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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Stephen (István) Ferencz (1926-2004)
Story
Stephen (István) was born in 1926, in the village of Gerse in county Vas in Western Hungary. Soon after the end of WW2, he crossed the border nearby to became a refugee in Austria under the International…
Stephen (István) Ferencz, Hungary, 1949
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Colonel Andrew I. Mattay (1941-2004)
Story
Andrew Ivan Mattay (1941-2004) was born in Budapest from Hungarian and British parents. Following his high school education in Hobart, he joined the Australian Army in 1960. Early in his military career…
Andrew Mattay, Hungary, c1950
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In 1961 when I was just ten years of age my mother, Agnes, died of cancer. I was subsequently extracted from boarding school – St. Joseph’s College, Dumfries – by my estranged father, James, and forced to live in a toxic household…
John Ogilvie COLLINS, Scotland, 1967
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I was born in Ormskirk, Lancashire England. I have a sister, Nina. We lived with our Grandparents before, and for a short time after, my Mothers death in 1944. My Father was poor and without a wife he was unable to look after my sister (Nina) and myself…
Ann SWIFTE (nee DUXBURY), ENGLAND, 1950
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Reason for leaving homeland – PARENTS WANTED A BETTER LIVE AND FUTURE FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR DAUGHTERS.
About the Journey – LEFT AMSTERDAM 11 APRIL 1960 IN THE “JOHAN VAN OLDENBARNEVELDT” SHIP VIA; SOUTHAMPTON/ENGLAND,…
LEUNTJE ROELOFJE (LONNIE) van BRANDWIJK-van SWEEDEN, HOLLAND, 18/05/60
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Reason for leaving homeland – HE WANTED TO SEE WHAT AUSTRALIA WAS LIKE AND IF HE LIKED IT; SAID TO HIS PARENTS AND SISTER, HE WAS ONLY GOING FOR 2 YEARS. IT TOOK 22 YEARS BEFORE HE VISITED THEM WITH HIS FAMILY.
About the Journey – HE CAME IN …
JACOB (JACK) van BRANDWIJK, HOLLAND, 1/8/1957
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My father, mother and sister, who was 6 months old at the time, left Germany in November 1952 and caught the ship “MV Johan Van Olden Barneveldt” from Holland. My father thought it would be a good idea to immigrate to Australia and try his…
Helmut Scholz, Germany, 1952
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GEOFFREY MINETT PENNELL 18/1/1908 Ð 6/9/1986
Geoffrey Pennell was born in Welling, Kent in 1908. At 16 he went up to London, called at Australia House and was accepted as a Barwell Boy. This was a scheme initiated by a former South Australian Premier…
Geoffrey Minett Pennell, England, 1924
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Reason for leaving homeland – William, his wife Elizabeth, and his family left Cornwall to come to South Australia to work in the newly opened copper mine at Burra.
