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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George Robert White was born 13Aug1912 at 45 Red Lion Square, Clerkenwell to parents Thomas William & Clara White. His father had served in the British Army during the Boer War in 1901/02 then operated a confectionary shop. In 1914 he rejoined…
George White, England, 1928
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‘Che Guevara captured and killed in Bolivia’. These were the main headlines and news all over the country (and most of the world too) that will mark for me the planning and start of a long journey to Australia, albeit that by then I had no…
Mario M Vallejos, Chile, 1970
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For my father Australia meant employment, a free six-week voyage, adventure, owning a house, and safety should the ‘Cold War’ heat up.
Walter Robert Mittelstedt, his wife Ruth Hildegard, my sister Gilda, and myself departed Hamburg…
Bernhard Mittelstedt, Germany, 1954
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I was born on the 24.02.1943 at Qormi MALTA right in the middle of World War 11. My father Carmel was in the MALTESE NAVY during World War 2. After the war he worked as a butcher for 6 pounds a week till 1954. One day his boss told him that things were bad and…
Charles CIANTAR, MALTA, 1954
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I don’t know if it is true or not, but Dad used to say our family came to Australia on the toss of a coin: ‘heads’ we go to Australia, ‘tails’ we go to Canada. And to Australia we went – in July 1926 on the ship ‘Euripedes’.…
John Williamson, Scotland, 1926
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Hi, my name is Mel Hartley & this is my story. I was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England on the 1st September, 1949 to Winifred & Maurice Hartley.
Having lost my Mother at an early age & my Father Parkinson\’s Disease in 1967,…
Mel Hartley, U.K., 1968
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Dorothy Winifred Fowkes – Grandma\’s Story
Dorothy Winifred Fowkes, my grandmother, sailed to Sydney Australia from Tilbury, England, on 30th October, 1920, on the R.M.S. ‘Orvieto’ which was under the command of W.S.…
Dorothy Winifred Fowkes, England, 1920
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Elizabeth Bruce Wymer was born on 20 November 1863 in the town of Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England. She was the fourth and last child of James and Maria Wildsmith.
James Wildsmith was a successful master baker. He and his family lived in a beautiful…
Elizabeth Wymer, England, 1882
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Reason for leaving homeland – Migrate to best friend John Griffith’s new homeland – to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
About the Journey – Came by ship and met new friend Ted Bray
Impressions on Arrival – Loved …
Raymond Brian Holt, England UK, 1952
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Reason for leaving homeland – Migrate to Australia with English Australian Husband, Raymond Brian Holt
About the Journey – Very good
Impressions on Arrival – Happy…
Patricia Jimenea Holt, Philippines, 1983
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When I was six and a half years old, my mother, my brother (5 years) and I left Finland in September 1953 and arrived in Brisbane in mid-summer December. The climate change was a big shock.
Our ship ‘Mooltan’ was a long, lean ship which was…
Pirjo Tytti Margit Sampi, Finland, 1953
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Twenty years ago, in June of 1989, I stepped from the confines of a Continental Airlines flight onto the expansive shores of Australia. The journey had been long – drawn out from the basement bargain fare that took me from my homeland of Wisconsin…
Annette Zapchenk Clarke, USA, 1989
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Born Sonja Dora Kšnig in Weissenfels an der Saale in Sachsen Anhalt Germany, her mother passed away when she was 10 days old leaving herself and an older brother Manfred. Her father remarried his first wife who she then called Mutti. Her father was…
Sonja Dora Hartmann (nee Kšnig), Germany, 1949
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Born Gerhard Martin Hartmann on 31st December 1913 in Unternessa, his family moved to Wettaburg near Naumburg in East Germany only a few kilometres away when he was five years old. Gerhard lived on a small farm with his older sister and parents. His…
Gerhard Martin Hartmann, Germany, 1941
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Francis Johns was born on the 19th March 1834 in Lelant, Cornwall, to John Johns (b. 9Oct1814 in Lelant, and died there in 1883) and Grace Blight. They were married on 14Dec1833, but sadly for little Frank, she died on the 25Aug1837 when he was only three.…
Frank Johns, Cornwall, England, 1856
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William Pattison migrated with his first Scottish wife Hannah (Peacock) and two daughters, Elizabeth and Anita. He was born in Newcastle in 1823 of a family with a strong Scottish culture. As his father John was an enginewright and went overseas …
William Pattison, ENGLAND, 1853
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‘ É at Australia House there was a model showing trees ands crops growing, a windmill and cattleÉ very nice. I told him I had no knowledge whatever of land. He said ‘You have nothing to unlearn. Your children are the right age and you are…
John F. W. Bird, England, 1923
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My wife Ida and I left Germany in 1954 with our three children, aged from 9 months to 6 years. We could not see any future for our children in our town & we wanted to better ourselves. I had finished my Middle School in 1948. My job as a plumber was secure…
Erwin Beckmann, Germany, 11/11/1954
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My Father, Terrence Sidney REEDS (born 1936) & Mother, Josephine Ella (born1938) decided to emigrate to Australia with their 4 children, me, the eldest, David Martin (born 1960) my sister, Mandy Susan (born 1962) my brother, Stephen Kevin…
David REEDS, ENGLAND, 1968
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Benjamin Rutter was born in 1855 at Catshill, Bromsgrove, Worcester, England, to David Rutter and Mary Rutter (nee Jones). He wasw one of five children.
Benjamin ytrained as a bricklayer in England. He arrived in Maryborough, Queensland on the …
Benjamin Rutter, England, 1878
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Frank Whitney, an only son, had grown up in Canada, on Montreal Island, at the confluence of the Siant Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers, and had run away to sea. In September 1852, when he was 26, his ship arrived in Hobsons Bay, Melbourne. Like his crewmates,…
Frank Whitney, Canada, 1852
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The Story Helga Parl (Postscript)
More than nine years had paced before I made my first journey back to Germany and Holland. I saw both parents and parents in-laws, and introduced to them Helen, their beautiful little granddaughter. I realised then…
Helga Parl, Germany, 1959
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We left England to have better opportunites for work and maybe a better lifestyle for the whole family as there was my mum and dad and six kids to look after.
I don’t know much about the journey as I was only 18 months old and we came over on a boat ( …
Derek Bailey, England, 1957
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The Story of Helga Parl (Introduction – Postscipt added as a separate story)
High up in the restaurant, situated mid-way the huge Euromast of Rotterdam in South Holland I am having a cup of coffee with an old Dutch friend. He and his family had…
Helga Parl, Germany, 1959
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SCHOENMAKER FAMILY IMMIGRATION HISTORY
Roelf was born to Annechiene and Jan Schoenmaker (farmers) in the province of Groningen, Northern Holland on December 13th 1913. Albertje was one of eight children of Lydia and Jan Kiel (farmers) from the…
Roelf & Albertje Schoenmaker, Holland, 1951
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Germans invaded Zaporozhye, Ukraine 1942 where mother and father worked on Dneiper Dam. Father Mykola Iszczyszyn, mother Ekaterina Shuvalova (Russian), sister Ludmilla (Lucy), and I Olga (1939) were taken to work in Schweinfurt, Germany for…
Olga Iszczyszyn (Alexandra), Ukraine, USSR, May-50
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My name is Alexandra O`Donnell and I would like to tell my story. My family, which includes my husband Martin and my children Geoffrey and Susannah, arrived in Australia on the 30th of June, 2008. It took us about a year to get all the necessary documents…
Alexandra O’Donnell, Germany, 2008
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