why I became a doctor, ultimately.

Anyway Dr Clarenc took a mistress called Louise after the death of her husband, his coach driver. They had five children between them. That sort of thing seemed to be accepted in those days. Dr Clarenc appears on one of the first Mauritian stamps. We're all very proud of this tenuous aristocratic connection. He looked after Luoise and their children financially and probably emotionally too. One of their daughters was called Marie. Marie had a daughter called Suzanne who became my Granmere. She married my Granpere, a relationship frowned upon at the time because of his Indian heritage, but she loved him and that was that. The rest is too complicated for a public blog. They converted from Roman Catholicism to becoming Seventh Day Adventists.

Paul Badaut, an Adventist Missionary, converted many people from different faiths to Adventicism. It now has a large following on the island and world wide. Adventists have a strong base in New South Wales, and Sydney in particular. Adventicism is a controlling faith which insists that its members follow strict rules. It disapproves of scepticism and rationalism, providing instead the reassurance of certainty and everlasting life. It is one of those sects that bizarrely adheres to the literal truth of creationism and the eternal damnation of non-believers, sceptics and sinners generally. To question or doubt means the devil has got at you, if not directly then through his Roman Catholic followers, Hindus or whatever else.

Never the less growing up in Mauritius 'till I was nine was fun. A great extended family with lots of cousins. There was the older group of Francis and Robert (Rose), Vivianne and Joselyn (Cheron) and Robert, Julian and John Benett. My group were Jean-Daniel and Marie-Claire Cheron, Marilyn Rose, me and my brother. I remember only playing, fooling around and getting up to mischief. Later Richard and David Benett joined our group. There are other cousins and siblings but they were either not born, too young or not in the country.

In 1966 we all suddenly split up, the Cheron and Rose family went to Australia. The Benetts came to England. We rarely saw the other Benetts in England and since my uncle's divorce and remarriage have hardly seen them. 1965 was the end of our carefree childhood, and now 45 years later I'm just finding out what happened to us all.

No wonder there's a high level of mental illness in second generation immigrants. We have more than our share. The combination of crazy religious injunctions, rootlessness and rejection in our new country must screw with minds and emotions. My dad has written a book about his experience of migrating from Mauritius and reflects thoughts which I guess are common for people undergoing a similar journey.

Back to the sights. Aussies are rightly proud of Sydney Harbour, its magnificent bridge and iconic Opera House. Both were set off brilliantly against a blue blue sky. The bars around the harbour were buzzing with beautiful people enjoying a Sunday drink in the early summer sun. Not an Aboriginal in sight. Like our family, a complex blend of fabulousness, contradictions and dark secrets. I love it.