Displaced persons in Queensland

Stuart migrant camp

Authors

  • Jayne Persian University of Southern Queensland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1017/qre.2018.27

Keywords:

Stuart migrant camp, post-war Queensland, memorialisation, displaced persons

Abstract

This article examines the lived experience and recent commemorative efforts relating to the experience of displaced prsons who were sent to Queensland in the post-war period. 170,000 displaced persons — predominantly Central and Eastern Europeans — arrived in Australia between 1947 and 1952. They were sent to reception and training centres upon their arrival before commencing a two-year indentured labour contract. Memorialisation of these camps tends to present them as the founding places of the migrant experience in Australia; however, there has been very little historical work on displaced persons in Queensland, or on the Queensland migrant camps — Wacol, Enoggera, Stuart and Cairns. This article focuses on recent commemorative attempts surrounding the Stuart migrant camp in order to argue that, in relation to displaced persons, family and community memories drive commemorative activities.

Author Biography

  • Jayne Persian, University of Southern Queensland

    Jayne Persian is a historian of twentieth-century Australian and international history at the University of Southern Queensland. Her publications include Beautiful Balts: From Displaced Persons to New Australians (NewSouth Publishing, 2017). She is Co-Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Council Discovery project entitled ‘Displacement and Resettlement: Russian and Russian-speaking Jewish displaced persons arriving in Australia via the “China” route in the wake of the Second World War’ (2016–19).

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Published

2018-12-01

Issue

Section

Museums and Engagement in Queensland: Critical Contributions to the Field

How to Cite

Persian, J. (2018). Displaced persons in Queensland: Stuart migrant camp. Queensland Review, 25(2), 239-251. https://doi.org/10.1017/qre.2018.27