By Alberto Macchione
A Migrant’s Journey is a multimedia presentation which has sold out in venues throughout Australia. It was no different in the North Western suburb of North Ryde where the event was hosted by The City of Ryde, Italian Migrants of Ryde Committee and Our Lady of Grace Fraternity who all work tirelessly to support the local multicultural and broader community.
Bonegilla is described by Australian Government resources as a ‘Migrant Reception and Training Facility’ located in Bonegilla in Northern Victoria. The former military base became a transitional and assimilation facility for migrants coming to Australia.
Simon Reich, the son of a German migrant created the film which traced the lives of many migrants who passed through or resided in Bonegilla through a series of interviews and news feeds.
The event was presented on two screens, the main screen presenting the film and a secondary screen providing supporting news reels and events corresponding to the personal stories being told. In addition Simon accompanied the cinematic experience with a piano and violin score performed by the film maker and a fellow family member.
Roseanno Gallo OAM gracefully hosted proceedings and gave us all some very interesting insight into her own family, whereby her father in this case, had also passed through Bonegilla before going to work as a cane cutter.
Roseanna introduced Mayor Trenton Brown who indicated that “it’s certainly our pleasure as a council to provide a small grant to facilitate important cultural understanding and expressions like this one, so that we all become familiar with who we are and how we how we tick.”
He went on to suggest that “I couldn’t help but think just a few minutes ago, in the great waves of immigration that came to this country after the Second War, that there are nation building projects like the snowy mountains, for example, for which the Italian community should be justly proud for many, many generations.”
Speaking more locally he acknowledged “Angelina (Bonifacio) and the Committee of up to a dozen people that have worked constructively over many years to bring that to fruition, and importantly, that there are other stories to tell as well. So as time marches on, we’re working with each other and more about each other, and unveiling history, about heritage, and forming a stronger bond and getting to know the cultural depths of our community, which is so important.”
Chairman of Lady of Grace Fraternity, Vince Murdocca spoke also, attributing his words to the good work of Our Lady of Grace Fraternity and the many charitable contributions they have provided.
The film itself was a heart rendering account of people going through the depths of adversity before establishing themselves in the ‘new world’ that was Australia.
Interviewees had emigrated from many diverse countries including Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Malta and Italy. The most interesting part of the film was listening to voices from both sides that resounded similarly as they recounted the human cost of war.
Coming from towns that were being demolished, houses that were burnt down, that were burnt from phosphorus bombs that were used to smoke towns. Escaping the bombing, the destruction and the hunger many made their way to Australia (often as an alternative option when availabilities in America filled up) and were taken to Bonegilla.
Stories included one about how horrible Australian food was. The cooking apparently stunk throughout the facility all day as lamb would be boiled “white and then passed white until it was dead”. Stating that Australians can’t cook was meant with resistance until eventually the residents became restless and started to complain and agitate.
They were granted one lunch and one dinner service as per their request to cook themselves. The resident was enamored with the beautiful aroma’s wafting through the facility and said that “the next day all of the Australians were sacked” because they had Italians and Greeks and all these nationalities that cooked amazing food which was now said to be ‘al a carte’.
The story was an allegory of the Australian multicultural landscape as a whole. Simon Reich made a film that will make you laugh and cry and most importantly stamp an important history into the history of multicultural Australia’s story.
