History of Italian Immigrants Experience with Housing in Post WWII Australia

Abstract

Previous studies on Italian migrants in Australia highlight that Italian migrants migrated to Australia in the 1950s’-1960s with the primary goal of permanently settling in Australia. Also, scholars pointed out that the form of the transnational houses they subsequently built in Australia were manifestations of both their wish to have their family united under the one roof and of the family’s economic success. In opposition to the work of previous scholars, this article, exploring Italian migrants’ narratives and views about their migration experiences in Brisbane in the post-WWII period, will instead argue that migrants did not intend to settle permanently after their first arrival in Australia, and that further meanings were embedded in the form of their transnational houses built in Brisbane, beyond that which reflected the unity and success of the family.