Post-War Portuguese Migration to the Illawarra Kerrie Halilovic University of Wollongong

University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 2001 Post-war Portuguese migration to the Illawarra Kerrie Halilovic University of Wollongong Recommended Citation Halilovic, Kerrie, Post-war Portuguese migration to the Illawarra, Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) thesis, Department of History and Politics, University of Wollongong, 2001. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/882 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] POST-WAR PORTUGUESE MIGRATION TO THE ILLAWARRA KERRIE HALILOVIC March 2001 DECLARATION Honours Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements for the subject HIST 401 in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Arts (Hons), Department of History and Politics, University of Wollongong. I certify that this thesis is entirely my own work except where I have given full documented references to the work of others and that the material contained in this thesis has not been submitted for formal assessment in any formal course. KERRIE HALILOVIC 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration. u Abbreviations. v Acknowledgments. v1 Introduction. vu Objectives. vu Methodology. vn Overview. vm Constraints. ix 1. Chalk and Cheese. 1 1.1 . Portugal. 1 1.2. Australia. 8 2. From White Australia to Ethnic Diversity. 14 2.1. The Changing Face of Australia's Immigration Policy. 14 3. A New Journey or Just History Repeating Itself? 36 3 .1 . Portuguese Emigration. 36 3.2. Australia. 37 3.3 . State by state. 39 3.4. Illawarra. 41 4. See Saw: The Reasons Behind Migration. 44 4.1. Push Factors. 49 4.2. Pull Factors. 58 5. Arrival in Australia. 64 5.1. It's a Man's World. 65 5.2. Employment. 69 5.3. Unions. 75 5.4. Housing. 81 5.5. Family. 82 5.6. Isolation and Loneliness. 83 5. 7. Language. 85 5.8. Education and Children. 89 5.9. Religion. 92 5.10. Suburbs, Clubs and Community 95 lll 6. Assimilation and Multiculturalism: A Generational Change. 102 6.1. Assimilation. 104 6.2. Integration. 107 6.3. Multiculturalism. 110 7. Conclusion. 114 Research Letter. 117 Portuguese Migration Questionnaire. 119 Map 1. Map of Australia superimposed on a map of Europe. 121 Map2. Map of Portugal. 122 Map3. Map of Illawarra. 123 Map4. Map ofN. S. W. showing Portugal-born. 124 Appendix 1. Statistical Information of Interviewees. 125 Appendix 2. Principal Destinations of Portuguese Legal Emigration. 126 Appendix 3. Characteristics of Legal Migrants, 1955-88. 127 Appendix 4. Top 30 Countries of Australia's settler arrivals, 1945-85. 128 Appendix 5. Portuguese Emigration by Destination, 1950-88. 129 Appendix 6. Illawarra Statistical Division, Overseas Born: 1991. 130 Appendix 7. Statistical Figures of Portuguese in N.S.W. 131 Appendix 8. Example of New Australian's Work Record Card. 133 Appendix 9. Example of Work History Sheet for New Australians. 134 Bibliography Index. 135 Official Publications. 136 Archives. 138 Bibliographies, Autobiographies, Dictionaries and Encyclopaedias. 139 Newspapers and Periodicals. 141 Reports. 143 Thesis. 145 Oral Histories. 145 Web Pages. 146 Books. 146 lV ABBREVIATIONS ACT Australian Capital Territory ACTU Australian Council of Trade Unions ALP Australian Labor Party BHP Broken Hill Proprietary Limited CPD Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates EU European Union FAI Federated Iron Workers LCP Liberal Country Party NES Non English Speaking NSW New South Wales NT Northern Territory PIDE International Police for the Defence of the State QLD Queensland RSL Return Soldiers League SA South Australia TAS Tasmania UK United Kingdom USA United States of America VIC Victoria WA Western Australia YMCA Young Men's Christian Association v Acknowledgements The researcher would like to thank the ten interviewees who without their help this thesis would not be possible. They not only gave up their time to answer my many questions but also did it with enthusiasm and excitement. The researcher would also like to thank Dr. Lorraine White for all her help and guidance throughout this project it . was greatly appreciated. Although the Portuguese Consulate General proposed this thesis he in no way interfered with my interpretation of the research and for this I thank him. My thanks must also be given to the numerous other people to helped with the information regarding this thesis: Father Aco, the Catholic Priest at Warrawong, the Portuguese Association, the Portuguese Sports and Social Club, the Portuguese Newspaper, Wollongong Local History Library, the wonderful people at the National Archives in CanbeITa, a.rid Broken Hill Proprietary Limited Archives in Melbourne. Finally with love and many thanks to my husband, Abe, children, Shane, Richard, Justin and Adam, and friends, especially Meredith who gave me encouragement and support. VI Introduction Objectives: This research arose from a proposal by the Portuguese Consulate General to study