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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Maria Kellari
Maria Kellari was born in a little Greek village called Ellinohori, on the 15 September 1933. Ellinohori actually means Greek village and it is still very small. It is located about 10km from the coastal town of Kiato and has beautiful…
Maria Kellari, Greece, 1957
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Ralph Alexander Boesel
Born 01.02.1966
Arrived in Australia 16.08.1967
on Flavia – Visa 671311006
Eldest of three sons to Otto Gerhard Boesel and Elizabeth Boesel (nee Hahn), Ralph was born on February 1, 1966 at the Stadtskrankenhaus, …
Ralph Alexander Boesel, Germany, 8/16/1967
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My name is Giovanni Romano, I was 27 years old, my story begins when I left my home country, Italy on the 6th January 1956 and sailed on the ship NEPTUNIA. I was born in Joia, Sanitico Prov Caserta. I decided to leave my beloved Italy for the opportunity…
GIOVANNI ROMANO, ITALY, 1956
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Otto was born on December 28, 1938 second child of Paul Otto Boesel, and Minna Elfriede Koltzenberg in Lutherstadt, Wittennberg. Otto’s family of 11 children were from Lutherstadt Eisleben. Only five survived into the 1920s, Anna, Paul …
Otto Gerhard Boesel, Germany, 1/26/1960
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Walter Pape Part2
We where allocated our hut blankets, towels, cutlery, etc. We had to go to English classes every day. We also received some money, but nobody was to leave the camp unless there was work for them outside. Some people have been in the …
Walter Pape, Austria, 1960
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Reason for leaving homeland – My parents wanted a better life for my brothers and me
The journey was really good 4 weeks and 4 days of the best holiday we had ever had seeing exotic places we had only dreamed about.
On arrival at Sydney it was like…
Irene Pelt, Northern Ireland, Mar-56
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We left Holland because at the time there was not enough work for bricklayers and Dad thought the opportunities for a family with ten children were better in Australia.
Three weeks aboard the Fairsea was not pleasant. Dad and three brothers slept …
Maria (Riet ) Chilco – Kuipers (family), Netherland, 1953
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PartOne
I was born on 24June 1933 in Innsbruck as the first son of Rudolf Pape. Although my mother Ernestine tragically died 3 weeks later in Hospital in Innsbruck of complications my father took me home to the family flat in Goethestrasse where my …
Walter Pape, Austria, 1960
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MIGRATION OF THE LAGUS FAMILY TO AUSTRALIA FROM ESTONIA
FATHER
Michael Lagus born December 1889 in Parnu, Estonia migrated to Australia 1926 by the then Government of Australia as an Electrical Engineer to work on the old Parliament House in Canberra…
The Lagus family Lagus, Estonia, 1926 -1948
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Opportunity in waiting;
When I was a teenager and stood at the World harbour of Rotterdam,watching those large Ocean going ships listening to their last Br-Br-Br.as an last Good-Bay, I had no idea that one day I would be aboard of one . World War 11 had…
Maria Rosenberg, Netherlands, 1954
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Gwen was born in Pimlico, England, on 11th April, 1896. Her father was a brass fitter/mechanic. She was the eldest of eight children. She had a very hard life as her mother always worked and Gwen had to look after the younger children. She came home from…
Gwendoline Masters (m. frost), England, 1922
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My name is Paul Hay. I was born on the 28th October t954 and was six years old when I came to Australia with my parents Charles Robert and Joyce Margaret Hay leaving England on the 20e December 1960 on a P & O liner the SS “Strathaird” …
Paul Hay, England, 1961
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PART 11
In Kuala Lumpur I decided that I couldn’t set foot onto new soil, into a new country empty-handed. Minh and I had literally nothing save the clothes on our back. Walking around the refugee camp I remember having seen a shiny red suitcase…
Cuc Thi Lam PSM, JP Part11, Vietnam, 1978
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Part 1
I was born in 1952 in Tay Ninh, a small farming village about 54 miles from the bustling city of Ho chi Minh. I had 3 brothers and 3 sisters, two of whom died at birth. The only ones remaining are my two sisters and I.I was the youngest of the family, …
Cuc Thi Lam PSM, JP Part1, Vietnam, 1978
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I was watching Sydney 2000 Olympic Games opening ceremony on my Television in Pakistan when I first imagined Australia as an excellent place to live in. In 2003 when I decided to migrate because of decline in business, Australia was my first choice…
Saif Ali Rizvi, Pakistan, 2005
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Hello!
