migrantschool

Children performing a play at the Enoggera Immigration Holding Centre, Queensland, 1953

from State Library of Queensland

• Vesna Verencevic said:

  'Stay and die or get on a boat': choice faced by waves of migrants By Tony Moore Updated July 30, 2014 — 6.32pmfirst published July 29, 2014 — 12.33pm Rob Cavallucci’s Italian grandparents had the choice of dying on their Italian farms as WWII smoldered to a finish, “or getting on a boat” to a new country. They chose Australia, over Argentina. Queensland’s Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs’ story is typical of the children of the first wave of Italian, German, and Greek post-war migrants to Queensland. His grandparents and parents are the migrants who worked in the state’s canefields, goldfields and railways before establishing their own businesses. Rob Cavallucci’s Italian grandparents had the choice of dying on their Italian farms as WWII smoldered to a finish, “or getting on a boat” to a new country. They chose Australia, over Argentina. Queensland’s Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs’ story is typical of the children of the first wave of Italian, German, and Greek post-war migrants to Queensland. His grandparents and parents are the migrants who worked in the state’s canefields, goldfields and railways before establishing their own businesses. “After the war, there wasn’t too much left of their homes in Italy, because the Germans retreated through central Italy around Rome and they didn’t leave too much with their ‘scorched earth policy,” Mr. Cavallucci said. “They were both farmers from little farming villages and everything they had was basically burnt to the ground or bombed,” he said. “So they really had two choices. “And that was to stay and die, or get on a boat and come to another country.” Source: www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/stay-and-die-or-get-on-...