Έκθεση ελληνίδας μαθήτριας για την Bonegilla 1984 - Greek student's essay on Bonegilla 1984
Translation
"THE WORLD AROUND US". Curriculum unit
1. Education Department. Education of Vic.Years 9-11
K Alexiadi mentored by Sophie Kantzidou ??
01.1984.
BONEGILLA
Australia's immigrant history is not a "dead" story as many believe, nor is it characterized solely by events of success, euphoria and bliss, as others would have us believed.
The immigrants who arrived here by the tens of thousands in the immediate post-war years lived through days of poverty and destitution, but also proud struggles and uprisings to defend their basic rights in life and above all self-respect and human dignity.
The well-known politician and deputy prime minister of the Whitlam government, did not unjustly characterise the Bonegilla events as "the biggest uprising since Eureka Stockade in Australia, and perhaps the biggest!".....
According to the testimonies of immigrants who lived in Bonegilla at the time, as well as newspaper clippings from the same period, the new arrivals not only did not see the dream of their new life coming true, but instead after four months of unemployment they began to fear that they had fall into a well-prepared trap.
After a journey of almost 30 days at sea, the migrants were transported to the migrant center of Bonegilla, a former camp built by Italian prisoners of the Second World War, in "sapiocarava" that had been converted from warships to passenger ships.
The landscape, the climate, the food, the language difficulties and above all the tyranny of unemployment made many immigrants literally lose their minds. It is a fact that many escaped under the wires at night, others were locked up in psychiatric hospitals and others, the most sensitive, committed suicide.
From the Promised Land and Paradise they had been promised it was no joke to find themselves in the middle of Australia in a camp surrounded by barbed wire.
In the early years Bonegilla's immigrants numbered 15,000 souls and the women lived separately from the men. Only at night could they meet.
All of them had been accepted in the "lucky country", the men as "workers" and the women as "housewives", regardless of whether in their homeland they were doctors, teachers, engineers, seamstresses, nurses, etc. It was the years when Australia, fearing "yellow fever", began to bring in thousands of white immigrants from Europe. Of course full privileges were given to the British. The British immigrants, upon their arrival, immediately got a job and always lived in the big cities. They were never sent to Migrant Centers like Bonegila.
THE 1952 EPISODES
The first migrant riots in Bonegilla occurred by a curious coincidence - on 17 and 18 July 1952, just like the incidents of 1961. In 1952 Bonegilla was home to 15,000 migrants, mainly Germans and Italians who after the war hoped to find a place to rest, if only and if this place were at the end of the earth.
Unfortunately, both the change and the financial crisis of '52 (out of 15,000 only 4,000 could find work) made many ask the Center officials why they were brought to Australia and what was their future here anyway . When the answers given to them were anything but satisfactory, all the immigrants rioted and set fire to the church, the tin houses where they lived, the cinema and the offices as a result of which the police were called as well as the army which with tanks and machine guns took normal battle position outside the camp.
THE 1961 EPISODES
Under almost the same conditions, the events of July 1961 broke out, when unemployment, mistreatment and above all the destruction of the dreams of immigrants led them to amazing insanity. The riots are believed to have started when officials at the center showed a discriminatory attitude towards Germans, promising to find them jobs immediately. At this point, immigrants of all nationalities entered the cinema and started shouting to the Center officials "we want work, we want work". In seconds they were followed by other immigrants who then started throwing stones at the offices of the Center Directorate.
For two days the incidents did not stop, as a result of which strong police forces intervened and in the end five Italians and six Germans were arrested as the culprits of the riots, who were remanded in custody.
News of Bonegilla spread like wildfire throughout Australia and prominent figures such as the Whitlam politician and later Deputy Prime Minister Jim Cairns offered to pay the bonds for the release of the eleven remanded immigrants.
The Italian embassy did not accept, however, and sent the well-known lawyer Mr. Frank Galbally as a defence attorney for the five Italian defendants. Moreover, the defence of the six Germans was undertaken by the lawyer Mr. Clyde Holding.
