Immigration Stories
Throughout history stories have been used to illuminate, to educate, to recount, to challenge and to engage. Every individual’s life experience is unique and dynamic, particularly for those of us who have journeyed far from our homes to establish new lives in foreign countries.
Australia’s migrant history has enabled us to develop into the strong nation we are today. Personal stories and anecdotes are an important opportunity to enrich the public record and to embellish our history. Immigration Place Australia encourages the collection of immigrant stories. By giving a voice to our immigrants, we hope to record significant experiences with increased depth and nuance. We envision an opportunity to connect generations and to build community via a comprehensive record of the distinctive immigration footprint of Australia.
IPA’s mission is to continue to collect stories until completion of the construction of Immigration Place in Canberra. At that time, subject to the agreement of the National Archives of Australia those stories will be transferred to their website – Destination Australia.
We encourage you to record your stories or those of your ancestors.
All Stories
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Kaz and his with with their 2 children immigrated from Poland to Australia to join their family and make a better quality of life for them and their children
Their journey was lenghty, full of emotions and unpredictable as it involved spending 11 months…
Kazimierz Kloss, Poland, 1985
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Hungarian hereditary baron, John Radvansky ( Báro Radvánszky János), the academic, was born in Radván (Radvaň, Slovakia since WW1, post-collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). He was the son of the hereditary nobleman, landed baron …
John G. Radvansky, Slovakia (Czechoslovakia), 1949
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All in all, four of the six children of Jaketh and Jane (Trezise) Grenfell migrated to Australia; John (b.1805), Thomasin (b.1808), Jaketh (b.1813) and Henry Trezise (b. 1820)
John Grenfell was born on 28 July 1805 at St Just, Cornwall, son of Jakeh…
Descendents of Jaketh Grenfell, Cornwall, c1852
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Andrew McDougall and Family
Andrew was born in Roxburgh, Scotland on the 9th June 1759 to Thomas McDougall(1736-1792) and Elizabeth Taylor (1743-1816)
Andrew was a chairmaker by trade, and was chosen by Lt. Governor Philip Gidley King to migrate…
Andrew and Elizabeth McDougall, Scotland, 18May1798
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John Blows Collerson was born in Welney, Cambridgeshire in 1839 & his wife Mary Elizabeth nee Simpson was born in Kings Lynn, Norfolk in 1837. The Collerson family moved to Kings Lynn by 1841.
The state of Queensland was formed in 1859, (after…
John Collerson, England, c1863
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I met my Australian Prince in a small coffee shop in Calama/Chile. We could not communicate to each other because the language barrier. However it would not stop us from falling in love. My Prince decided to stay and work in Chile for a while. Then we …
Pamela del Carmen Astudillo Huanca, Chile, 9/1/2000
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I came as a 17 yr old with parents for a better life style
I flew to Sydney then on to Fairy Meadow Hostel NSW
I was very surprised by what I found on our arrival, but we were here and that’s all that mattered. I worked on a lot of building sites for a few…
leslie allen, wales, 1968
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Nothing happens in Brisbane,does it?
‘With its jackboot police, crooked pollies, no-talent league players, weak union officials and stinking, humid weather,bloody Brisbane mate, it\’s a hellhole. No one goes to Brisbane. Anyone…
MATTHEW MURPHY, DUBLIN, 1979
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Thomas E Applin was a diary farmer in Dorset and Hertfordshire in England. In 1912 he and his family decided to emigrate to Western Australia. Thomas, his wife Agnes and nine children, Edward James, Amelia, Robert Harry, Lilian Christian, Arthur…
Thomas Edwin Applin, England, 1912
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Jazeps was forced to leave Latvia with his wife Bronislava and baby son, Andrejs due to the Russian invasion of Latvia in 1944. They travelled overland to Germany where they lived in Bamberg (American sector).
In 1949 they left Germany via Italy for…
Jazeps Andrejevskis, Latvia, 1949
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Adrea cardenti was born on 18th January, 1903 at Capoliveri, Island of Elba, Italy. He was one of two hildren born to Michele and Monachina Cardenti. Francesca Ilde Messina was born on 2nd April 1907 in the same town. She was one of five children born…
Andrea and Francesca Cardenti, Elba, Italy, 1925
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Thomas Dennard was a member of the notorious Aldington Gang, a highly organised smuggling ring headed by his cousin George Ransley. The gang imported spirits, tobacco and contraband across the English Channel from France. After attracting attention…
Thomas Dennard, England, 1827 V.D.L
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I came to Australia with my family in order to improve and advance our life and wellbeing.
