Abstract

Migration of humans across countries and continents is not a new phenomenon. Migration often occurs as a result of economic circumstances, where persons not satisfied with their current economic situation, seek a better life in another country. These people have been commonly referred to as economic migrants, and Australia has experienced much of its twentieth century immigration for these reasons. In the context of post World War II migration, Italians immigrated to Australia en masse between 1950 and 1971, in search of a better economic conditions and employment, as Italy was still suffering the aftermath of that war. An agreement between the Italian and Australian governments, in 1951, facilitated the migration of Italians by offering subsidies passage, either by sea or air. The majority of migrants originated from the comparatively less skilled south of Italy, with higher skilled migrants typically originating from the north. This paper discusses some of the experiences, obtained through personal interviews with migrants from Emilia-Romagna, one of the northern regions in Italy. Although Emilia-Romagna did not contribute high numbers of emigrants to Australia, the personal accounts of this small group provides some interesting and unique insights into migration experiences. This paper firstly provides a background to the economic climate in Italy of the 1950s and 1960’s. This is followed by the demographic description of the persons interviewed and a discussion of their migration experiences. The paper concludes that cultural differences, language communication problems, strange food, and the failure to have their qualifications recognised meant that for this group of people, at least, the initial experience and exposure in Australia fell quite short of their expectations. However, in hindsight the general opinion is that the move to Australia was good in the long run.