My name is Heinz Meininger and I was born in Hamburg Altona, Germany in 1933.
In 1958n I decided to migrate to Australia as a single and and have a bit of an adventure and at the same time looking for a new future.
Because Germany and Europe in general…
Heinz Meininger, Germany, 1958
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The Skinner family moved to Australia in the early 1800s as free settlers, buying and selecting land, and forming around the Lismore District in Northern New South Wales.
W.R Skinner married Emmily Williams. They moved to Australia to expand their…
William Skinner, Scotland, 1864
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Robert Stanley Hall was born at home, 90 Egerton Road South Shields on the 2nd August 1907.
He migrated with his family Robert Hamilton Hall (Father), Martha Elizabeth (Mother), sister Jenny and younger brother John, departing from Plymouth on …
Robert Stanley Hall, England, 1919
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Highlights of a Life
It was Christmas day 1932 when I was born in Alexandria-Egypt to Greek parents. It was in this city at the age of 12 when I joined the local Scout Movement which was well established in many groups throughout the city. I enjoyed the…
Christos Andalis, Egypt, c1955
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Charles (Wynford) Horneman Part 11
Wynford had retumed to Queensland by 1900. He met and married Alice Sophia Barron on the 20 February 1901 at the Church of St Nicholas in Sandgate, Brisbane. At the time cf the wedding Wynford was 45 years of age, he…
Charles Wynford Greenwood HORNEMAN (part11), New Zealand, 1882
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Part 1.
Charles was the youngest son of Frederick and Emma Horneman, born at Motueka New Zealand on Sunday 2nd December 1855, and known as Wynford. Wynford’s parents Frederick Edward Horneman (born 1803) and Emma Frances Devis (born 1814)…
Charles Wynford Greenwood HORNEMAN 1855 – 1931. (Part1), New Zealand, 1882
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Kathleen Rowell Horneman (nee Lawson) 1909 – 1985
Arrived Sydney June 1912 on the Orvieto.
Kathleen’s parents were Ernest Lawson and Mary Armstrong. Ernest Lawson was born on 20
February 1882 in South Shields, Co Durham, England. …
KATHLEEN ROWELL HORNEMAN (nee LAWSON), England, 6/12/2014
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CARDILLO, Massimino
Massimino Cardillo was born at St. Angelo a Cupola, Italy on the 23rd December 1909, the sixth child of Faustino Cardillo and Filomena Cardillo (nee Tornusciolo).
Massimino arrived at Port Melbourne after travelling from …
Massimino Cardillo, Italy, 1927
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My grandfather had gone to the Great War in 1915 and met my grandmother, Kate Reader, who was a nurse in the hospital he was sent to when he was wounded near Fromelles in France in 1916.
My Grandparents were married in February 1917 and were shipped to …
Kate Collin, England, 1919
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Irish records show that Kate Trousdell was a native of Delgany, County Wicklow, and later lived at Monmore about two miles north of the town of Kilrush in Ireland. Her husband was John Persse Trousdell who died at the age of 37, in year 1859. One of her…
Catherine (Kate) Trousdell, Ireland, 1866
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It was more the sense of adventure than the comprehensive knowledge of the country that brought us to the shores of this vast continent. We were virtually ignorant of what we were to be confronted with, when one considers that we were imagining the …
Giuseppe & Maria-Maddalena Piola, Italy, 1966
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Godfrey Augustus Redington
Left for Australia July 1948 on ‘S.S. Malaya’ an ex troop container and arrived at Fremantle six weeks later. Seven weddings on the way over. Discharged from ship at Brisbane; Six days at a holding camp under…
Godfrey Augustus Redington, Surrey, England, 1948
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