 In 1947 Vera emigrated to Australia, and after some time in Victoria moved north, settling in the Wide Bay district of Queensland, where she purchased a small property near Bundaberg.Initially she grew vegetables and tobacco but soon changed to sugar cane, being only the second woman to obtain a sugar assignment.Vera was no slouch when it came to being involved in the hard work of farming and had a fund of lively tales of her life as a cane farmer.