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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After the Second World War, Treviso was over-populated. We were a farming family that was struggling against poverty and landlord corruption. I believed the only solution to my family’s problems, was to emigrate and prepare the way for other…
Italo Dall’Armi, Castelucco Treviso Italy, 1949
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Remembered by daughter Vinka
Dad came to Broken Hill from Blato, Yugoslavia in 1925. He was the eldest in a family of eight sisters and one brother so he came out here to work and buy land for his family in Yugoslavia. It was a hard life, even after he paid…
Luka and Jela Bartulovich, Blato Korcula, Croatia, 1925
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My father, Frank and eldest brother Joe, left Malta during the First World War because there was no work and it was very restrictive during that time in Malta. They came to Broken Hill and worked around the district on the railway sites and roads before…
Emily Tonna, Naxxar Malta, 1923
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Rudi and his two brothers Marin and Slavka left Yugoslavia in 1932 to join their father, Joe in Broken Hill. He had migrated to Australia in 1924 and was working on the Broken Hill Mines
Rudi attended a local primary school as a twelve year old and was …
Rudolph Alagich, Triforna Dalmatia Yugoslavia, 1932
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In the beginning, it was scary, very frightening at school, with all the kids around you and you thought you were downhill and they were all uphill but it didn\’t seem to last for long because we had a good teacher. If she saw kids laughing at us,…
Merica (Maria) Zaknich Petkovich, Blato Korcula, Croatia, 1961
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When we arrived at school, we could speak two words and they were, ‘yes\’ and ‘no\’, but didn\’t know when to use them. The other Slav girls attending the school were strictly instructed not to translate for us. That…
Katica (Katie) Zaknich Maxwell, Blato Korcula Croatia, 1961
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Marija and her two daughters prepared to join their husband and grandparents in Australia when Ante, their husband and father told his wife in letters that living in Broken Hill would be better not just for them – but also for their children.…
Marija Zaknich, Blato Korcula, Croatia, 1961
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Ante and his wife Marija decided to join the senior Zaknich family in Broken Hill. Ante initially came alone, sailing on Sorrento, an Italian ship that arrived in Melbourne on 5th February 1956. He flew to Broken Hill where he was greeted by his mother…
Ante Zaknich, Blato, Korcula, Croatia, 1956
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A BRIDGE AND A BULWARK. AUSTRALIAN ANGLO INDIANS. By Dr Gloria J. Moore
Part111
A familiar pattern for Anglo Indian families was the young soldier from the British Isles, including Scotland or Ireland, arriving to the East India Company armies. …
Dr Gloria Jean Moore, India, 1965
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A BRIDGE AND A BULWARK. AUSTRALIAN ANGLO INDIANS. By Dr Gloria J. Moore
PART11
Our origins came when the Portuguese, the Dutch and then the British (1600) arrived in India, and as definite policies of their East India Companies encouraged the marriages…
Dr Gloria Jean Moore, India, 1965
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A BRIDGE AND A BULWARK. AUSTRALIAN ANGLO INDIANS. By Dr Gloria J. Moore
Drawn from two worlds, understanding both worlds, bridging those worlds in pride and reconciliation – these were some of the strengths which took Barack Obama in a landslide…
Dr Gloria Jean Moore, India, 1965
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Robert Fry was born about 1808, and on July 18th 1835, he married Margaret Williams, at Trevethin, Monmouth, England. Over the next twenty-one years Robert and Margaret Fry had a family of nine children.
Margaret Fry died on July 8th 1856, aged only…
Robert Fry, Monmouth, Wales, 1859
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RICHARD JOHN WHITE CARTWRIGHT
R.J.W CARTWRIGHTS GREAT GRANDFATHER WAS ADMIRAL RICHARD KEMPENFELT (1758-1782) AND HIS GREAT GREAT GRANDFATHER (OF SWEDISH ARISTOCRACRY) WAS IN THE SERVICE OF JAMES 11 OF ENGLAND AND LATER A CAPTAIN IN THE BRITISH…
Richard John White Cartwright, England, 1852
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The Boersch Family
Father Werner H Boersch – born 6.7.1930
Mother Eva Anna Boersch/nee Strebber Ð born 12-?-1929
Migrated in August 1960 on MSS AURELIA with 4 children.
