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 Great-Grandfather left Punjab India around 1860 to work as one of the ‘Afghan Cameleers’ around the Marree, Broken Hill and Port Augusta areas. They led teams of camels carting stores and mail for pastoral stations, as well as assisting…
Zaidulla Fazulla, India, c1860
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Reason for leaving homeland – War torn Europe, lived in Riga Latvia, Berlin, Hanover, Diepholz, Bremen, Frankfurt caught Nelly II, an old Italian troup carrier to Australia in 1949 and so we started our journey.
About the Journey – …
Stanislav Kivlins, Russia USSR, 1949
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It was 1955 and though 10 YEARS since the war’s end, housing in the U.K. was still desperately short. Living with relatives was very common and not an ideal situation for young couples. We were twenty three and twenty five years old and our son…
MARGARET/DERRICK SOMERFIELD, ENGLAND, 1955
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Fanny Shiels – a Scot – was born on the journey from London and Plymouth, England to Sydney, Australia in 1849 on the “Agenoria”. After 9 months the family moved on to Victoria, Australia
Lloyds Shipping Register –…
Fanny Shiels, At Sea, 1849
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We left our home in Plymouth, England, in November 1957. Dad had been sent here on posting with the British Navy – he was an electrical engineer – and we were to stay for three years. Mum and Dad made the decision to come, as they loved travel…
Jim and Dot, Jean, Stella and Margaret Doney, England, 1957
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Gabriel Douglas was born in 1822 in Muirkirk, Ayrshire, Scotland – he became a Watchmaker and Jeweller both in Scotland and in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Before him was a history of Clock and Watch making – his grand-father John…
Gabriel Douglas, Scotland, c1858
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Reason for leaving homeland – I was a Journalist and the Peruvian Government was a Military Dictatorshi. There was no freedom for the media .
I came her as a undercover reporter to report on the Australian Immigration program – in those…
Isabel Almendrades, Peru, 1974
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Elizabeth Shiels (nee Burrell/Birrell) born in 1818 at Abbotshall, Fife, Scotland left Plymouth on the “Agenoria” on 7/2/1849 for Sydney; arriving at her destination on 26/5/1849 – after a short period of months the family…
Elizabeth Shiels (nee Burrell), Scotland, 1849
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Susan Brooks of Brentford, Isleworth, Middlesex was born on 14/2/1839 to Andrew Brooks a Gardener and later a Policeman; and Susan/Susannah Haylock likely born near Bury, Suffolk. Susan’s mother Susan (nee Haylock) Brooks died in 1846 …
Susan Brooks, England, 1861
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William Shiels (Shields) born in 1815 in Markinch, Fife, Scotland was one of the 11 and perhaps 12 children of David Shiels (Shields) a Market Gardener and the first Pastor of the Whytescauseway (breakaway) Baptist Church in Kirkcaldy, Fife and …
William Shiels/Shields, Scotland, 1849
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Alfred Thompson born at St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, Gloucestershire in 1836 was appointed to the Victorian Railways as a and Locomotive Running Foreman in August, 1860 – he was later a train Engineer too. Alfred’s father was Henry …
Alfred Thompson, England, 1860
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My parents were both teachers in Germany, and my mother gave me one of those old maps from her classfrom to hang up in my room. It was a map of Australia, and I’ve been looking at it from my bed ever since I was 10 years old. I always loved the fact that…
Patrick Dockhorn, Germany, 2000
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Reason for leaving homeland – living in U.K- an overcwded country . Young and ambitious- keen to suceed. Pleased to get away from the Cold War
About the Journey – Fantastic . Flew on one of the first commercial flights across the Pacific…
William W WRIGLEY, Nth Ireland, 1952
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After three years in Africa doing my National Service I had a problem with the weather in the UK and a desire to see a bit more of the world, so Australia it was. My Auntie Bib was living here and she sponsored me for my new life down under.
I joined many other…
Edward (Ted) Lipsham, Portsmouth UK, 1957
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My father brought our family of four to Australia for the warmer climate and a better life. Our family consisted of my own father, his second wife and her son. I can’t remember, but the decision to immigrate was made by the two adults. I have memories…
Ingrid Andie Pedersen, Denmark, 15.2.1956
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He was sent out here as a convict and served several years of his sentence before applying to the courts for marriage to a free settler’s daughter. Then on the completion of his sentence he became a police officer at Liverpool in Sydney…
Patrick Doyle, Ireland, 1814
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Carl Victor Christiansen was born on the 11th January 1904 in Svendborg, Denmark. His father’s name was Kaj Wilhelm Christiansen, and Kaj was a sailor. His mother’s maiden name was Agnes Christophersen.
At some time, Carl Victor Christiansen…
Carl CHRISTIANSEN, Denmark, 1924
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[Reason for leaving homeland]
BETTER LIFE
[About the Journey]
BEAUTIFUL TO CAME TO SUCH A COUNTRY
[Impressions on Arrival]
VERY DIFFERENT FROM PORTUGAL , BUT AUSTRALIA IS BETTER COUNTRY FOR LIVING…
Emilio Vieira, Portugal, 1971
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We left England to have more opportunities for our son Brian who was then 7 and to have a better climate. My husband John had been to Australia in the 1920’s and during the depression and travelled all over on a motorbike. He loved Autralia so after…
Ellen Tamberlin (nee Redhead), UK Liverpool, 1947
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Donald McKenzie Calder
Donald McKenzie Calder (13/10/1838 Ð 6/9/1923) was raised as the youngest of five children of James Calder and Christina (nee McKenzie) near Dornoch in Sutherlandshire, Scotland. At the age of 17, Donald embarked on the…
Donald Calder, Scotland, 1856
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I, Rajni married Hem Sidharth’s father in 1985 and migrated to Australia. I came to Sydney where I have lived from 8 February 1986. Hem was born here at Ryde Hospital and we have remained here.
I had a number of misgivings about my migration. I …
Hem Sidharth and Rajeshwari Chandran, India, Born here
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John Sevior (Seviour) was likely to have been born in Somerset, England. Like all immigrants of his day he would have voyaged to Van Diemen’s Land for the adventure and opportunities.
John was a Settler/Farmer in the vicinity of “Ben…
John Sevior, England, c1829
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John Sample Leahy (O’Laochdha) was born in the County of Cork, Ireland. It was likely that John and his wife Ellen (McCarthy) Leahy came to Australia on the Bounty Scheme arriving firstly in Sydney. They had their first child Annie on 19 November,…
John Leahy, Ireland, c1833
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During WW2 all other members of my entire family perished . In 1957 things looked as if another war would start all over again. We had not long been married and had a son of the age of 5 years. There was no way I was going to take the chance to lose my new family,…
Cecilia Alwina Sophia Hoppenjans, Germany, 11/1/1957
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We believe her mother who died on the voyage was being transported for forgery.
The Friendship’s voyage was 7 months long and many died including her mother and possibly a brother, Her first memory was of seeing a sailor sewing a sack and he told…
Sarah Thatcher, England, 1818
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The Wrigley family migrated to Australia in 1927. Les and his twin sister Jess were 8 years old and their brother Tom was 16. It was a time of huge industrial unrest and with severely reduced working hours, their parents Elsie and Jimmy found it increasingly…
Leslie Wrigley, England, 1927
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Peter Falla, carpenter, left Guernsey in 1854 for the goldfields of Victoria.
He travelled to Australia on the maiden voyage of a clippership “Evening Star” of 847 tons built in Jersey and designed for the Australian wool run. The “Evening…
Peter Falla, Guernsey, 1855
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