Should People be Made

[grandmoon]

too Anglicises their names.

I overheard a woman telling a refugee that he should anglicise his name so she could understand it .

[aps1080]

Agree re above.

In the 60's, 70's and even 80's, I don't think it was as much of a problem as it is now.

[azureline**]

I don't know anyone these days who doesn't speak English..............in the 70's my neighbours were a mixture of Titalian, Croation, Greek etc. quite a few were arranged marriages.

Many of the women were stay at home mums, the dads went out to work and if anything was needed at school, dad came home early to talk to the teachers, as they were fluent in English.

We communicated in mostly sign language but also through the children, until I mentioned to the school principal that there was a need for ESL classes, when he asked why the mums never came to the school.

The principal arranged those classes and within 2 years all of them were speaking English.

The men were not pleased at the time, lol. I suspect they enjoyed that control.

[aps1080]

I thought - from memory - they had English classes at Bonegilla Migrant camp.

A hole of a place, hot in summer, bloody cold in winter !

Azure

Interesting.

The migrants who came post war vertainly got on with it when they arrived.

Agree re the mums (and some dads) didn't learn English but it didn't matter then.

[azureline**]

---

@aps1080 wrote:

I thought - from memory - they had English classes at Bonegilla Migrant camp.

A hole of a place, hot in summer, bloody cold in winter !

Azure

Interesting.

The migrants who came post war vertainly got on with it when they arrived.

Agree re the mums (and some dads) didn't learn English but it didn't matter then.

---

A shameful stain on Australia's migrant history.

[punch*drunk]

I had Hungarian neighbours as a kid and they came through Bonegilla, perhaps they learned their English there? They speak great English.

That was in suburbia though, where I live now is a country area and would have been even more so 50 years ago, probably a lot less need for English in a small community especially when a lot of the residents speak your mother tongue.

I think it would be very isolating to live in a country where you cant speak or understand the language..

[aps1080]

Azure

Why do you say "A shameful stain on Australia's migrant history." in relation to Bonegilla Migrant camp.

Which was one of many around Victoria. At least at Bonegilla you had Lake Hume to swim in !!!

Regardless of how well or badly they were treated, you have to remember that where they came from,

there was often nothing left post WWII. They were often worse off than England which although bombed

and still on rationing, people had jobs and things moved.

Europe was a total mess, often bombed to oblivion and not much infrastructure left either.

At least here in Aus they were safe, fed etc and often went on to jobs.

IMHO, Australia would not be what it is today if it wasn't for the migrants - the infrastructure they built helped Australia prosper.

That's just my HO though.

[lloydslights]

Most of those migrant hostels were former army barracks.

Were they shameful then, too.  

Sorry, just have to add:  The hostels couldn't be too luxurious, as people wouldn't then go out to get and job and improve their lot.

DEB

[azureline**]

The centre was remote from the larger cities and generally attracted little attention from the Australian press.

An exception from this general rule was in 1949 when 13 newly arrived children died from malnutrition.

An official inquiry was critical of the inadequately staffed and equipped hospital.

There were protests about food and conditions in 1952 and Italian and German migrants staged a riot in 1961, smashing the employment office and clashing with police.

The protesters posted signs reading "We want work or back to Europe" and "Bonegilla camp without hope".

These two events embarrassed Australian authorities and saw a review of settlement policies

[aps1080]

Probably not.

I stayed at Bonegilla in the 80's for 2 weeks, mid winter - for the odd night, the rest of the time we were out bush.

No doors, a few windows left, eff it was cold !!!

[tasfleur]

Great post aps.

I know some German people who were housed there when they came to Australia, and they told me that they were so grateful to have been in Australia, grateful that they could actually get food to eat, and so grateful for the opportunity to be able to start again, away from the horrors they had suffered in Europe, including losing their homes and family.

They also said that there, like anywhere else where people have to share close facilities, there were people who were not willing to put any effort into it and just constantly complained and did nothing to make their lives, and the lives of some others, worth building into a new life.

They have never regretted being offered that in Australia and from the day they arrived, say it has all been worth it.  No stain for them or thousands of others.  They stayed, they prospered and they worked very hard.