Giuseppe de Fuccia on board HMAS SYDNEY
Date15 July 1978
Object numberANMS1453[126]
NamePhotograph
Mediumphotographic print on paper
DimensionsOverall: 215 × 168 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection
DescriptionBlack and white image of Giuseppe de Fuccia working on the Royal Australian Navy aircraft carrier SYDNEY.
A paper slip attached to the back of the photograph reads 'Twenty-one-year-old Italian migrant, Giuseppe de Fuccia, had led an uneventful five years in Australia until recently. Then he became one of the central figures in foiling an armed bandit at his brother-in-law’s garage in Sydney. Giuseppe, who hails from Caserta, is an ironworker’s assistant for the Associated Steamship Company at Balmain. He hopes one day to take a course in electrician’s work. Giuseppe lives with his wife Angela, and their three-months-old daughter in the Sydney suburb of Leichardt. An interesting assignment for Italian migrant, Giuseppe de Fuccia as he works the Royal Australian Navy aircraft carrier SYDNEY – in for repairs in its home port of Sydney.'
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 produced by Fairfax newspapers that provides a unique window into how immigrants were viewed and immigration policy articulated in the popular press. The images in this selection are significant in representing the personal face to Australia's massive post-war immigration push that saw aggressive immigration programs orchestrated by the Australian Government that was promoting a 'populate or perish' philosophy.
1940 - 1941
Fairfax Publications, Sydney Morning Herald
1949
