Hardship:

As we can see in Source B, the hardships of the migrants/ refugees endured coming to Australia we’re few but challenging. They had to not only go through the effort of leaving their home country where their roots were formed but also where they had family and where they knew how everything worked but they had to travel for approximately 4 months on a ship before arriving in Australia where they were put in camps and processed. They had to learn English and the culture of Australia as they were expected to leave their past traditions in their old country. They had a military style of living: Surrounded by a fence, living in barracks, eating in a mess hall, as well as in their barrack. A clear example of this is in Source D, where there is a labelled diagram on the living style these migrants had when they landed in Australia.

Obstacle:

Again the obstacles were few but challenging for the migrants. The main obstacle they had was the whole concept of Assimilation. Learning English. Having to know how to read, write and speak it. Learning the Australian culture like it’s your own, without a say of whether you wanted to or not and having expected to leave yours behind. Learning to like new hobbies and concepts. Having new customs, traditions and foods. These were all very challenging obstacles for these migrants to overcome to fitting in. Another big obstacle these people had to overcome was racial tension. Because of all of these new migrants coming from around the globe and the war just over there was somewhat racism however when the public realised they were all Australian the majority of it stopped and those people accepted each other in the community. Thus Bringing us closer.

Reward:

When the migrants were accepted into the country they had a new life with a great start. They had jobs, family, land, freedom, new friends, a community, shopping centres, multiculturalism, everything we enjoy right now they had. And they were in a great country which wasn’t effected by the war in most states.

Changed Australia:

Australia changed for the better because of these migrants as the plan for what the government had, succeeded over and above what they expected. The population grew, thus allowing us to populate and not perish. We had a strong community of people who were there for each other and with that population growth it meant that Australia had a strong defence force to protect the country from threat in the future. Australia also had a strong economy as there were hundreds of thousands if not millions of jobs for everyone to contribute to. And finally another benefit with the population boom was with the multiculturalism that Australia had. It has been the base of Australia that we look back on today as we call ourselves a proud multicultural country. In Source C there is an advert encouraging multiculturalism in the 80’s. And with this multiculturalism we saw the “White Australian Policy’ and the “White Policy” being completely abolished in that era. Australia made friendships with the neighbouring countries and more people from all different ethnic backgrounds were let in. Thus showed on the table in Source E with the number of Australian Citizens having doubled in the 80’s from ’47.

Bibliography:

·       Maureen Anderson. 2014. Migration after WWII. [ONLINE] Available at: http://content.jacplus.com.au/faces/pages/ebookviewer.xhtml?isbn=1118599276&chptr=11470§ionNo=3&pageType=1&view=01&cb=4027707151478. [Accessed 13 May 15].

·       P Peterson. 2014. Propaganda in Australia. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_War_Memorial. [Accessed 13 May 15].

·       Keese, I.K., 2015. Retro Active. 2nd ed. NSW: Jacaranda.

·       Wikipedia. 2014. Australian War Memorial. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_War_Memorial. [Accessed 13 May 15].

·       All images from Google Images [ONLINE} Available at https://www.google.com.au/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi&authuser=0&ei=u_tSVdjzCqPEmwXFsYG4CA&ved=0CBIQqi4oAg

·       J. Carrey. 2013. Populate or Perish. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s-56_u-490_t-1332_c-5121/TAS/10/Populate-or-perish!/After-World-War-II/Australia-after-1945/SOSE-History/. [Accessed 13 May 15].