post-war migrant hostels

A NEW LIFE FOR MIGRANTS IN WOLLONGONG

Sources Wollongong Heritage and Stories, Lost Wollongong and Migrant Heritage Project Illawarra Images From the collections of the Wollongong City Libraries and the Illawarra Historical Society; Michelle Dubois (Surgeoner Family)

Tucked away in the University of Wollongong Innovation Campus, is the site of one of Wollongong’s migrant hostels. The Balgownie migrant hostel, later called Fairy Meadow, was a temporary home to thousands of post-war migrants from 1951 to the late 1970s. Spotted by their curved roofs, the Nissen hut buildings were first designed in 1917 and were widely used in World War Two. Cheap and easily transported, a single hut could be assembled by six men in around four hours, and as a result, they sprang up in migrant camps across Australia. Designed for convenience rather than comfort, they were hot and humid in summer and bitterly cold in winter.

A melting pot of nationalities, including residents from England, Italy, Denmark, Spain and Scotland, the hostel was a place of community and new friendships, with an average stay of three to six months. For 35,000 migrants beginning a new chapter in their lives, Wollongong was their first experience of Australia and everything their new life had to offer. And with the beach, lagoon and Stuart Park on their doorstep, it was a great location to settle in.

“Life on the hostel was an opportunity to create lasting friendships and to become accustomed to our new lives. It had its ups and downs, but my parents told us that we should make the best of every opportunity... and we did,” says Catherine Correa who arrived from Scotland in 1962.

Although exciting and different, the sparse accommodation, basic (and often unappetising) food, plus the challenges of learning English made it tough to adapt to life in Australia. Many families shared accommodation and facilities, including bathrooms, and the communal dining hall was a constant hive of activity, serving nearly 3000 meals each day to over 1000 residents. learn to swim.”

The majority of the Nissen huts were sold and relocated to regional areas, with the remaining huts still located on the original site. The former hostel site is now listed on the NSW