#there was a dance hall and dad played one bar of a russian folk song on the piano in there and i cried a little in the next room | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

artemisbarnowl · 2 years ago

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So today we went to the museum that used to be the migrant/refugee camp my mothers family stayed in when they arrived in Aus. And like the sheer breadth of human emotion carried in this place was shocking. Australian govt pledges to accept 20 million people (lol) but being british at heart, and knowing "australians are unaccostomed to people who live differently to them" the immigration minister says we will take able bodied light skinned people. Especially single men.

These people, latvian engineers, yugoslavian doctors, ukrainian shop keepers, italian accountants, have lost their homes, and want to be any place that is away from the war, arrive in rural Australia. Where they are kept in uninsulated tin sheds on army barracks, with armed soldiers. Where orders are given in German!! Because that is what they were 'used to' :) where families are seperated and where they have no money and they are promised jobs but that engineer is now a sugar cane farmer, or a sheep sheerer, or a railway worker, and only if she can learn to speak english well.

The camp we went to today saw about 65000 refugees pass through, but right near the end there were more british settlers, who paid 10 pounds for the privilege to sail across to aus and have not a tin shed with 10 to a room, but insulated single family cabins, with flooring and curtains, where they would stay for 1 month tops.

Anway its most infamous for its food

Stefano, so true bestie!

#mum organised her family's name plaque to be added to the memorial wall and my great uncle george took us around #he was 7 when he arrived and contracted polio #i wondered if it was difficult for him to be there #the overwhelming Grief and trauma and fear of the unknown would have been a lot to bear #and i was so ANGRY #at the fact that we were good enough for british scraps #that others werent good enough for even that!#and that people still think of these as holiday camps when people hang themselves and riot and yes eat awful food #also there was a short little film that gave context and aside from everything that was very frustrating and terrible #to see so many faces like ours #was....nice?#the cheekbones the noses the eyes #there was a dance hall and dad played one bar of a russian folk song on the piano in there and i cried a little in the next room #i wonder if we are so audacious and loud because so many of us were reduced to a single set of clothes and half a family (if youre lucky)#trasported to a new place and while building a new life said 'you will pry what is left of my home from my cold dead hands'

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