Refugee settlers : a study of displaced persons in Australia

Abstract

In 1953 Dr Jean Martin went to live in a Migrant Hostel in {u2018}Burton{u2019},' the name she gives to one of Australia{u2019}s larger provincial cities. Amongst the Displaced Persons in the Hostel and in the town, she found much of pain, bewilderment, suspicion, and fear, but {u2018}looking back now, I think that the patience, friendliness, and trust shown to me were quite remarkable, considering how time-consuming, impertinent, and even frivolous my inquiries must at times have seemed{u2019}. In 1962 she set out to locate the people she had known at that time, now scattered through two states, to find out what changes had taken place in their lives and attitudes since she had worked among them. Dr Martin{u2019}s purpose was to see the extent to which Australia{u2019}s Displaced Person had been assimilated into the community: how far they had learned new patterns of behaviour, and adopted new values and norms and assumed new roles; to what extent they had come {u2018}to feel a sense of belonging in the new society, with all that this implies in terms of self-perceptions, allegiances, and responsibilities; and [to find] satisfaction in these new activities and loyalties{u2019}. In her compassionate and objective study, in the course of which she chronicles in detail some of the migrants{u2019} life histories, Dr Martin raises a number of problems about the migrants{u2019} relations with their hosts - both as individuals and as members of organizations - which should prod thoughtful Australians into serious consideration and reassessment of their attitudes to their immigrant settlers.