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Smith family aboard the OTRANTO

Publisher Fairfax Publications, Sydney Morning Herald

Date1956

Object numberANMS1453[036]

NamePhotograph

Mediumphotographic print on paper

DimensionsOverall: 207 × 155 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection

Terms

DescriptionA black and white image of Mr and Mrs Bert Smith from Britain posing on stairs on the deck of the OTRANTO with their ten children on the ship's arrival in Fremantle. A newspaper clipping attached to the back of the photograph reads ‘Twelve for Melbourne. Meet the Smiths from Lothsborough Leicestershire: Mr and Mrs Bert Smith and their 10 children. Like the Lennons (that family on page 2) Mr and Mrs Smith agreed that Australia offered better opportunities than England for a big family, decided to migrate, reached Fremantle in the OTRANTO today on their way to Melbourne. The children’s ages: 16, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8, 7, 5, 18 months and 7 months. Mr Smith is a spray painter.’ 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.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.