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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I was born Zdzislaw Jan Wolczko on 8Jun1925 in Przemysl in the south eastern part of Poland. I spent my childhood in the town of Drohobycz, now in the south western Ukraine, & was 14 when the World War II began. I have had hair raising experiences…
John Wolczko, Poland, 1948
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Timeless Memories! – After saying goodbye to my parents, my brother and my 2 sisters, back in Switzerland.
In September 1965 the ship ‘Aurelia’ pulled away from a pier in Rotterdam, Holland, bound for Tilbury, in Essex, England.…
Paul Weber, Switzerland, 1965
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In Memory of my Father, FREDERICK ALBERT CHARLES WOOD
Born in Grays, Essex, England, United Kingdom on 4 March 1912.
Migrated to Australia with his parents Albert & Maude Wood and two siblings, Edith and Kenneth.
Landed in Sydney, New South …
Frederick Albert Charles Wood, England, 12/9/2022
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MAREENO LUCAS (NEE LEKATSAS) Ð 1869-1931
Mareeno Lucas (Lekatsas) anglicized his name on arrival in Melbourne from the village of Exoghi, Ithaca in 1888 after his uncle Andreas has already investigated Australia, returning to Greece with tales…
Mareeno Lucas (nee Lekatsas), Ithaca, Greece, 1888
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FERGUS (SCOTTY) MCWHIRTER
Fergus (Scotty) McWhirter, born on 4 April 1920, third son of James McGeoch McWhirter, tenant farmer, Cairnbowie Farm, Kirkcolm, Scotland, immigrated to Australia in 1939. Cairnbowie Farm eventually purchased by …
Fergus (Scotty) McWhirter, Scotland, 1939
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AMADOR BOLADO GARCIA Jr.
Amador Bolado Garcia Jr. was born in Corpus Christi Texas of Mexican/ American Indian ancestry in July 1944. At the age of 18 my parents and our family moved to California where I enlisted in the US Army and was sent to Vietnam…
Amador Bolado Garcia Jnr, USA, 1972
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PETER HOWARD POOLE
Peter Howard Poole was born and bred in Croydon, Surry, England.
Immigrated at the age of 17 years. Sponsored by the Big Brother Movement I arrived in Sydney in March 1964.
Worked at Farm Work and Station Hand around Finley Coonamble…
Peter Howard Poole, England, Mar-64
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Charles Batten
Charles Batten, youngest son of Thomas and Elizabeth Batten of Kea, Cornwell, was born on August 6th 1838. On February 8th, 1862, he married Susan Jane Uren at the Truro Registry Office, in Cornwell. Susan was the eldest child of Francis…
Charles Batten, Cornwall, 1876
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DONALD SHAW OF ‘OTTERBURN’ HAZELWOOD VICTORIA
Donald Shaw\’ parents were Archibald and Ann Shaw {nee McDonald}. They lived on the Isle of Mull and had six children, Marion, Donald, Neil, Coll, John and Jessie. On September …
Donald Shaw, Scotland, 15Jan1851
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In my early teenage years, the old timers from my village used to talk about a ‘land down under’ called Australia. The stories fired my imagination and interest in this far away land and I began to dream about going there but it seemed like…
Ratko and Family Koncarevic, Yugoslavia, 1969
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OUR STORY – 1986, ROBERT and WENDY MENDS, WALES UK
In the early 1980’s Wendy and Robert met whilst holidaying in Greece. They first arrived in Sydney in December 1983 to visit friends for a 3 month holiday, and they quickly fell in love …
ROBERT MENDS, WALES UK, 1986
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In the 1830’s, it became a custom in England that Parishes would raise money to assist their poor to emigrate. At Peasmarsh in Sussex in 1838, a committee was appointed to raise £200 for emigration, and at a subsequent meeting the committee…
James Weeks/Weekes, Kent, England, 1839
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Unlike the story of some Burmese migrants, ours isn’t a refugee story. However, I don’t think my parents would have ever considered leaving Burma if it was a country of opportunities and freedom. We left Burma in 1992 because my father…
Su Mon Kyaw-Myint, Burma, 1998
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December 30th 1967 George and I (Christina Merrick) were married in Ormiston, East Lothian, Scotland.