Elke Ruth – born 13.6.51
Hans Werner Ð born 18.5.53
Frauke Marina…
Werner and Eva Boersch, Germany, Aug-60
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Paul (Dad) born Amsterdam in 1901 & Jacoba (Mum) born Haarlem in 1908 married in 1935 – a dedicated hard working couple with five sons & five daughters Paul, Frank, Anne, Henry, Willy, Fred, Theresia, Theo, Antoinette & Lucy. …
Paul F and Jacoba J Richter and Family, Netherlands, 1955
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David Hugh Kane (my father) migrated to Australia in 1927. He was born in Castlederg Northern Ireland on the 4th November 1910. He was one of 10 Children and his eldest brother John was killed in Europe during World War 1. His youngest brother, born …
David & Florrie Kane, Northern Ireland, 1927
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Noel Deane-Spread was born in Mussourie, India on 23 December 1924. He grew up there & was raised by his grandmother and aunt & was educated at St George\’s College in Barlowgunj. At the age of 18 he joined the Air Force & trained…
Noel Deane-Spread, India, 1948
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Having survived WW-II a la Anne Frank, hidden in Amsterdam, moving from one home to another, Herman was not too happy about the Cold War prospect in the 1970s. As Russia and America were putting rockets all around Europe Herman decided to go away as …
Herman van Praag, The Netherlands, 21/12/78
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Felisbelo Correia was born in 1942, the third child in a large family of eight children, in a village called Paradela, located in the North-East region of Portugal near the city of Miranda do Douro. In the post World War II period, the family moved to…
Felisbelo Correia, Portugal, 1975
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William Stewart HEARD and Daisy Lillian (Nee La Farre) Married in Epsom, Surrey, England in 1902. They had 6 sons, and one daughter, Sylvia Lillian Irena. All 9 travelled to Australia, on the Barrabool, recorded on 11th Nov 1922 going into Freemantle.…
William Stewart Heard, England, 1922
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Emanuel was eighteen years old when he emigrated. He arrived in Melbourne in 1901 with just five pounds in his pocket. He came out to better himself and get away from the turmoil that was in Europe before the beginning the First World War..
He first worked…
Emanuel Pedergnana, St Bernardo Rabbi, Tyrol, Italy, 1901
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Shamroze Khan migrated to Australia in about 1894 at the age of seventeen and landed at Port Pirie where he was employed by Broken Hill Proprietary Limited. He arrived in Broken Hill in 1905 and stayed two years before moving to a place called Taraville…
Shamroze Khan, Pathan, Afhganistan, 1894
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Abdul Ziadulla Fazulla was one of the first cameleers to make his home permanently in Broken Hill. He had a wide range of clients around Wilcannia, Tibooburra and Wentworth.
In 1917, his relatives, who lived somewhere between England and Pakistan,…
Abdul Ziadulla Fazulla, Punjab, India, 1894
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Thomas Delarue, England, 1849
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The declaration of Martial Law in 1972 horrified the whole country and with the thought that we might never regain our democracy, my husband Ruben and I were very concerned about the kind of future our children would have in such situation. This prompted…
Zenaida Oringo, Philippines, 1982
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The living in Zimbabwe was getting too difficult. Law and Order were non existant. Torture, robberies. murder, beatings, highjackings. There did not seem to be any future and the white people were not wanted by Mugabe. The farming community had …
Les and Moira Wood, Zimbabwe, 2003
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Reason for leaving homeland – My husband was offered a job at the University of Tasmania.
About the Journey – 27 hours on a Qantas flight with a 4 month old baby Sally. Hostesses asked “Why on earth do you want to go to Tasmania ?”…
Margaret Eldridge, UK, 1964
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