An extraordinar y migratory movement

The Australia-Malta Assisted Passage Agreement was signed seventy-five years ago, on 31 May, 1948, by Immigration Minister, Arthur Calwell, representing the Australian Government, and Captain Henry Curmi, Malta’s representative in Australia

The assistance scheme had received an inprinciple agreement as early as 1944, but the Australian Government was reluctant to take it further without a guarantee from the United Kingdom of shipping for Maltese migrants.

The signing of the Agreement in May 1948 was made possible by the availabil- ity of shipping due in part to the gradual post-war conversion of troopships

The Agreement can also be seen as a major step in the long-standing struggle on the part of the Maltese and their friends to be classified as ‘white British subjects’ in Australian immigration policy rather than as ‘semi-white’ and subject to restrictive quotas as had been the case since 1920

It’s hard to believe now that in 1934 a senior immigration officer could state, in a memo to the Minister of Interior, that ‘Although the Maltese are British subjects They are of an alien type so far as race is concerned’

In the 30 years after World War Two, more than 140,000 Maltese emigrated to various places Most - 58 per cent - went to Australia, 22 per cent to Britain, 13 per cent to Canada and seven per cent to the USA

This was an extraordinary migratory movement, given that Malta’s population over the same period was about 320,000 at its peak The number of Malta-born people in Australia increased from 3,238 in 1947 to more than 55,000 in 1966 In other words, approximately one in every five Maltese in Malta migrated to Australia

Australia needed labour for industrial expansion and Calwell expressed the Labor Government’s policy with the slogan ‘populate or perish’ The nation’s capacity for defence, economic development and population growth were seen as interconnected and formed the basis of the Government’s commitment to assisted mass immigration Australia’s population in 1947 was 7.6 million.

The Agreement allowed for permanent settlement of Maltese in Australia and this was defined as a minimum of two years. Under the Agreement, prospective emigrants could be nominated by friends or relatives in Australia for assisted passage, provided the nominator could guarantee accommodation for the nominee.

*Continued on page 3