We lived in Edinburgh. I was nursing in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, George had a mobile shop. In March 1968 my brother Reg and his fiancŽ Eleanor…
George and Christina Entwistle, Scotland, 1968
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‘Our Story’.
Story of my parents Theodorus and Helena Van Hees.
After the hardship that followed the second world war in Europe, my parents decided in late 1956 to leave their home town of Heeze, a small village in Holland looking for …
Helena & Theodorus Van Hees, Holland, 1956
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William Brownbill was born at Edgehill, Liverpool, England on January 2nd 1825. His parents were farmers on the outskirts of the city and ensured that he gained a good education. Until 1849 he worked on the farm and part time at an ironworks. Later …
William Brownbill, England, 1850
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I was born on 22 February 1941, the third daughter of Harry and Mary Ann (nee Barker) Coombs of Leytonstone in London’s East End. I joined sisters Joan and Doreen and in 1950 brother Barry completed our family. The London Blitz was raging, my …
Brenda Homan, England, 1962
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STEINER, LAJOS (1903-1975), was a Hungarian of Jewish ancestry born on 14 June 1903 in the Transylvanian city of Nagyvárad (renamed Oradea and Romanian territory since the Treaty of Trianon, 1920). A qualified mechanical engineer & mechanical…
LAJOS ( pronounced ‘Lahyosh’ in Hungarian) STEINER, NAGYVÁRAD (Renamed ORADEA, since 1920 in ROMANIA), HUNGARY (Austro-Hungarian Empire), 1939
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NICHOLAS (MIKLÓS) SZABADOS (1912-1962) was a Hungarian of part-Jewish descent. The world champion table tennis player and table tennis coaching academy owner was born on 7 March 1912 in Budapest, younger son of Sándor Szabados, flour-mill …
MIKLÓS (pronounced: miklosh) or NICHOLAS SZABADOS, BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EMPIRE), 1939
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Sigismund Wekey was born in the north-east county of Zemplén, Hungary. His father’s family were wine-growing landed lower nobility in the famous Tokaj winery estates area. He was admitted to the Bar in 1847 and, as a solicitor in Eperjes,…
SIGISMUND (ZSIGMOND) WEKEY (VÉKEY), HUNGARY (AUSTRIAN EMPIRE), 1854
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My name is Harry Paul Helbig brn on 26 November in 1938 in Torgau, Germany. In December, 1964, I left Germany on the ship Aurelia. On my last stop in Auckland, NZ, I was hired to work on the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme, Cooma.
Two days after …
Harry Helbig, Germany, 1965
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At 18 years, leaving behind his mother, Vittoria and sister Maria, Dad left Italy in search of a new life in Australia, arriving in Sydney in 1950.
After a short stay in Sydney, Dad headed north to Halifax in North Queensland. Here he spent three seasons…
Bertillo Pizzol, Nervesa della Battaglia Italy, 9/3/1950
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My Father, Carlo Sartor, left our home town of Cavaso del Tomba in Northern Italy on 7 November 1955, travelling by sea to Australia. He arrived in Sydney one month later, on 7 December. His ship was the Achille Lauro Line vessel named “Sydney”.…
Carlo Sartor, Cavaso del Tomba, Italy, 1955
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The Hardy family, comprising Richard Walter and Maria Hardy and their two children Richard and Christine (Tina), set sail from Southampton bound for Australia in the SS ‘Australis’. Once on board, families were separated, with women,…
The Hardy Family, England, Apr-52
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My husband’s work was very sporadic due to strikes within the car industry. We lived in a dirty smoke-laden industrial town – I preferred the open country I had been used to.
Left Nottingham 2 days before Christmas 1965 dreadful weather…
June Caunt, England, 1966
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Irene and her family left England due to the effects of the Great Strike of 1926 on the coal mining industry in which her father worked as a miner. Her father, Robert Jobson Luke left Newcastle, England, on 17 September 1927 for Australia, aboard the…
Irene Luke, England, 1928
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Reason for leaving homeland – Scarcity, I was born in the province of Reggio Calabria, during and after the war things were very hard, no money, hardly any clothes and hunger. My father Antonino had the opportunity and migrated to Australia…
Francesco Violi, Italy, 1951
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