History Essay: Australia's Post-War Immigration and Bonegilla Camp

This essay explores the historical significance of Bonegilla Migrant Camp in Australia's post-World War II immigration program. It examines the camp's role in accommodating displaced persons and migrants, highlighting the conditions, the riot of 1952, and the migrants' resistance to improve their living standards. The essay delves into the Australian government's immigration policies, the shift from the "White Australia" policy, and the influence of figures like Arthur Calwell. Furthermore, it analyzes the experiences of migrants, the discrimination they faced, and the impact of the camp on the development of Australia's multicultural identity, drawing on the works of Bruce Pennay and other secondary sources to provide a comprehensive overview of Bonegilla's place in Australian history.

Running Head: HISTORY ESSAY
HISTORY ESSAY
Name of the Student:
Name of University:
Author Note:

1HISTORY ESSAY
After the end of the Second World War destruction and devastation was seemed to be
malice in the European continent. Thousands and million people lost their lands and their
families during the war. As a result of that they were seeking for jobs and a permanent place to
live. In this context, Australia played an important part by launching a bold mass immigration
program in the aftermath of the war. Bonegilla was considered to be the most popular region of
Australia that took in half of the Displaced Persons arrived before 1953. The government
statistics showed that near about 3, 09, 000 post-war refugees and migrants got accommodation
in Bonegilla1. In other words, Bonegilla became a hinterland for the post-war migrants where
one in the eight of the 2.5 million Europeans was supposed to live in Bonegilla from 1947 to
19712. Besides this, at Bonegilla, there was a huge under used army camp located near the Hume
Dam on the Murray River which was used for accommodation for the Displaced Persons at first.
Therefore, as one of the earliest settlements for the Displaced Persons, Bonegilla has unarguably
an important role in the history of migration in Australia.
The local supports and entrepreneurships were also provided an impetus for making
Bonegilla a favourable spot for accommodation of the Displaced Persons who suffered in the
Second World War. In the form of non-military establishment the Australian government always
wanted to incorporate the local non government organisations and the local people in order ease
the process of encampment. In this regards, the name of such local ownership in Albury and
Wadonga are very relevant. Those private ownerships were keen to accept the migration
settlements as at that time in Australia there was shortage of good labourers. The coming of the
1 Pennay, B. 2017. Receiving Europe's Displaced. [online] Issuu. Available at:
https://issuu.com/wodongacouncil/docs/receiving_europe_s_displaced_web [Accessed 8 Jun. 2018].
2 Alexandra Dellios. 2014 Sharing Bonegilla Stories, Life Writing, 11:4, 493-
498, DOI: 10.1080/14484528.2014.954980.

2HISTORY ESSAY
Displaced Person ushered a glimpse of light among the Australian entrepreneurs that it would be
a stimuli for the economic and political interests of the country. Alburry’s Boarder Morning Mail
was played a pivotal role in energising the inhabitants the Australian mass to accept the
undergoing reception of the Second World War migrant process3. It can be argued that the
private ownerships became succeeded to some extent in creating a public sensation about the
process. As a matter of fact, the private entrepreneurs were the most beneficial party in this
context. For an instance, the Northern Victorian Fruit Growers Association was very pleased
with the Baltic migrants in that region who were hard working and cleaned in habits.
In this regards, it is important to get a clear picture of the role of the Australian
government and its policies in order to make the migrant program a success. Taking advantage of
the immigration issues the Australian government in 1947 signed an agreement with the
International Refugee Organisation (IRO) to take some of the displaced people who were
ravaged by the impact of the Second World War. In course of the process, by 1951 the
Australian government provided shelter to 1,70,000 European Displaced Person4. In fact,
Bonegilla was considered to be the hinterland of this immigration process. However, in its initial
phase the Australian government put more emphasis on the employable young Europeans who
could fulfil the shortage of labourers in the country. As a result of that the government policies
were also followed the same line and recruited more Displaced Persons from the Baltic regions
including Poles, Ukrainians, Slovenians, Hungarians and White Russians5. There was no place
3 Dellios, A. (2017). Histories of Controversy: Bonegilla Migrant Centre. Melbourne: Melbourne University
Publishing.
4 Jupp, J. (2001). The Australian People: An Encyclopedia of the Nation, Its People and Their Origins. Cambridge
University Press.
5 Pennay, B. 2017. Receiving Europe's Displaced. [online] Issuu. Available at:
https://issuu.com/wodongacouncil/docs/receiving_europe_s_displaced_web [Accessed 8 Jun. 2018].

