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Irma and Emily Vasallo aboard the EMPIRE BAY
Irma and Emily Vasallo aboard the EMPIRE BAY

Irma and Emily Vasallo aboard the EMPIRE BAY

Publisher
Date1950
Object numberANMS1453[073]
NamePhotograph
Mediumphotographic print on paper
DimensionsOverall: 164 × 215 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection
DescriptionBlack and white image of sisters Irma and Emily Vasallo seated indooors aboard the EMPIRE BAY. A newspaper clipping attached to the back of the photograph reads ‘Attractive sisters. Maltese girls Irma (20), and Emily Vasallo (23), passengers on the migrant ship EMPIRE BAY today, left their parents in Port Said to look for work in Sydney. The girls said there were large numbers of unemployed in Egypt since the Government had restricted employment of British.’ 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.