Teaching Heritage - Revisiting Notions of Citizenship

Click here to return to Front Page of site

Click the icon to access resources
	Focus questions

	What do New Italy and Australian Hall reveal about the influences on life in Australia after World War II?

	How do the influences revealed by these places contribute to our understanding of: the effects of population change; building community identities; past and present meanings of Australian citizenship?

	What is being preserved in these places; who decided what was important and should be kept; and how is it being done?

Click the icon to view maps of these heritage sites

New Italy and Australian Hall are linked to migrant and Aboriginal experiences around the time of World War II.

During the second World War Italians living in Australia were considered enemy aliens – this included those born in Australia of Italian parentage. By September 1942, the number of Italians in civilian internment camps throughout New South Wales was 3631. Against this backdrop, 360 00 Italians arrived in Australia between 1947 and 1976 – some working for the Snowy Mountains Scheme – and 90 000 Italian-born departed.

Towards the end of the 1940s Aboriginal ex-servicemen were permitted to vote in elections. It was not until the referendum of 1967, however, that indigenous people were included in the census and given the right to vote. Demands made at the 1938 ‘Day of Mourning and Protest’ conference – in addition to voting rights – would shape the future direction of Aboriginal activism in Australia.

On 26 January 1938, Australian Hall was the venue for the first national Aboriginal civil rights gathering – ‘Day of Mourning and Protest’. The venue was second choice after organisers of the gathering were denied permission to meet at Sydney Town Hall. At the time, Australian Hall was a popular venue for concerts, dances, and other social activities.

The conference took place as the nation celebrated the 150 year anniversary of the foundation of New South Wales. Approximately one hundred Aboriginal men and women from New South Wales, Victoria and possibly Queensland attended the conference. Messages of solidarity arrived from Aboriginal activists in all parts of Australia.

Click on the icon on the left to hear Geracitano's views on heritage.

In 1982, 317 Italian migrants – accepted by the New South Wales government as refugees – established a community at Woodburn in northern New South Wales. New Italy – as the community became known – featured houses in traditional Friulan and Venetian styles, a church, a school and a community hall. Community members became involved in a range of activities including timber-cutting, cane-cutting, wine-making, dairying and silk production.

Click on the icon on the left to hear descendents of New Italy pioneer, Giovanni Batestuzzi


	Although Australia did not attract large numbers of Italian immigrants until the 1950s, Italian contacts with Australia date back much further. The very process of European discovery and exploration of the ‘Fifth Continent’, as Italian geographers term Australia, was assisted by Italians. There were many Italian sailors and officers on the decks of the Spanish and Portuguese ships bound for Australia. Luca Stewart-Crisanti in ‘The Italian hidden heritage’, information sheet of the NSW Heritage Office

Throughout the 1920s the population of New Italy gradually decreased, and by 1942 Giacomo Picoli was the sole resident. At this time, the community comprised two mud houses (in a state of decay), a church and a school. In 1936, Picoli had established a ‘Park of Peace’ on his property where every year on April 7 a tree would be planted. This ritual is still followed by the descendants of the original settlers to New Italy.

Source: research undertaken by Gisele Mesnage (Australian Hall); Luca Stewart-Crisanti in ‘The Italian hidden heritage’, information sheet of the NSW Heritage Office

Focus questions