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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Edward Norrie, along with his siblings Francis, Elizabeth and Mary arrived in Australian from Scotland aboard the steam ship Themistocles with his father, Stephen and mother Jane (nee Binnie Tulloch died 1913) who had been married on Dec 23rd 1903.…
Edward Norrie, Scotland, 1912
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My Mother Motria (pronounced Motya) was living in the Ukraine in the 30’s when the communists annexed the country. The starvation of the Ukraine killed millions including both her parents. She was taken from the town of Uman north to Kiev to…
Motria Batum, Ukraine, 1949
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My parents departed England on the SS Orcades. They emigrated from England as 10 pound poms – having to pay the sum of 10 pounds for passage. My father Lawrence was a machinery fitter of Gestetner duplicating machines and my mother was a change…
Lilian and Lawrence Mellowship, England, 1958
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Edward David Armstrong came to Australia as a young babe in arms. His mother, Edith Alice Shoesmith(born 1892, Middlesex, UK), married a serving Australian soldier, David Cunningham Armstrong. They married 24 December, 1916 at St Luke’s…
Edward David Armstrong, United Kingdom, c1919
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Reason for leaving homeland – To make a better live for his wife and three daughters
About the Journey – very long, on the last run of the troop ship the Volendam.
Impressions on Arrival – very excited, but had trouble with the language…
dirk van der Meer, Holland, 1950
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Imagine you are in a world where you don’t speak the language, you don’t understand the culture and you don’t have anyone to turn to. The reason you are in this world is because you can’t go home. Forced to flee your home, you…
Dana Lim, Cambodia, 1985
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My small family 2 adults & 2 children (7 & 4 yrs) set sail on the USS Australis on 08th February 1972. My sister and I did not really understand the enorminty of what was going on. We were leaving behind everything we knew and loved, our grandparents,…
Roy Norden, United Kingdom, 1972
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MY MOTHER MYSELF AND MY BROTHER WERE PERSECUTED BY THE NEW REGIME WHICH CAME INTO OUR CITY (RIJEKA-FIUME) AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR. MY FATHER WAS AN ENLISTED SOLDIER IN THE ITALIAN ARMY. HE SURVIVED THE WAR, BUT ONCE HOME HE DECIDED TO FIGHT FOR THE…
KLARA STEFAN, CROATIA, Jun-57
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Reason for leaving homeland – lack of jobs
About the Journey – my parents and I travelled by sea on the “Oceania” from Genova in Italy to Australia. We went through the Suez Canal, Ceylon then Melbourne and arrived in Sydney…
Angela and Rino Zanetti, Italy, 1956
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My father worked for a media outlet in Manila, Philippines from the early sixties to the seventies.
My father had overcome adversity and had built a comfortable life for himself, his wife, my grandmother and my two brothers and sister. In the late …
Antonio Cosgayon, Philippines, 1973
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Reason for leaving homeland – Demise of the Film Industry and Massive recession of NZ economy. Departed for Canada 1988.
Lived in North America and Europe for 2 years. Alas unable to find a stable niche in the Film industry,
Travelled to Fremantle…
Howard Moses, New Zealand, 1990
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I am Rajiv and was born and brought up in Chennai, India. Chennai is a southern city in the state of Tamil Nadu within India. I was born to Y. Raju and Rajalaksmi as their second son. I have an elder brother who lives in USA. My dad is a practising chartered…
RAJIV RAJU, INDIA, 2001
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Reason for leaving homeland – To seek a better way of life. I came with my twin brother and younger sister.
About the Journey – We all came over on the SS Canberra on A deck. Dad knew someone who worked for P&O!!It took 6 weeks. My brother…
david hitchings, england, 1964
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Joseph Bull, framework knitter, was born 3/11/1797, son of Thomas Bull (woollen manufacturer) and Sarah Bull, Leicestershire, England, and fought alongside his father in battle of Waterloo, losing the thumb of his left hand in battle.
19/10/1820:…
Joseph Bull, England, 8/9/1821
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My father corredly predicted the oncoming war and the holocaust..He had to have great deal of money to comply with the requirements of the landing permit which was arranged by him taking a trip to th USA, and obtaining a loan from my American uncle.…
robert molnar, hungary, 1939
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We left Glasgow after WW11 to find a better way of life in “the promised land”, parents and 2 daughters. My parents paid the debts of a man and his Australian wife, who desperately wanted to return to her family. We were then nominated by…
Jessie, (aka Nettie) Howett (nee McGregor), Scotland, 1949
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My mother left Latvia when an exodus of people moved to Germany to escape the communist regime.
Too young to recall the journey from Latvia, however the days in the Displaced Persons Camp in Germany was a happy time for me together with my mother, sister…
Mara Kolomitsev, Latvia, 1949
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Joseph Bulluss was born in 1840 at Hockley Hill Birmingham and was baptised on 2nd August 1840 in Birmingham.
Joseph accompanied his parents and siblings to Australia. It is believed that they were looking for a better life and more opportunities…
Joseph Bulluss, England, 1856
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This is the story of my Great Great Grandfather. as I know it. SAMUEL JAMES was baptised on 27 June 1784 at Chelmsford Essex. Like many others, at the tender age of thirteen years for whatever offence was tried in Essex GD, on 5 March 1798 and sentenced…
Samuel James, England, 1802
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Linda together with her mother, sister and 2 brothers left San Zeno in 1936 to join her father Giuseppe and brother Bruno Favetta. Giuseppe and Bruno had migrated earlier in 1930 to Griffith NSW.
The journey by ship took around 40 days and Linda’s…
Rosalinda Maria Favetta, Italy, 1936
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I grew up in the south of England, in a village called Mytchett (Surrey). It was an unremarkable childhood in a cash poor home but with no shortage of food. Dad worked as a market gardener so we always had heaps of veggies on the table. Childhood was pretty…
Norman Cheale, England, 1971
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Andrij Derezyckyj was born in the Eastern Ukraine, in a village known as Perevelovka, and came from a large family of 11 siblings including himself. He never saw family or relatives after the finish of the war, and went to the UK as a displaced person…
Andrij Derezyckyj, Ukraine, 1968
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Reason for leaving homeland – For a better life, due to religous unrest in Ireland.
With family of nine children they were 10 pound immigrants. We were only here in Melbourne a short time had a lovely home in Moonee Ponds. One evening a knock at…
mary harris, nrth Ireland, 1964
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I left England aged 26 to see some of the world before settling down. Australia seemed like a good place to try. I had a job arranged, but knew no-one, and had never been here before.
I cried my eyes out after leaving my girlfriend (now wife) and friends…
John Howarth, England, 1989
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Marcella arrived in Australia in 1938. came to Griffith NSW and met Eugenio Olivero. They were married in Sydney and returned to Griffith to live where they worked hard together growing vegetables until they were able to buy a farm at Tharbogang, …
Marcella Zandona, Italy, 1938
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As a young married couple with a one year old daughter we decided to start a new life in Australia. My husband was a newly qualified accountant and felt he could make a better life in Australia. He applied for three situations in Melbourne and was accepted…
Betty & Tom Eager, Scotland, 1961
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My Story
Funny story! My father went to a local GP for the treatment of frostbite on his fingers and the Doctor suggested jokingly that dad should move to a warmer climate as he couldn’t tolerate the cold. Dad must have thought that was sound advice…
Therese Scheer, Germany, 1971
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