In the meantime, many governments in Europe (including the Greek one) strongly protested to the Australian government about the way immigrants were treated.
With the publicity that the Bonegilla events began to receive, here and abroad, in court after deliberations the suit was withdrawn and the accused were released for reasons that everyone can understand today.
BONEGILLA TODAY
You will find the name Bonegilla on very few maps of Australia today. Australians apparently don't even want to remember it.
The terrible camp with which thousands of immigrants (including thousands of Greeks) combined the most terrible memories of their lives, was recently razed to become something else, with its role not so camouflaged: A modern barracks.
K. ALEXIADI
1. Education Department. Education of Vic.Years 9-11
K Alexiadi mentored by Sophie Kantzidou ??
01.1984.
BONEGILLA
Australia's immigrant history is not a "dead" story as many believe, nor is it characterized solely by events of success, euphoria and bliss, as others would have us believed.
The immigrants who arrived here by the tens of thousands in the immediate post-war years lived through days of poverty and destitution, but also proud struggles and uprisings to defend their basic rights in life and above all self-respect and human dignity.
The well-known politician and deputy prime minister of the Whitlam government, did not unjustly characterise the Bonegilla events as "the biggest uprising since Eureka Stockade in Australia, and perhaps the biggest!".....
According to the testimonies of immigrants who lived in Bonegilla at the time, as well as newspaper clippings from the same period, the new arrivals not only did not see the dream of their new life coming true, but instead after four months of unemployment they began to fear that they had fall into a well-prepared trap.
After a journey of almost 30 days at sea, the migrants were transported to the migrant center of Bonegilla, a former camp built by Italian prisoners of the Second World War, in "sapiocarava" that had been converted from warships to passenger ships.
The landscape, the climate, the food, the language difficulties and above all the tyranny of unemployment made many immigrants literally lose their minds. It is a fact that many escaped under the wires at night, others were locked up in psychiatric hospitals and others, the most sensitive, committed suicide.
From the Promised Land and Paradise they had been promised it was no joke to find themselves in the middle of Australia in a camp surrounded by barbed wire.
In the early years Bonegilla's immigrants numbered 15,000 souls and the women lived separately from the men. Only at night could they meet.
All of them had been accepted in the "lucky country", the men as "workers" and the women as "housewives", regardless of whether in their homeland they were doctors, teachers, engineers, seamstresses, nurses, etc. It was the years when Australia, fearing "yellow fever", began to bring in thousands of white immigrants from Europe. Of course full privileges were given to the British. The British immigrants, upon their arrival, immediately got a job and always lived in the big cities. They were never sent to Migrant Centers like Bonegila.
THE 1952 EPISODES
The first migrant riots in Bonegilla occurred by a curious coincidence - on 17 and 18 July 1952, just like the incidents of 1961. In 1952 Bonegilla was home to 15,000 migrants, mainly Germans and Italians who after the war hoped to find a place to rest, if only and if this place were at the end of the earth.
Unfortunately, both the change and the financial crisis of '52 (out of 15,000 only 4,000 could find work) made many ask the Center officials why they were brought to Australia and what was their future here anyway . When the answers given to them were anything but satisfactory, all the immigrants rioted and set fire to the church, the tin houses where they lived, the cinema and the offices as a result of which the police were called as well as the army which with tanks and machine guns took normal battle position outside the camp.
THE 1961 EPISODES
Under almost the same conditions, the events of July 1961 broke out, when unemployment, mistreatment and above all the destruction of the dreams of immigrants led them to amazing insanity. The riots are believed to have started when officials at the center showed a discriminatory attitude towards Germans, promising to find them jobs immediately. At this point, immigrants of all nationalities entered the cinema and started shouting to the Center officials "we want work, we want work". In seconds they were followed by other immigrants who then started throwing stones at the offices of the Center Directorate.
