immigrants

Italians have literally shaped the landscape through sugarcane plantations. They built up the North and impacted more broadly on the state’s economic, social and cultural fabric and space. At the same time, they have been embroiled in labour and racial debates. Regional and homeland origins have defined the identities and loyalties of Italians. However, from the start, Italianness as a heritage and feeling has infused the Queensland countryside, towns and cities. Tracing the story mirrors several trajectories from colonial to state, and helps define Queensland’s position within the global and transnational movements. Escaping la miseria (poverty) Italians left Europe in search of work. By 1859 some Italians were already working in Queensland building railways, as miners, wood-cutters, sugarcane farmers, and priests (the latter on Stradbroke Island and at Warwick). The largest proportion remained in Ingham in the Hinchinbrook Shire. Their presence from 1891 generated heated debate in parliament and the press about their capacity to assimilate. By 1907, racist rhetoric was being used by the Bulletin newspaper, for instance, to question the racial hygiene of Italians, calling them ‘bucolic’, ‘dull-witted’, ‘primitive’ and ‘impoverished’. Such attacks provide a backdrop to the 1924 Royal Commission into alien labour in north Queensland. The Worker, among other newspapers, complained that the Federal Government was allowing ‘Mediterranean scum’ to invade the sugar planations. Until the 1970s Italians were considered less preferable than British and Northern Europeans in Queensland. In Ingham and across North Queensland, Italians were labelled ‘black’ because of the association of the sugar fields with non-white labour. The economic success of Ingham’s Italian community proved toxic despite the support of local police and many Anglo-Australians. Italians became ‘enemy aliens’ with the 1939 National Security Act, especially when Mussolini declared war in 1940. About 15% of Australia’s Italians were rounded-up for internment, including women and children. What can only be described as a ‘social war’ ensued, led by the Returned Services League. After World War II more Italian families arrived in Queensland. The era of the canecutter was over by 1972. At this time Italianness experienced a renaissance not only in Queensland but across Australia. By the 1970s, Italian names were found in the strata of business, politics and society, and Italian words - spaghetti, pasta, zucchini, pizza, gelato, cappuccino, vino - were integrated into the everyday experience of Queenslanders. Source: www.qhatlas.com.au/content/italians-queensland

n 1946 Australia signed an agreement to provide free assisted passages to British ex-servicemen and other selected British Migrants. This was later extended to ex-servicemen from other countries, including Poland. 3,800 Displaced Persons were included in the thousands of migrants who came to Australia. Many came on a two year contract to help labour shortages. Regardless of their professional skills, they were sent to work on various Hydro-electric schemes including the Snowy Mountains Scheme in NSW and the Hydro Electricity Scheme in Tasmania. Source www.ssasturias.net/polishmigration.html

Latvians, together with Estonians and Lithuanians, were the first ethnic groups in the large postwar immigration wave of “displaced persons” from Europe that started in 1947. It has been estimated that some 17,000 persons born in Latvia, and a further 2,500 persons born elsewhere but of Latvian origin, settled in Australia between 1947 and 1952. Including prewar settlers, by 1952 about 20,000 Latvians were living in Australia. Queensland was a less popular destination than the southern states because many feared its hot and humid climate. Probably about 1,500 people of Latvian origin came to Queensland, though a figure of 2,000 has also been mentioned. They started to arrive in 1948 and settled mostly in or near Brisbane, but in smaller numbers also in Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville, Cairns and Mount Isa. The early years were primarily spent in establishing a new life, attaining economic security and buying or building a home. Many had to study, while holding down other jobs, to have their previous qualifications recognised or re-established. Parents had learnt that education was the only thing of value that could be carried by a refugee or migrant. Children were therefore encouraged and assisted to obtain a good education, preferably at the tertiary level and leading to a professional qualification. Despite coming to Australia without capital and belongings, Latvians quickly and successfully adapted to life in Queensland and became reasonably secure economically. Source: latviansonline.com/brisbane-community-grows-smaller-older/