We departed Naples on ‘Roma’ on January 29, 1964 at dusk. As I had never left my home town it was an exciting yet scary adventure. There was much to …
Michele Mignogna, Italy, 1964
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Born Marjorie Wallace, 22nd March 1943 at Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England. Marjorie lived with her mother Martha Wallace (nee Ferguson) and father William Wallace and sister Eleanor Wallace in the upstairs section of their house in St. John St, …
Marjorie Carter, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, 1953
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Albert George Sims was born in Paddington, London, on 29th December, 1889, to Samuel Gary and Henrietta Elizabeth, one of nine children, 3 daughters and 6 sons.
He had travelled the lace trade in France and the United Kingdom. acting on impulse he …
Albert Sims, England, 1913
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Journey into the unknown via SS Chitral
Home town – Manchester, England & leaving behind my parents (Beatrice & Fred Boardman) & young brother, Peter. Many years later, Peter & wife Dorothy also migrated to Australia.…
Doris, Roy and Christopher Thomas, Manchester, England, 2/29/1952
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31 Long days at sea. That\’s how I mostly recall the journey on the ‘Suiderkruis\’ (Southern Cross) that changed our family\’s life forever. My father Cornelius, mother Katherina, my 12 siblings and me Ð a 15 year old …
Lambert (Bert) Doensen, Holland, 1954
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George William Stanley Treanor McHutchin was born in Bangalore, India, where his family had lived for five generations. His ancestors were originally from England, Isle of Man and Ireland and one was an army officer, and others included a doctor,…
George WST & Eleanor Weeks McHutchin, India & USA, 1968
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Reason for leaving homeland – I was 24, just married, looking for adventure.
We sailed on the Achille Lauro from Southampton in June 1969. We were excited about the prospect of a new life in a young country. We were not expecting to be split up.…
Susan Burrough, England, 1969
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HASZLER, CHARLES (1907-1973), medical practitioner, hospital administrator was born on 9 March 1907 at Lőcse (Levocă, Slovakia since WW1), in Szepes County then in the Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was the son of Károly …
CHARLES (Károly) HASZLER, Hungary, 1949
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PAUL, TIBOR (1909-1973), music conservatorium teacher, famous conductor, was born in Budapest, son of Antal János Paul, vintner, and his wife Gizella, née Verényi. Tibor studied piano and woodwind instruments at the Liszt Ferenc Zenemüvészeti…
Tibor Paul (Pal), Hungary, 1950
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KOTAI, FERENC (FRANCIS) Lajos (Louis) (1908-1970), master potter, ceramicist and TAFE college teacher, was born on 26 July 1908 in Budapest, Hungary, son of István Michl, businessman, and his wife Katalin, née Kota. Defering to the wishes of…
Francis L. (Ferenc L.) Kotai (a.k.a. Michl), Hungary, 1950
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It is autumn in Holland, daylight becomes shorter by the day, leaves are dropping from the trees and I feel sad. It is not the first time that mood, every year in that month of October – the start of the dark months before Christmas – I have…
Hubert Crott, Neherlands East Indies, 1960
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Though both born in England our parents emigrated to Rhodesia in 1947 and 1953 so we grew up there and it was our home. We left in 1983 when it was Zimbabwe because we could see it would be intolerable for us to live under the new regime.
We left through Botswana…
Robert & Jennifer Thomson, England, 1987
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My Parents, Diego & Giuseppina Ivis (nee Loscialpo) met and were married in Taranto, in southern Italy where Mum was born. Dad was born in the north near the Yugoslav border in a town called Pola. He served with the Italian army during WWII and …
Diego & Giuseppina Ivis, Italy, 1950
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Gunnel Gršnroos grew up with her extended family on a small farm on the outskirts of a village in southern Finland. The house was surrounded by forest and as a young child she spent a lot of time there, enjoying the sounds of nature, gathering berries…
Gunnel Maria Mann, Finland, 1957
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On Leaving
Carl-Eric Mann first travelled to Australia during the late 1940s as an adventurous young sailor on board ‘Passat’, one of the last of the merchant sailing ships, or Tall Ships, that plied the trade routes between Europe,…
Carl-Eric Mann, Finland, 1957
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