For two days the incidents did not stop, as a result of which strong police forces intervened and in the end five Italians and six Germans were arrested as the culprits of the riots, who were remanded in custody.
News of Bonegilla spread like wildfire throughout Australia and prominent figures such as the Whitlam politician and later Deputy Prime Minister Jim Cairns offered to pay the bonds for the release of the eleven remanded immigrants.
The Italian embassy did not accept, however, and sent the well-known lawyer Mr. Frank Galbally as a defence attorney for the five Italian defendants. Moreover, the defence of the six Germans was undertaken by the lawyer Mr. Clyde Holding.
In the meantime, many governments in Europe (including the Greek one) strongly protested to the Australian government about the way immigrants were treated.
With the publicity that the Bonegilla events began to receive, here and abroad, in court after deliberations the suit was withdrawn and the accused were released for reasons that everyone can understand today.
BONEGILLA TODAY
You will find the name Bonegilla on very few maps of Australia today. Australians apparently don't even want to remember it.
The terrible camp with which thousands of immigrants (including thousands of Greeks) combined the most terrible memories of their lives, was recently razed to become something else, with its role not so camouflaged: A modern barracks.
K. ALEXIADI
| Subject | Foreign workers, Greek |
|---|---|
| Category | 6. End of the Cold War |
| Current Holder | Greek Community of Melbourne |
| Access Rights | Permission required |
| Language | Greek (Modern) |
| Transcription | "Ο ΚΟΣΜΟΣ ΓΎΡΩ ΜΑΣ" . Curriculum unit
1. Education Depart. Education of Vic.Years 9-11
K Alexiadi mentored by Sophie Kantzidou ??
01.1984.
ΜΠΟΝΕΓΚΙΛΑ
Η ιστορία των μεταναστών της Αυστραλίας δεν είναι μια ιστορία "πεθαμένη" όπως πιστεύουν πολλοί κι ούτε χαρακτηρισμένη αποκλειστικά από γεγονότα επιτυχιών, ευφορίας και ευδαιμονίας, όπως θελουν κάτι άλλοι να μας κάνουν να πιστεύουμε.
Οι μετανάστες που κατά δεκάδες χιλιάδες έφτασαν εδώ στα αμέσως μεταπολεμικά χρόνια έζησαν μέρες εξαθλίωσης και εξανδραποδισμού, μα και περήφανων αγώνων και ξεσηκωμών για την προάσπιση στοιχειώθών δικαιωμάτων της ζωής τους και προ πάντων του αυτοσεβασμού και της ανθρώπινης αξιοπρέπειας.
Ο γνωστός πολιτικός και αντιπρόεδρος της κυβέρνησης Oυίτλαμ, δε χαρακτήρισε άδικα τα γεγονότα της Μπονεγκέλα σαν "το μεγαλύτερο ξεσηκωμό μετά το Γιουρήκα Στοκέηντ στην Αυστραλία, και ίσως το μεγαλύτερο!".....
Σύμφωνα με τις μαρτυρίες μεταναστών που έζησαν στην Μπονεγκίλα του καιρό εκείνο, καθώς και αποκόμματα εφημερίδων της ίδιας εποχής, οι νεοαφιχθέντες όχι μόνο δεν έβλεπαν το όνειρο της νέας τους ζωής να βγαίνει αληθινό, αλλά απεναντίας ύστερα από τέσσερις μήνες ανεργίας είχαν αρχίσει να φοβούνται πως είχαν πέσει σε μία καλοστημένη παγίδα.
Μετά από ταξίδι 30 σχεδόν ημερών στη θάλασσα, σε σαπιοκάραβα που από πολεμικά είχαν μετατραπεί σε επιβατικά οι μετανάστες μεταφέρονταν στο μεταναστευτικό κέντρο της Μπονεγκίλα, ένα πρώην στρατόπεδο, που είχαν χτίσει Ιταλοί αιχμάλωτοι του Β΄ Παγκόσμιου Πόλεμου.