the Po1iuguese Community in the Illawarra. There has been one such analysis already completed which the researcher had access to: The Portuguese Community in the lllawarra, a report jointly published by the Illawarra Area Health Service and the South Coast Portuguese Association. This report states that it is the first survey of its kind on the Illawarra's Portuguese population and was initiated for two reasons. First, knowledge of and information about the Portuguese community lacked a satisfactory definition. Second, the survey was seen as a means of providing data that could be used in the planning of relevant health programmes for the Portuguese community. While this previous study was health based, this new research is an oral history of the Portuguese community in the Illawarra. It describes their feelings and experiences on arrival in Australia and in the Illawarra and how they managed with the language, different culture, and isolation. It also discusses their sense of communitY and the achievement of their original goals for such a drastic move from their homeland. Finally, assimilation and multiculturalism is discussed to see if these policies affected their aims and objectives. However, the researcher is aware that the small number of interviewees does not represent the whole community, and this was not intended. It was instead, used to show how these people felt and dealt with the problems that are associated with any migrant group in Australia. Methodology: Nehvorking was used to obtain the ten interviewees. It was soon realised that it most the most efficient way to gain relevant information needed. The interviewees consisted of four women and six men ranging in age from 43 years to 68 years of age. It was generally recognised that the most relevant information on the migrants' experience was, as it were, 'in the heads of vu people'. An introductory letter and a list of questions were created and included at the end of this thesis on page 117. The interviewees gave up about one hour of their time in a place and time that suited them. The answers received are held at the University of Wollongong Library archives and the interviewees' names are confidential and therefore in their place numbers are used. The questions were in English and only two of the interviewees felt the need to have someone to interpret for them. Overview: Though it is a cliche, Australia is a nation of migrants. Ever since white settlement, Australia has relied on importing people when required to increase population and the workforce. While immigration has been a central feature of Australian history since settlement, the post-I 945 immigration program was to change the face of Australian society. Today, one in three Australians is a direct product of post-war immigration. About four million migrants have entered Australia since World War II. These people can1e from such a diverse range of countries spanning all comers of the globe and it has resulted in Australia being one of the most ethnically diverse nations in the world. Before World War II, the Australian people were predominantly Anglo and Celtic in origin. This monoculture society was to change into a multicultural society in the space of less than four decades. Therefore, Australia as a receiving country of the large number of people from a diverse range of countries has become a major feature of its contemporary society and the Portuguese Community, although small, still played its unique part in this development. In contrast, emigration is one of the main features of the human geography of Southern Europe, and indeed, of much of the Mediterranean Basin. The post war period, in particular the time between the late 1950s and early 1970s has seen an emigration boom, sparked off partly by the labour requirements of western world's industrial economies, combined with the continuing poverty of areas such as rural Spain, southern Italy and northern Greece and Portugal. Vlll Although most of these emigrants worked as guest workers in European countries such as France and Germany, a large portion made the gigantic step to immigrate to Australia. Therefore, how did the Portuguese feature in this post war immigration boom? Constraints: The researcher encountered a number of constraints, which limited the scope of the research and its methodology. Major restrictions were related to the number of people interviewed. The time restraint allowed ten interviewees to be selected. There was an attempt to obtain two people from each year of the research, but time restraints prevented this. The quotes used throughout this study are in the person's own words, and the researcher has not used 'sic' as it was felt it would detract from the expression used. There was a severe lack of information regarding the Portuguese in Australia and the Illawarra. This was especially noticeable since the census did not count the Portuguese born separately until 1976.

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