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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Living in Berlin employment was hard to get. When there was short term work my Mum Gerda and Dad Jo were absent from the home for several hours a day and my brother Wolfgang and I were often home alone and we always got into mischief. My Dad finally said …
Gerda Elsa Berta Ršder, West Germany, 1956
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Reason for leaving homeland – high unemployement
About the Journey – flew with ALITALIA, mother four children, 1 language
Impressions on Arrival – Mum’s words were “Where did you bring us, to the end of the earth?”.…
Rosita & family Marino, Italy, 1972
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After the 2nd World War my father decided to migrate to Australia away from Europe. That was his excuse but I am sure that after being in the Royal Navy for 10 years including the war years, Dad could not settle down and still had the travelling bug so he…
Colin Page, England, 1/19/2014
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In the mid 70’s my mother and I arrived in Australia, with my father following 12 months later. However, my story starts well before that.
My Mother was born in South Africa, but being dissatisfied with that county\’s apartheid policies…
Chris Malcolm, Northern Rhodesia, c1974
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I was born in 1952 at Preston, Lancashire, England into a working class family. Proud Preston, as the town had been known for centuries. Preston began as a country market town. One theory is that the town was founded by monks around 670 A.D. and is probably…
Christine Begg, England, 1971
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Connie left Malta for a better life and to reunite the family as husband Gerald and sons Joe and Edwin migrated a year earlier.
The family travelled by an Italian ship via suez canal. The boat stopped at Eden only, sailing straight to Sydney at Pyrmont.…
Connie Haber, Malta, 20th February 1960
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Gerald migrated to Australia in search of a better life
He journeyed by Ship to Australia with two of his sons, Joe and Edwin, arriving in Sydney in may 1959.
He set about preparing a home for his family in Rozelle. Later Gerald and Connie Purchased a …
Gerald Haber, Malta, 5/8/1959
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Story of Dr Egon F. Kunz PART TWO
For some years he had pursued a personal interest in unearthing the story of Hungarian migration to Australia. This research bourgeoned into his thesis for a Master of Arts (honours) from Sydney University. By the …
Dr EGON F. Kunz, Hungary, 1949
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PART ONE:
Egon Kunz was born into a prominent Budapest merchant family. Two devastating events marred his childhood: his parent\’s divorce and the collapse of the family business Jozsef Kunz & Company.
Egon completed his secondary…
Dr EGON F. KUNZ, HUNGARY, 1949
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Ernest Leviny was born at Szepes-Szombat ( now Spisska Sobota of Slovakia) near the Tatra Mountains in 1818. He was ethnic Hungarian but citizen of the Austrian Empire ruling at the time in today\’s Slovakia. To improve his skill as a silversmith…
ERNEST (ERNÓ) LEVINY, HUNGARY (Now Slovakia), 1853
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Following his schooling in Hungary, István (Stephen) studied in Vienna and back in Hungary in the school of mining engineering of Szelmeczbánya in Upper Hungary ( now in Slovakia) , and became the manager of a copper and silver mine.
Arriving in…
STEPHEN (ISTVÁN) GOETZL, HUNGARY, 1888
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Charles (Károly) was twenty one years of age, when he was among the first of a noble band of patriots who took up arms against the Austrian Empire in the bloody war for Hungarian independence of 1848-49. As a nobleman himself, he sacrificed his property…
CHARLES (KÁROLY) NYULASY, HUNGARY, 1853
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As a farming family and due to the political situation we left Zimbabwe for Australia for a better future for our family.
Sight unseen we chose Australia but due to immigration restrictions Martin arrived six weeks before the rest of the family to …
Martin, Fiona,Nicola & Stuart Mead, Zimbabwe, 2000
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Birth
Amelia Hartwell was born October 1837 in Rozel Cottage on Fountain Street, just uphill from St Peter Port\’s CBD on Guernsey, Channel Islands. Amelia\’s father, James, was one of four siblings who settled here for business purposes,…
Amelia Woodward, Guernsey, Channel Islands, 1882
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Birth
Charles John Woodward was of Anglo-Irish stock, born January 1837 in Drumbaragh manor house near Kells in co Meath, Ireland. Wider family were landed gentry. His father Edward, MD, seems to have worked himself to death during the potato famine…
Charles J Woodward, Guernsey, Channel Islands, 1881
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The reason we left England was primarily economic. George ( my father) worked hard in a paper mill and could see no future for his children. George was the youngest of a large Catholic family and fought with distinction in WW2. His parents died while…
GEORGE HARGREAVES, ENGLAND, 1965
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John Brown and wife Sarah arrived in Australia on 7th April 1827 per the ship “Elizabeth” which had sailed from Plymouth on 25th November 1826 under the command of Captain Collins. Although he does not appear on the list of cabin passengers…
John Brown, Cornwall, England, 1827
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Young & looking for a better life
I paid 199.00 pounds for my fare, flew out from Gatwick Airport on British Caledonia to Singapore then by Ship called the Eastern Queen to Fremantle then Perth to Melbourne by air. I was very nervous but excited…
RON COURT, England, 1970
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William Green and his wife Susan left Norfolk in England, with 4 small children to make a better life for them all in a new country.
They were aboard “The Humboldt” a merchant ship carrying 295 passengers and 28 crew. Three children died…
William Green, England, 1852
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My parents had some financial problems and decided to try their luck in another country, they tried for Canada first, but because if illness were rejected. So Australia was the next choice.
We spent the last night in Denmark with my grandmother and…
Anne Overbeck, Denmark, 15.02.1956
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William Dwyer was tried in the Newcastle-on-Tyne Quarter Sessions in 1840 with the murder of John Mooney by throwing him through an open window three stories high, by reason of which he received a mortal fracture in his right thigh of which he died …
William Singleton Dwyer, Ireland, 1840
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Life in post war Italy was very hard. I was young and had a young family to support – my wife Anna and our four young children – Elena, Angelo, Giacomo and Mario. I wanted them to be educated and have a good future. I heard that Australia was…
Antonio Pellegrino, Italy, 1955
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Thomas Willington’s forbears were Normans who arrived in England at the time of William the Conqueror. Many branches of the family had lived in Warwickshire in the Midlands of England ever since that time. In the early 1700’s Thomas…
Thomas Willington, England, 18/12/1830
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We left cold Scotland to come to Wollongong with four children aged nine years thru to three years old to pursue work opportunities with BHP Wollongong.
The journey was great we flew out to Australia with Qantas stopping in Rome, Bahrain and Singapore.…
Helen Jane Clydesdale Bannon, Scotland, 1972
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Abraham and Ann Pethick together with their seven children arrived on the barque Cleveland on 18th December 1839 at Port Misery in South Australia.…
Abraham & Ann Pethick, Cornwall, England, 1839
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Charles Micallef was born in Malta on 12 July 1920 to Maltese parents, Ricardo and Rosina Micallef. He was one of eleven children, and the family was poor.
In 1943 during the Second World War and at the age of 23, he and his brother Joseph went to Egypt …
Charles Micallef, Malta, 1949
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Australia Ð Dad had talked about it. It was 1971 and I was 14 years old and in eighth grade. It wasn\’t possible that Dad would want to take us away from our family and friends to a place we knew nothing about but if Dad said it was going to happen, …
Deborah Willenbrecht, America, 1971
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