Studans family migrating to Australia from Germany
DateSeptember 1948
Object numberANMS1453[027]
NamePhotograph
Mediumphotographic print on paper
DimensionsOverall: 161 × 114 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection
DescriptionA black and white image of Robert and Lily Studans with their children posing aboard the PROTEA on its arrival in Fremantle.
A paper slip attached to the back of the photograph reads ‘German migrants. DN – 24/9” When she arrived in Fremantle in the migrant ship PROTEA on September 23, Mrs Lily Studans, who has had four years in Germany said that she and her husband had been lucky to come to Australia together. Many of the migrants aboard have been separated from their husbands or wives and did not know how long it would be before they were reunited, she said. Mrs Studans (pictured here) with her building-engineer husband Robert and daughter Inara (11) and son Maris (10) was an interpreter for Unrra for two years. She was also interpreter for the International refugee organisation for one year.’HistorySince the first Fleet dropped anchor in 1788, more than 10 million people have moved from across the world to start a new life in Australia, arriving in waves, encouraged by the 1850s gold rushes or to escape adverse conditions at home in the social upheavals of C19th Britain's industrial revolution, the turmoil of revolution, two world wars, the aftermath of the Vietnam war in the 1970s and more recent conflicts.
With the catchphrase 'populate or perish' ringing through the community, Australia stepped up its immigration in the years after WWII, offering assisted passage to British migrants, encouraging migration from European countries, and finally in the 1970s repealing the restrictive white Australia policy framed after federation in 1901. More than seven million new settlers have now crossed Australia's shores since 1945 and it's estimated that one in four of Australia's population was born overseas.
The picture is related to the post-war program of resettling displaced persons from Europe (most of whom were waiting for resettlement in camps in Germany) in Australia. The family had fled from Latvia to Germany and left for Australia in 1948 on the SS PROTEA.SignificanceThis image is one of a series of photographs taken by Fairfax photographers that provides a unique window into how immigrants were viewed and immigration policy articulated in the popular press in Australia. They represent something of the personal face to Australia's massive post-war immigration push and show immigrants from many European nations, USA and China.
Fairfax Publications, Sydney Morning Herald
1961