Το τοπίο, το κλίμα, η τροφή, οι δυσκολίες της γλώσσας και προ πάντων η τυραννία της ανεργίας έκαναν πολλούς μετανάστες να χάσουν κυριολεκτικά τα λογικά τους. Είναι γεγονός πως πολλοί δραπέτευσαν νύχτα κάτω από τα σύρματα, άλλοι κλείστηκαν σε ψυχιατρεία κι άλλοι, οι πιο ευαίσθητοι, αυτοκτόνησαν
Από τη Γη της Επαγγελίας και τον Παράδεισο που τους είχαν υπόσχεθεί δεν ήταν και αστείο να βρεθούν καταμεσής στην Αυστραλία σ' ένα στρατόπεδο φυλαγμένο γύρω-γύρω με συρματοπλέγματα.
Τα πρώτα χρόνια οι μετανάστες της Μπονεγκίλα έφταναν τις 15.000 ψυχές και οι γυναίκες ζούσαν χωριστά από τους άνδρες. νύχτα μπορούσαν να συναντηθούν! Μόνο τη νύχτα μπορούσαν να συναντηθούν
Όλοι τους είχαν γίνει δεκτοί στο "λάκυ Κάντρυ" οι μεν άντρες σαν "εργάτες" οι δε γυναίκες σαν "νοικοκυρές", άσχετα αν στην πατρίδα τους ήταν γιατροί, δάσκαλοι, μηχανικοί, μοδίστρες, νοσοκόμες κ.λ.π. Ήταν τα χρόνια που η Αυστραλία φοβούμενη τον "κίτρινο πυρετό" άρχισε να κουβαλάει κατά χιλιάδες τους λευκούς μετανάστες από την Ευρώπη. Φυσικά πλήρη προνόμια δόθηκαν στους Βρετανούς. Οι Βρετανοί μετανάστες, με τον ερχομό τους έπιαναν αμέσως δουλειά και ζούσαν πάντα στις μεγάλες πόλεις. Ποτέ δεν τους έστειλαν σε Κέντρα Μεταναστών, όπως το Μπονεγκίλα.
ΤΑ ΕΠΕΙΣΟΔΙΑ ΤΟΥ 1952
Οι πρώτες εξεγέρσεις μεταναστών στην Μπονεγκίλα σημειώθηκαν περίεργη σύμπτωση - στις 17 και 18 Ιουλίου 1952, όπως και τα επεισόδια του 1961. Το 1952 η Μπονεγκίλα φιλοξενούσε 15.000 μεταννάστες, κυρίως Γερμανούς και Ιταλούς που μετά τον πόλεμο ήλπιζαν πως θα βρουν έναν τόπο να ησυχάσουν, έστω κι αν αυτός ο τόπος ήταν στην άκρη της γης. Δυστυχώς όμως, τόσο η αλλαγή όσο και η οικονομική κρίση του '52 (από τους 15.000 μόνον οι 4.000 μπορούσαν να βρουν δουλειά) έκαναν πολλούς να ρωτήσουν τους υπεύθυνους του Κέντρου για ποιο λόγο τους έφεραν στην Αυστραλία και ποιο τέλος πάντων ήταν το μέλλον τους εδώ. Όταν οι απαντήσεις που τους δόθηκαν κάθε άλλο παρά ικανοποιητικές ήταν, όλοι οι μετανάστες εξεγέρθηκαν κι έβαλαν φωτιά στην εκκλησία, τα ξυλοτσίγκινα σπίτια όπου έμεναν, στο σινεμά και τα γραφεία με αποτέλεσμα να κληθεί η αστυνομία καθώς και ο στρατός που με τανκς και πολυβόλα πήρε κανονική θέση μάχης έξω από το στρατόπεδο.
