Image Not Available

The Smith and Lennon families aboard the OTRANTO

Publisher Fairfax Publications, Sydney Morning Herald

Date24 May 1956

Object numberANMS1453[033]

NamePhotograph

Mediumphotographic print on paper

DimensionsOverall: 104 × 254 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection

Terms

DescriptionA black and white image of two families, the Smiths and the Lennons, from England and Scotland, reach on the deck of the OTRANTO on its arrival in Melbourne. The families are lined up by height and age respectively, starting with the parents in the middle and going from eldest to youngest to the sides. A newspaper clipping attached to the back of the photograph reads ‘From Starboard to Port stand two men’s families – and there are 27 in all. They are the Smiths and the Lennons, from England and Scotland, and they reached Melbourne (with almost 1000 other migrants in the OTRANTO today. Mr and Mrs Herbert Smith and their 10 children will live in Melbourne. Mr and Mrs James Lennon, with their 10 children, two daughters-in-law and grandson, are going to 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 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.