Employment

Table of Contents

Australia welcomed the post-war immigrants as a ‘directable and controllable pool of labour’ that would be crucial in the country’s post-war reconstruction.

Every assisted migrant over the age of 16 had to sign a contract to work as directed for two years.

To meet union demands, jobs were only offered when no Australian labour was available. The task of finding a job could take weeks, or months, and waiting for a job could be boring and stressful.

The job interview was crucial multi-lingual staff were often used as interpreters. Job preferences were considered but repeated refusals of offers led to the loss of social service benefits.

Migrants from Bonegilla went to work all over Australia on farms, in factories, for the railway, on construction, and on hydroelectric schemes. Women often did domestic and factory work. Married couples, or families, tried to stay together but appointments often resulted in separation which could be hundreds of kilometres away. The contract was void if a woman had a child as child care was deemed a national service.  

Separation added to the stress on marital relationships. Prolonged separation was a factor in the frequent breakdown of marriages.

Many people got jobs within Bonegilla and sometimes stayed for many years.

Quotes

There was nothing to do all day. We used to walk from Bonegilla to Albury, just to use up energy. Once a week we had races. We put five pennies in and the first their and back would get the money. I won three times.

- Giovanni Sgro, Italy, 1952

Dad caught trains and came home on Saturdays and Sundays from Port Kembla.

- Daila J., Latvia, 1952.

Bonegilla became a place of one of the most cruel things whichever happened in Australian immigration. Husband might have been sent to work on a farm, wife and children were sent to Benalla. Or you had a married couple without children, so wife was sent somewhere and husband was sent somewhere else. So imagine? In a new country where you need the support of each other and you are suddenly dislodged as a family unit.

- Michael Cigler, Czechoslovakia, 1951.

Many migrants are skilled and learned. When their two year contract expires and they revert to their former occupations, Australia will benefit from their knowledge.

- Unknown