White Russians from Red China: Resettling in Australia, 1957-59
Date
2018
Authors
Pitt, Nicholas
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Abstract
During the Cold War, Australia accepted c.14,700 Russian refugees
from China. This thesis considers three key years for the scheme
– 1957-59, which marked the first major intake featuring
non-government organisations. These included the Australian
Council for the World Council of Churches (ACWCC) and
associations formed by Russians in Australia. Some continue to
mark 1957 as an anniversary.
This thesis considers how the various stakeholder groups in
resettlement – the ACWCC, Australian Russian communities, the
Australian Government, and the refugees themselves – related to
one another, and what this tells us about Australia in the late
1950s. It uses a broad range of sources including government and
ACWCC archives, memoirs, and Russian-language newspapers.
Examining these relationships reveals the active role that
Russians – both those migrating and those already in Australia
– played in this resettlement process. Migrant memoirists
presented their decision to leave China as a choice, and avoided
the term refugee, even while describing the significant
persecution they faced. Russians in Australia found allies to
lobby government, worked with the ACWCC in various ways, and even
built their own migrant barracks. They even received government
encouragement to sponsor migrants. These relationships challenge
the traditional view of Australian assimilation policy as
resisting migrant-led initiatives.
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Keywords
migration, refugees, White Russians, Harbin, resettlement, Australian Council of Churches, World Council of Churches, Russian Orthodox Church
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Thesis (Masters)
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