Communal endeavours : migrant organisations in Melbourne

Abstract

Migrant organisations supply more than mere support for in dividual immigrants. They enable those who so wish to preserve something of the life, language and culture of the home country. The three groups of migrant or ganisations studied here - Polish, Dutch and Maltese - differ widely in their aims and success. The Polish migrant organisations in Melbourne are mainly intent on preserving Polishness, not only among those who migrated here from Poland but also in the younger generations who were small children when their parents came to Australia or who were born here. The Dutch have little wish to retain association with the Netherlands. Most speak English and membership of their organisations includes many Australians and other nationali ties. The most disorganised are the Maltese. They have a multi plicity of migrant bodies, most of them competing with each other, and little corporate feeling. Mrs Unikoski, herself a migrant from Belgium, had long been conscious of the relation be tween organised groupings and the individual stranded in alien ness, of the inability of some adults to alter inbred behaviour patterns and of a covert hostility of some Australians to ethnic organisations. Before writing this book she talked with many hun dreds of migrants from the three groups studied and was allowed to attend meetings of the of ficials who run the migrant or ganisations. The result is a book which shows her understanding of the problems encountered both by adults who find them selves in a strange country where customs are different and by children and adolescents who are torn between two cultures. Show more