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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My husband Natarajan Visvanathan obtained a scholarship to study Ph.D in Astronomy in ANU, Canberra.
As we were only married in November 1961, I accompanied him. We flew from Chennai airport to Sydney and then to Canberra.
It was a very long trip at…
Gomathi Visvanathan, India, Apr-62
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I left England from Southampton on the Sitmar line, Fairsea, in November 1966. As a 10 year old, I immigrated to Australia with Mum, Carol, and Dad, Richard, as well as my older Brother, Peter, my older sister, Denise, and my baby sister Linda. Dad had…
Michael Cannon, England, 1967
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Laurence was one of ten siblings. Along with two of his brothers, they left Ireland because of the famine and a chance of a new beginning in a new country. Denis, their father was a small land owner from Maynooth in County Kildare. Laurence was the first…
Laurence Mooney, Ireland, 1853
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Conditions in Bristol and other English cities were quite unhealthy in the first half of the 19th century with epidemics of cholera and other fatal diseases most years. At this time, cities had no sewerage system and, when it rained, houses in the …
William Fryer KING, England, 1854
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At age 20 Wiktor was conscripted into the German army. He really had no choice because his parents would have been interred in a labour camp. Wiktor emigrated from Denmark where he had been a refugee after the war, together with his wife Aniela, and …
Wiktor (Victor) Rozycki, Poland, 1950
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Born in Koenigshan (Sudetenland) near the Silesian border, we were of German origin, living in a region that belonged to Czechoslovakia. My parents had a small dairy farm, my earliest memory of WWII is 1944-45 when the first German refugees from …
Hans Bischof, Germany, 1958
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PHELAN – Richard Wigham (1911 – ) & Barbara (1911-2002)
THEIR STORY by Barbara Smith (Nee Phelan)
Newcastle-on-Tyne England, June 1951 and the PHELAN family are off to Australia. Dick & Barbara together with their four …
Richard W. & Barbara PHELAN, ENGLAND, 1951
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My mother Lucie Laufer was born in Vienna into a wealthy Jewish family. Her father owned a textile import business in Rudolfsplatz 1 near the Danube Canal in the heart of the city. By the age of 12, my mother was an orphan. She had two older brothers –…
Lucie Morrisby nee Laufer, Austria, 1939
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My Mum, Motya was orphaned by Stalin\’s starvation of the Ukraine in the 30\’s & taken from Uman north to Kiev. She noticed that those who were good at sports received better food & treatment. While small in size she excelled…
Motria Batum, Ukraine, 1949
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The Anglo-Indians in India, after Independence in 1947, enjoyed certain privileges. Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India, perceived the significant role the Anglo-Indians played in the growth of the British …
Joe Bailey, India, 1983
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Reason for leaving homeland
Robert Johnston was a scientific and mathematical genius who worked for Einstein\’s GENEVA CERN project as a young man. He then worked in Universities in Scotland, Ireland and England before coming to live in …
ROBERT JOHNSTON, SCOTLAND, 1969
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Dad joined the British army when he was 20 and was a member of the Royal Hussars. When he returned home at the end of the Second World War, he became very restless and decided he wanted to leave England. Mum vetoed Canada and South Africa but said yes to …
Sidney Causebrook, England, 1954
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Many history books imply that it was the English settlers who established our Australian farming traditions in this country. In fact, many different nationalities helped carve out our rural history, and a significant and largely unrecognised…
Johann and Elizabetha Iffland, Germany, 1848
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IN 1962 AT THE AGE OF 22 ATHANASIOS TSARPALAS LEFT GREECE. ATHANASIOS HAD FINISHED HIGH SCHOOL BUT COULDN’T GET A PLACE IN UNIVERSITY DUE TO POLITICAL UNREST IN GREECE AT THE TIME. THE SON OF A POOR FARMER, ATHANASIOS KNEW HIS FUTURE IN GREECE…
ATHANASIOS TSARPALAS, GREECE, 1962
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Angelo Salvestro was born on the 10th March, 1910 in Cavaso Del Tomba, Treviso, Italy.
Marcella Salvestro (ne Salvestrin) was born on the 28th June, 1910 in Cavaso Del Tomba, Treviso, Italy.
At that time things were very hard in Italy and Angelo followed…
Angelo & Marcella Salvestro, ITALY, 1927&1933
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I was born in Venlo, Holland. My family came to Australia for a new life after World War 2. I don’t remember the immigration time as I was a baby but I was told it was fun, exciting on the trip over on the boat. There was also some apprehension about…
Albert Lammers, Holland, 1955
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Our family was influenced by my brother Brian wishing to explore another part of the world and my
father, also restless, became enthused with the idea . Before long we, my father, brother, mother and
self, were packing up and leaving our homeland much…
Richard Waddell, England, 1951
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My parents were born in London England and moved to Bristol in the mid thirties and that is where they spent World War 2. My mother’s birthday fell on the 26th of December 1942 and a bouncing baby boy arrived on the 27th of September 1943, so began…
Michael Mills, England, 1973
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I came to Australia because, having been here a few times as an officer in the Merchant Navy, I knew it to be a land of opportunity. I didn’t want to give up the sea and had no idea what I would do ashore as I was qualified only as a Navigator of ships,…
Michael Hills, England, 1951
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Reason for leaving homeland – I always felt, that Europe was overcrowded and possibly close to another war; also there are too many rules and regulations; impossible to buy any property / house unless very rich. We also wanted to start a completely…
hermann riedl, germany, 1980
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I first came to Australia in July 1981 to undertake postgraduate study at the Australian National University (ANU), Canberra under a scholarship from the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID). I flew from Manila by Qantas …
CONSTANCIA MARANAN, PHILIPPINES, 1995
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Benjamin Hasan journeyed to Australia to study Electrical Engineering at the University of Tasmania under the Colombo Plan. He met his wife-to-be Ann in 1966 and married her after graduation in 1967. They decided to stay in Australia and Ben became…
Benjamin Hasan, Malaysia, 1963
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Giovanni Amati Buonaccorsi was born in Salerno, a town in southern Italy, on 16 August 1924. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea in the region of Campania. He has two sisters and two brothers. His sister Annamaria also immigrated…
Giovanni Amati Buonaccorsi, Italy, 1960
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Bessie, our Mum.
Bessie, my Mum, the much beloved wife of my dad Joe,was the oldest of three English born children of parents who escaped from Russia to England during the 1915 Bolshevik Revolution. Her father had been a musician in the Tzar’s…
Bessie Lily Gould, England, 31/10/48
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Thomas Ramsden was born in Beith Ayrshire, Scotland on the 26th April 1895.
As a young man he was apprenticed to a Glasgow Ship Yard as a Shipwright. Due to his father\’s health the family was advised to move to a warmer climate. Application was…
Thomas Ramsden, Scotland, 1911
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Valter Severino Trevisan was born on 24th August 1928 in Cervignano Del Friuli Italy about 100km north of Venice.
Valter grew up during the war years and life was not easy, particularly for his parents trying to feed 6 children. It was not uncommon …
Valter Severino Trevisan, Italy, 1952
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I was born in Rajka in the north-west of Hungary near the Austrian border next to the Danube. My father, Istvan, was a farmer, fisherman and timber trader and he served in the Hungarian army in WW1. I grew up with my brothers and sister – Istvan,…
Imre Schnierer, Hungary, 1950
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