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Image Not Available for Allen family on board the ROMA
Allen family on board the ROMA
Image Not Available for Allen family on board the ROMA

Allen family on board the ROMA

Publisher
Date1962
Object numberANMS1453[147]
NamePhotograph
Mediumphotographic print on paper
DimensionsOverall: 253 × 203 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection
DescriptionBlack and white image of Mr and Mrs T.R. Allen and their five children on the covered deck of the ROMA on its arrival into Sydney. The family were moving from Zurich to Tamworth, New South Wales. A newspaper clipping attached to the back of the photograph reads ‘This American family, Mr and Mrs T.R. Allen with Timothy, 11, Catherine, 6, Thomas, 5, Claudette, 3, and Christie, 10 months, arrived in Sydney yesterday as migrants. Mr Allen, 18st, 6ft 6in tall, and a former bomber pilot, arrived with his family in the Flotta Lauro liner ROMA. Mr Allen served with the 448th American bomber squadron based in England in World War II, and with a sea air rescue unit in the Korean War. Since 1957, he said, he had been working at various jobs in Zurich. He and his family will stay in Sydney a few days before going to live in Tamworth.’ 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.