Summary heading

 A2478 - Non-British European migration selection documents c1951 - 1965

Function and purpose

 The Non-British European migration selection documents in this series are various documents that were required by the Commonwealth of Australia, in particular, the Department of Immigration, for selection for assisted migration to Australia between 1951 and 1965.

The Department of Immigration was established by Arthur Calwell in 1945 and the ‘Migration Program’ to increase Australia’s population was launched. In 1946 Australia signed an agreement to provide free, assisted passage to British ex-servicemen and their families and this was extended to other European ex-servicemen and freedom fighters. In 1947 Australia relaxed restrictions of the Immigration Act 1901, non-European residents were allowed to stay in Australia and an agreement to settle 12,000 displaced persons was reached. By 1948 arrivals in Australian were rapidly increasing and in 1949 assisted arrivals reached 120,000. The Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948 came into force the same year establishing Australian, rather than British, citizenship. By 1951, principles for increasing Australia’s population were set with the annual migrant intake balanced between assisted and non-assisted migrants, British and non-British migrants and between northern and southern Europeans within the non-British European intake.

In 1951 new assisted passage schemes were agreed with the Netherlands and Italy. In 1952 the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM) was established in Geneva and as a member, Australia made arrangements with Austria, Belgium, Malta, Greece, West Germany and Spain for assisted migrants from these countries. In the following years, Australia signed agreements to assist migrants from the USA, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, USSR and other East European countries - Yugoslavia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria.

From the late 1940s, migrants and their families were transported to Australia mostly by ship. By the mid 1960s, air transport was used for assisted passages and the records in this series were kept according to either the ship or aeroplane on which each migrant was a passenger, as well as the date of arrival.

Each record includes a medical report, a signed agreement between the Commonwealth Government concerning the conditions of migration, an interview questionnaire including personal details and the trade or professional qualifications of the migrant and an application for assisted passage. The records include information about the migrant’s family group, their spouse and children, accompanying them to Australia.  Most records include a passport sized photograph of each person in the family group.

These documents were submitted by successful applicants to Australian migration officers and Commonwealth government officials in Europe at, for example, the Migration Branches of Australian Legations and Embassies in Rome, Athens and Bremen, Germany. They were submitted under the authority of, firstly, the Provisional Intergovernmental Committee for the Movement of Migrants from Europe, which later became the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM) established by the United States, Australia and Canada in 1952.

The records in this series were created and held at the Commonwealth Immigration Centre - Migrant Reception and Training Centre, Bonegilla, Victoria, which was opened in 1947 to provide initial accommodation for assisted passage migrants and displaced persons and certain special full-fare migrants pending placement in employment. Both selection documents and personal documents were created at Bonegilla. The centre was closed in 1971 and the records were transferred into the custody of the Australian Archives via the Immigration Group, Department of Labour and Immigration, Canberra.

Related legislation

 Immigration Act 1948 (No 86 of 1948)

 Migration Act 1958 (No 62 of 1958)

Language of material

 Most of the personal and medical information on the selection documents is written in the language of the applicant. Printed forms are also in a variety of European languages.

In several of the forms for Germanic language group migrants, an anglicised form of the name has been included on the forms. This was to overcome mispronunciation of umlauts used in these languages. The anglicised versions of names have not been included in data capture for this series. Rather, the original Germanic spelling, minus umlauts, has been used.

Physical characteristics

 Each record contains documents that vary in size, format, number and language. Most documents are official forms issued by the Department of Immigration, Commonwealth of Australia or the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration. Some records also contain handwritten reports and letters.

Application forms and medical reports are printed and in most cases are in the language of the applicants for example German, Greek and Italian with handwritten personal information. On some forms it is evident that the applicant is not applying in their own country, for example, a Yugoslav applying in Italy. Interview forms are in English and there are some annotations in English on other forms.

Some items include smaller forms with medical information regarding the required medical checks eg X-rays. X-rays were removed from the series in 1980. Some handwritten letters are included and these appear to be medical, work or character references.

System of arrangement and control

 The records in this series are arranged chronologically by the date of departure, then alphabetically by either the ship (name) or flight (number), then within each ship voyage or flight the items are arranged alphabetically by the surname of the migrant.  This arrangement was imposed by the Archives in 1981.

Items are searchable in RecordSearch under surname and initial, date of birth, nationality, the name of the ship or plane travelled on and the name of the assisted migrant scheme.

Relationships with other records

 Previous series include CP899/4, Selection documents - Displaced Persons; CP900/2, Personal documents of Displaced Persons; CP900/4, Personal documents of Displaced Persons; CP533/1, Selection Documents (Displaced Person Migration Scheme). These records can be accessed through a search for the Displaced Persons Group Resettlement Scheme 1947 to 1953.

A subsequent series, dating from 1966, is A2559, Non-British European Migrant Selection Documents, Assisted Passage Schemes, numerical series.

Related series are B4065, Applications for admission of relative or friend to Australia (Form 40), alphabetical series; and A2566, Movement register for selection documents, dated 1957 to 1965.

Finding aids

 Records in this series are entered at item level in RecordSearch.

Access conditions

 

Series history

 Two accessions, CP1037 Selection Documents Ship 1952 to 1957 and CP1038 Selection Documents Aircraft 1954 to 1957, from the Department of Immigration, were converted to A2487 Non-British European Migrant Selection Documents by the Archives in 1971.

Disposal history

 X-rays were removed from the series in 1980 under Disposal Authority A2478/DA1.

Sources

 Department of Immigration,  Immigration to Australia during the 20thC - Historical Impacts on Immigration Intake, Population size and population composition - A Timeline. www.immi.gov.au/statistics/publications/federation/timeline1.pdf  (Accessed online May 2006).

Ann-Mari Jordens 1997  Alien to Citizen: Settling Migrants in Australia, 1945-75 Allen Unwin / Australian Archives