3HISTORY ESSAY
for the migrants from the enemy countries. Nevertheless, in course of time the IRO standard
procedures had been altered and soon Displaced families were acceptable by the mid-1948s.
Furthermore, with the immense pressure of growing number of Displaced Persons the Australian
government did not have other choices but to incorporate children, widows, deserted wives and
unmarried mothers in the process of immigration. It is in fact can be argued that there was a huge
number of Displaced children comprised 25 percent of the Displaced Persons in Australia6.
In this regards, the Australian government realised the need of publicity for the well
being of the new arrivals. Arthur Calwell, the first Minister for Immigration was a protagonist in
the success of the program. In his political speeches Calwell justified that for the sake of the
future of the Australian nation and for its economic prosperity it was important to initiate such
program. It cannot be denied that the destruction and loss of work force ravaged the Australian
economy as it did in the Europe. Therefore, as a post-war reconstruction phase it required large
number of labourers and workers to revamp the Australian economy. In his words, Calwell
identified the first contingent of the Baltic Migrants as beautiful Balts7. The reason behind such
notion was to make the migrants comfortable in the new country and new culture as well. As a
matter of fact, the Albury’s Border Morning Mail was also paved the way for Calwell to
publicize the coming of the migrants positively. According to this Australian daily the new
arrivals were attractive, cheer, eager to work though that was yet to be proved. The males were
portrayed as masculine, strong and chivalric where as the women were identified with fair
complexions and stunning figures.
6 Jupp, J. (2001). The Australian People: An Encyclopedia of the Nation, Its People and Their Origins. Cambridge
University Press.
7 Alexandra Dellios. 2014 Sharing Bonegilla Stories, Life Writing, 11:4, 493-
498, DOI: 10.1080/14484528.2014.954980.

4HISTORY ESSAY
The Department of Information of Australian government was also responsible to make it
publicize and showed the entire world about the efficiency that was carried out by the
government. Putting emphasis on the moral stances the government showed a sense of empathy
towards the new arrivals and seemed to be very excited to incorporate them into the process of
development in the Australian economy. As a positive stance towards the migrants the Australian
government discarded the term ‘Displaced Persons’ and replaced it by the new idea of
“Tomorrow’s Australians” by the beginning of the 1948s8. As a result of that media also
followed the same line and the term became so popular through the 1950s.
Despite of all the attempts taken by the Australian government and the media, there were
ample of examples that clearly showed the discriminations on the basis of national entities. First
of all, those migrants who were not speaking English fluently or did not have any knowledge of
such foreign language faced severe problems in getting jobs at first. In fact, the British migrants
got better treatments in compare to their Baltic counterparts in the form of accommodation or
social acceptance. Moreover, the British migrants received government support in housing and
pension payments that was not possible for other migrants to get course of time9. Secondly, the
Australian people became agitated by the advent of the immigration process and feared that it
would be a threat to their scope of getting jobs. The living condition of the Bonegilla migrants
was not so pleasant at all and as a result of that in 1949 thirteen children died in that region10.
The Australian government, particularly Calwell perceived it as a threat and tried to shift the
8 Pennay, B. 2017. Receiving Europe's Displaced. [online] Issuu. Available at:
https://issuu.com/wodongacouncil/docs/receiving_europe_s_displaced_web [Accessed 8 Jun. 2018].
9 Jupp, J. (2001). The Australian People: An Encyclopedia of the Nation, Its People and Their Origins. Cambridge
University Press.
10 Dellios, A. (2017). Histories of Controversy: Bonegilla Migrant Centre. Melbourne: Melbourne University
Publishing.

5HISTORY ESSAY
blame upon the migrants themselves for taken care of their children positively. Amidst of these a
riot broke out at Bonegilla on the basis of poor living and food standards for the migrants. The
Italians were the first to raise their voice against lack of government support. According to the
report, the Bonegilla camp was not favourable to live as it was very small and the food that was
provided was also not eatable at all lingered with the unemployment issues11.
11 Dellios, A. (2017). Histories of Controversy: Bonegilla Migrant Centre. Melbourne: Melbourne University
Publishing.

6HISTORY ESSAY
Bibliography
Alexandra Dellios. 2014 Sharing Bonegilla Stories, Life Writing, 11:4, 493-
498, DOI: 10.1080/14484528.2014.954980.
Dellios, A. (2017). Histories of Controversy: Bonegilla Migrant Centre. Melbourne: Melbourne
University Publishing.
Jupp, J. (2001). The Australian People: An Encyclopedia of the Nation, Its People and Their
Origins. Cambridge University Press.
Pennay, B. 2017. Receiving Europe's Displaced. [online] Issuu. Available at:
https://issuu.com/wodongacouncil/docs/receiving_europe_s_displaced_web [Accessed 8 Jun.
2018].