Staniland family disembarks the STRATHMORE at Port Melbourne
Date1963
Object numberANMS1453[139]
NamePhotograph
Mediumphotographic print on paper
DimensionsOverall: 218 × 165 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection
DescriptionBlack and white image of Peter Staniland and family walking on the dock after arriving in Port Melbourne aboard the STRATHMORE. Daughter Jane pushes her brother Craig in a pram while alongside them Peter Staniland pushes another stacked high with luggage.
A newspaper clipping attached to the back of the photograph reads ‘With all the family luggage loaded on to their pram, the English migrant family of Mr Peter Staniland leaves the STRATHMORE at Port Melbourne today. The family was sponsored from Worksop, Nottingham, by the Balwyn Bring Out a Briton Committee. They have two children, Craig, two and Jane, five.’
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.
1953-1956