They sailed on the “Marion” and their youngest son, Richard Rowe,…
William Stevens, England, 1856
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Daniel Martin left Cornwall, with his wife, Mary Ann, daughter, Elizabeth aged 5, and son, Arthur aged 3, when the mining industry collapsed to work as a miner in the Wallaroo copper mines
About the Journey – It was a swift journey on the “Salamanca”…
Daniel Martin, England, 1866
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Margaret HENRY (nee McSeveny)
Margaret McSeveny or McSavany was born 25-12-1807, the second of three known children of William McSeveny and Adams nee Ewart. ‘Adams’ was a female family name used frequently in the Ewart family. It …
Margaret HENRY (McSeveny), Ireland, 1838
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John Henry
John Henry was born about 1804 in either Scotland or Ireland. John married Margaret McSeveny 18-12-1824 in the Parish of Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland. For the next thirteen years or so they lived in the Kirkoswald area and John became a …
John HENRY, Scotland, 1838
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Hermann Dohle was born in Bremen, Germany, the date is unknown. Hermann married Friederike Siebenmeyer (also known as Meyer), and they had eight children, namely, Julie, Johannas (Johann), Hermann Adolph, Ann Friederike, Diedrich Fritz, Marie…
Johannas Dohle, Germany, 1858
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My great great cousin Julien Deleurence came to Australia via Indochina from France at the age of 15 on his uncle’s ship. He ran away from the ship, went to Dubbo and married a Roberts (Emily). The ship came back to Sydney to pick him up, but did …
Guy Brehon, France, 1963
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Reason for leaving homeland – In 1856, 14 year old Emma Archer was brought to Australia during the Victorian gold rushes, by her widower father Samuel, a former soldier. For the previous 12 years, the family had been stationed with Samuel’s…
EMMA ARCHER, ENGLAND, 1856
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I left the USA and went to Austria to study during my 3rd year of university in 1967. While traveling in France, I met Ewan (Kenneth )Cameron, who was born in Ceylon as his family were tea planters there. Though he went on to study in Oxford, England, and…
Dorothy Cameron, USA, c1972
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Jutta was a girl who loved dancing and grew up in Vienna, Austria. Her Jewish mother Elizabeth was married to Emile HŸbsch who was thirty years her senior. Elizabeth had a daughter Viola to Emile in 1918 and on holiday in 1919 had a love affair with a …
Jutta Matters (nee HŸbsch), Austria, 1939
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In post-war Holland in a small village, Cornelius and Jacoba struggled to maintain their 15 children. Years of occupation took their toll and post war, the struggle to feed their children was still insurmountable. Father was the only earner so the…
Jacoba & Cornelius Joore, Holland, 1954
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Benjamin O’Connor migrated from Ireland via England on the 29 March 1892 from London, bound for Brisbane, Queensland aboard the steamship “Jelunga”. The ship had a registered tonnage of 3371. She carried 276 passengers. Ben…
Benjamin O’Connor, Cork,Ireland, 1892
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Walter was born in 1917 in Breslau Germany and was the son of Jewish parents, Max and Emma Mattersdorff. After his wife died in 1936, Max started making plans for his son, Walter, and daughter, Hella, to emigrate to Australia because he feared the rise…
Walter Matters, Germany, 1938
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Reason for leaving homeland – My mother hated the cold and rain in England
About the Journey – My father, mother, 2 sisters and myself travelled on the “Strathaird” from Southhampton to Perth then on to Sydney. It took 5 …
Barbara Diprose, England, 1955
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The Stellmacher Family
Very little family history has come down the generations, but much can be gleamed from the Shipping Agents (Ashin Morrison) charter of the Immigrant ship ‘Figaro’ on its journey departing Hamburg, Germany …
Christian Stellmacher, Prussia, 1870
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The Koch Family of Ridgeway Place/Ceylon/Alt Ruppin comprising Melroy, Thelma, Theone, John, Gordon, Bernadette, Dawn, David, Roger and Andrew migrated from Colombo, Ceylon to Sydney in 1963/64.
The main reason for the migration was the fact…
thelma/melroy koch, ceylon/srilanka, 1963/1964
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Reason for leaving homeland – difficult times in Berlin after the war
About the Journey – Our ship the MS Skaubryn sank in the Indian Ocean on 1/04/1958
Impressions on Arrival – Old buildings, Cars drive on wrong side of the road,…
For a better life Lehmann, Germany, 1958
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JAMES WILLIAM PETERS STORY
Born in Chatteris England in 1825 his father Charlie born in 1800 married Elizabeth Lancaster in 1821. The youngest brother to Hannah and William, he worked as a farm labourer while his father was a postman.
Times were tough…
James William Peters, England, 1849
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My mother-in-law, Gina Pezzutto has told us over the years of the harsh life in Italy during WWII – giving birth to 3 children during curfew times, unable to go to a hospital; trying to escape German bombers which used Italian citizens as target…
Domenico Pezzutto, Italy, 1951
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My life journey has taken me from France to Australia where I have been living since 1986. After completing a Maitrise/M.A. in English Language and Literature, I came to Melbourne to take up a position with the Department of Education of Victoria …
Gisele Muglia-Smith, France, 1986
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