ΤΑ ΕΠΕΙΣΟΔΙΑ ΤΟΥ 1961
Κάτω από τις ίδιες σχεδόν συνθήκες ξέσπασαν και τα γεγονότα του Ιουλίου 1961, όταν η ανεργία, κακή μεταχείριση και προπάντων η διάλυση των ονείρων των μεταναστών τους οδήγησαν σε καταπληκτική παραφροσύνη. Οι φασαρίες πιστεύεται ότι άρχισαν όταν οι υπεύθυνοι του κέντρου έδειξαν μια μεροληπτική στάση έναντι των Γερμανών, υποσχόμενοι πως θα τους έβρισκαν αμέσως δουλειά. Στο σημείο αυτό μετανάστες όλων των εθνικοτήτων μπήκαν μέσα στο σινεμα και άρχισαν να φωνάζουν προς τους υπεύθυνους του Κέντρου "θέλουμε δουλειά, θέλουμε δουλειά". Σε δευτερόλεπτα μέσα τους ακολούθησαν κι άλλοι μετανάστες που στη συνέχεια άρχισαν να πετροβολούν τα γραφεία της Διεύθυνσης του Κέντρου.
Για δυο μέρες τα επεισόδια δε σταμάτησαν, με αποτέλεσμα να επέμβουν ισχυρές αστυνομικές δυνάμεις και στο τέλος να συλληφθούν πέντε Ιταλοί και έξι Γερμανοί σαν υπαίτιοι των ταραχών οι οποίοι και προφυλακίστηκαν.
Τα νέα της Μπονεγκίλα διαδόθηκαν αστραπιαία σ'όλη την Αυ στραλία και εξέχουσες προσωπικότητες, όπως ο πολιτικός και μετέπειτα αντιπρόεδρος της κυβέρνησης Ουίτλαμ Τζιμ Καιρνς προθυμοποιήθηκε να πληρώσει τις εγγυήσεις για την αποφυλάκιση των ένδεκα προφυλακισθέντων μεταναστών.
Η Ιταλική πρεσβεία δε δέχτηκε όμως και έστειλε σαν συνήγορο των πέντε Ιταλών κατηγορούμενων το γνωστό δικηγόρο κ. Φρανκ Γκάλμπαλυ. την υπεράσπιση εξάλλου των έξι Γερμανών ανέλαβε ο δικηγόρος κ. Κλάιντ Χόλντιγκ.
Στο μεταξύ πολλές κυβερνήσεις της Ευρώπης (μεταξύ των οποίων και η Ελληνική) διαμαρτυρήθηκαν έντονα στην Αυστραλέζικη κυβέρνηση για τον τρόπο μεταχείρισης των μεταναστών.
Mε τη δημοσιότητα που άρχισαν να παίρνουν τα γεγόνοτα της Μπου νεγκίλα, εδώ και στο εξωτερικό, στο δικαστήριο ύστερα από διατ βουλεύσεις η μήνυση αποσύρθηκε και οι κατηγορούμενοι αφέθηκαν ελεύθεροι για λόγους που όλοι μπορούν να καταλάβουν σήμερα.
Η ΜΠΟΝΕΓΚΙΛΑ ΣΗΜΕΡΑ
Το όνομα Bonegilla σε ελάχιστους χάρτες της Αυστραλίας θα το βρείτε σήμερα. Οι Αυστραλοί, προφανώς δε θέλουν ούτε καν να το θυμούνται.
Το φοβερό στρατόπεδο με το οποίο χιλιάδες μετανάστες (μεταξύ αυτ τών και χιλιάδες Έλληνες) συνδύασαν τις πιο φοβερές αναμνήσεις της ζωής τους, ισοπεδώθηκε πρόσφατα για να γίνει κάτι άλλο, με όχι και τόσο καμουφλαρισμένο το ρόλο του : Ένας σύγχρονος στρατώνας.
Κ. ΑΛΕΞΙΑΔΗ |
| Date Accessed | 2024-05-22 |
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