Newsflash! Breaking News!
“Uproar In British Migrant Hostel- Melbourne, Friday: More than 50 Commonwealth officers and uniformed state police struggled and fought with British migrants at Brooklyn Hostel to-day when the Commonwealth officers evicted a family”
Canberra Times, 22 November 1952 [1]
The article was one of many across the country during the early 1950s highlighting the problems and issues around the poor accommodation, food and work opportunities the hostel provided. Different headlines screamed, “No Lights at Migrant Hostel.’[2] ‘Hostel blaze “firebug job”’[3] and ‘Stormy Scenes at Migrant Hostel.’ [4] These headlines showcase how this hostel you can see the remnants of was a microcosm of the wider experience of many post war migrants to Australia.
Many people in this community hold ties to the post World War II British and European immigration experience. If you are, then your family may have come from one of two categories of migrants living here at the Brooklyn site. These were assisted migrants, who were guaranteed accommodation by the Australian government and displaced persons who worked for two years after arriving in Australia at the direction on the federal government. In the wool stores and ex-Army Nissen huts, 1300 rooms provided temporary accommodation for migrant families. [5]
According to a Museums Victoria article, 25% of British migrants to Australia during the post war period became disgruntled and returned back to England. It was in hostels like this that the phenomenon of the “Whingeing Pom” later developed to describe British migrants who constantly complained about the their experience in Australia. [6]
However, official photos from the time show a world of peace and easy transition. The Christmas dinner provided by the Commonwealth Hostels Ltd. In the nearby Altona Hostel in 1960 shows a menu of ‘seasoned turkey’ and ‘iced cordial.’ [7] So, what was it really like to be in this hostel at Brooklyn?
Two aspects of the story of this area you are standing near I believe might point you in the right direction. One is the particularly interesting story of the formation at this place of the Victorian British Migrants Association lead by Mr Derek Sceats. Under his leadership, some of the British migrants here built their own community with houses and streets at nearby Seaholme in reaction to the slowness of the official government assistance. [8]
The other aspect that is most most telling of the poor conditions in the hostel is a newspaper clipping from 30 December 1967 entitled, ‘Migrant hostel to close down’ which reported that the location so near to big industry was unsatisfactory. [9]
So let’s now travel to another place that many people in this area don’t know existed during the19th century: The Cut Paw Paw Sanatorium.
[1] (Trove, 2018).
[2] (Trove, 2018).
[3] (Trove, 2018).
[4] (Trove. 2018).
[5] (Hobsonsbay.vic.gov.au, 2018)
[6] (Museums Victoria Collections, 2018)
[7] (Museums Victoria Collections, 2018)
[8] (Priestley, 1988, p.228).
[9] Trove, 2018).
