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Mauro Gibin recalls migrating from Italy, 2006

Audio Mauro Gibin recalls migrating from Italy, 2006

TLF ID R8860

This is an edited sound recording of Mauro Gibin, who migrated to Australia from Italy in 1966 with his parents. He recalls that as a 14-year-old, the month-long voyage by ship across the Indian Ocean to Australia was an adventure. Gibin describes his family's fellow emigrants and some of their on-board conversations. He also outlines his impressions of the 'totally different' colours of the Australian landscape when he first saw them in Western Australia. The recording was made in December 2006 and lasts for 2 min 14 s.

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Educational details

Educational value
  • This recording gives one man's recollections, 40 years later, of the voyage from Italy to a new life in Australia. Gibin (1952-) emigrated with his parents to join an older sister who had already migrated to Australia after marrying a few months earlier, and who was living in Sydney. Gibin and his parents arrived in Sydney on 18 August 1966, most of their fellow emigrants having already disembarked in Fremantle and Melbourne.
  • In this recording, Gibin provides a strong reminder that within a group of migrants from a particular country there are often large differences in personal circumstances. Gibin explains that although his family had lived 'a pretty decent life' in Rome, most of their fellow emigrants were from the 'impoverished' southern regions of Italy. Even to him they were 'like a novelty', because he had never seen such people in Rome, and some spoke only their regional dialect.
  • Gibin's recollection of on-board conversations gives a hint of a motivation for migration from Italy to Australia in the 1960s. He recalls his fellow emigrants telling stories to each other 'about how much money they were going to make, and all this sort of stuff'.
  • In this recording, Gibin is describing a voyage of the Guglielmo Marconi. This ship and her sister ship, the Galileo Galilei, were built in 1963 for the Italian shipping line Lloyd Triestino. They operated between Genoa and Sydney via the Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean. Most of the passengers on the voyages to Australia were emigrants, although the ships also carried holidaymakers, especially on the return trips.
  • Many thousands of Italians immigrated to Australia after the Second World War (1939-45). The number of Italian-born people living in Australia rose from fewer than 34,000 in 1947 to almost 120,000 in 1954, with a peak of almost 290,000 occurring in 1971. According to the 1961 Census, Italy was the greatest source of migrants to Australia after Britain, and it remained so until the 1991 Census, when it was replaced by New Zealand.
  • Although Britain has been the main source of migrants to Australia since 1788, many have also come from continental Europe. In 1951 Italy became one of several European countries with which Australia had a formal migration agreement. Such agreements often involved giving migrants a subsidised passage, although in the post-War decades the number of Italian-born settlers who paid their own way outnumbered those who received assistance.
Topics Migration Statutory authority

Other details

Contributors
  • Author
  • Person: Mauro Gibin
  • Description: Author
  • Contributor
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organization: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Description: Content provider
  • Address: VIC, AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.esa.edu.au/
  • Name: Education Services Australia
  • Organization: Education Services Australia
  • Description: Data manager
  • Person: Mauro Gibin
  • Description: Author
  • Copyright Holder
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organization: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Address: VIC, AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.esa.edu.au/
  • Publisher
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organization: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Description: Publisher
  • Address: VIC, AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.esa.edu.au/
  • Resource metadata contributed by
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organisation: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Address: AUSTRALIA
  • URL: www.esa.edu.au
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  • Colour independence
  • Device independence
Learning Resource Type
  • Audio
Rights
  • © Education Services Australia Ltd, 2013, except where indicated under Acknowledgements.