Diaspora

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Finally, in late 1953, they began their journey by sea on the ‘Fair Star ‘ship to Australia. They arrived at Melbourne Pier in the centre of an Australian heatwave on 10 January 1954. That day, they were placed into cattle trains and for the rest of that heated, scorching summer day without drink or food, except for an orange each, they were transported to Albury and then bused to Bonegilla, in Victoria, to an ex-army camp. At ten that night, they were served spaghetti, which was quite uneatable, but at least a meal was served. In addition to these hardships, gender separation occurred; the females with the children were bedded into separate army barracks. The next morning, as people began to surface, great laments were heard: ‘Where have they brought us?’ ‘To desolation and the end of the earth’ was the reply. The area around Bonegilla in the summer months was not the most inviting and pleasant surroundings for newcomers in a strange and isolated environment. However, they were hopeful that this new, hostile and uninviting land would eventually become home.

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In their migration, they joined their ancestors and became part of a new wave of Diaspora Ukrainians; the fourth to have migrated; migrated out of the lands of today’s Ukraine. The previous waves occurred in 1751, the 1890s and the 1910s (Miz 2007) and now theirs led them to Geelong, Australia, in 1954.