Trincomalee’s Australian connection

Trincomalee Bay – Photo courtesy: Dschen Reinecke – Wikimedia Commons

This peaceful town sat on what seemed like a strip of land with the ocean on one side and the protected harbour on the other.

It was here I met the Labroy family originally hailing from Australia. The children’s accents held nothing of the Australian twang but were tinged more with the local Tamil.

Trinco school – Photo courtesy: Gamini Vidyalam – Wikimedia Commons

I’ve since imagined these children remaining close because there was no television or electronics back then. They had to rely on each other for entertainment and more than most families because they were the only white children to attend the local school. Many a time they forgot who they were on the playground, running with the other children only to be reminded by the locals that they weren’t Tamil or Sinhalese.