Migration, Class and Transnational Identities by Val Colic-Peisker

Author:Val Colic-Peisker [Colic-Peisker, Val]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, General, Emigration & Immigration, Ethnic Studies
ISBN: 9780252090868
Google: UehHbyb0kQUC
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Published: 2010-10-01T02:42:41+00:00

Ante: My first thought every morning is my old courtyard back home . . .

I arrived in Australia in 1970 when I was already thirty-two. It was fashionable to leave; everybody was leaving so I did too. It was easy to get a visa back then. [. . .] There were twelve other Croatian men with me on the same ship, all young and strong. I had a brother here, but I still regretted I came because I could not find work straight away. Other Croatians helped me find work. Back at Korčula, I worked in vineyards and also for a construction company so I continued working as a bricklayer here in Australia. I ruined my back, two vertebra damaged. I worked in the building industry for fourteen years as a subcontractor with my brother, but I was advised to quit the job because of my back. Then I worked concrete . . . I’m still doing that up north. I also worked in Albany [a regional town in Western Australia] in wheat silos. . . . We used to work all day . . . it was good money. I made more money in two months over there than in a year’s time here in Perth.

I attended an English course for a very short time. It was an evening course 7 to 9 p.m. and I used to fall asleep in the classroom, so I quit. Oh, I did learn a bit of English, had no problems at work, but I could not talk about digestive illnesses, ha, ha. I didn’t care that much about not being able to speak the language. I could work, that was important, although it would be good to speak English, of course. I came with the intention of going back in a few years . . . yeah, that’s the folly we all suffer from . . . just to save some money for the house and then go back . . .

I first lived in Fremantle, then came to Spearwood. [. . .] At that time there were gardens here, not so many houses. We knew people around. . . . Everyone from Yugoslavia was here . . . lots of them, but also Italians, Portuguese, all mixed. I am a member of the managing board of the Fremantle club . . . someone has to do it . . . and everyone wants to shake it off. There’re about four hundred old members, mainly people who came in the 1960s. Dalmatians do not immigrate any more. Earlier, strangers were discriminated against. I worked up north as an only Croatian among Australians . . . we were building a gas tank. I didn’t feel very good among them. Perhaps we cannot love it, but we have to respect and be grateful to the country that admitted us. Here [in Australia] everyone lives for themselves . . . people are more selfish. Back home the folks are more satisfied and see each other

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