Australia - New PM's Family Left UK to Better Themselves
Created: Jun 25 2010
Australia's new Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, spent the first part of her life in the heartlands of Britain's own Labor party.
Gillard arrived in Australia when she was four in the 1960s from Wales, a cradle of Britain's own Labor movement.
Her father had gone to work before finishing school and worked as a policeman and rail clerk.
Queen Street, Barry, is a road of small terraced houses near the docks in the south Wales town.
One long-standing resident still remembers the family leaving for the southern hemisphere.
[Basil Baker, Former Neighbor of Australian PM Julia Gillard]:
"They were very nice people. There was a young couple the other side of the lane, they were young mothers together and they all got on fine. I expect they went to Australia to better themselves.”
Gillard initially lived in a migrant hostel in the rural town of Adelaide before her father bought a house. She studied law at university, where she got involved in politics.
She then became a partner in a law firm specializing in class actions and personal injury cases before working as a political adviser.
Gillard was first elected to parliament in 1998, and quickly rose to become a leading light of the Labor left.
She became shadow health minister in 2003 and then backed Rudd for the leadership in return for the deputy Labor leadership.
Her rise to prime minister came as no shock to Baker, as the families had always kept in touch through Christmas and Easter cards.
[Basil Baker, Former Neighbor of Australian PM Julia Gillard]:
"In the paper it was saying that a lot of people say that she's going to end up as prime minister, so I wasn't really surprised."
Gillard arrived in Australia when she was four in the 1960s from Wales, a cradle of Britain's own Labor movement.
Her father had gone to work before finishing school and worked as a policeman and rail clerk.
Queen Street, Barry, is a road of small terraced houses near the docks in the south Wales town.
One long-standing resident still remembers the family leaving for the southern hemisphere.
[Basil Baker, Former Neighbor of Australian PM Julia Gillard]:
"They were very nice people. There was a young couple the other side of the lane, they were young mothers together and they all got on fine. I expect they went to Australia to better themselves.”
Gillard initially lived in a migrant hostel in the rural town of Adelaide before her father bought a house. She studied law at university, where she got involved in politics.
She then became a partner in a law firm specializing in class actions and personal injury cases before working as a political adviser.
Gillard was first elected to parliament in 1998, and quickly rose to become a leading light of the Labor left.
She became shadow health minister in 2003 and then backed Rudd for the leadership in return for the deputy Labor leadership.
Her rise to prime minister came as no shock to Baker, as the families had always kept in touch through Christmas and Easter cards.
[Basil Baker, Former Neighbor of Australian PM Julia Gillard]:
"In the paper it was saying that a lot of people say that she's going to end up as prime minister, so I wasn't really surprised."
