Task 2 New Australias
Interviewer: Today, there are more than 15 million people living in Australia. Only 160,000 of these are Aborigines, so where have the rest come from? Well, until 1850 most of the settlers came from Britain and Ireland and, as we know, many of these were convicts. Then in 1851 something happened which changed everything. Gold was discovered in southeastern Australia. During the next ten years, nearly 700,000 people went to Australia to find gold and become rich. Many of them were Chinese. China is quite near to Australia. Since then many different groups of immigrants have gone to Australia for many different reasons. Today I'm going to talk to Mario whose family came from Italy and to Helena from Greece. Mario, when did the first Italians arrive in Australia?
Mario: The first Italians went there, like the Chinese, in the gold-rushes, hoping to find gold and become rich. But many also went there for political reasons. During the 1850s and 1860s different states in Italy were fighting for independence and some Italians were forced to leave their homelands because they were in danger of being put in prison for political reasons.
Interviewer: I believe there are a lot of Italians in the sugar industry.
Mario: Yes, that's right. In 1891 the first group of 300 Italians went to work in the sugarcane fields of northern Australia. They worked very hard and many saved enough money to buy their own land. In this way they came to dominate the sugar industry on many parts of the Queensland coast.
Interviewer: But not all Italians work in the sugar industry, do they?
Mario: No. A lot of them are in the fishing industry. Italy has a long coastline, as you know, and Italians have always been good fishermen. At the end of the nineteenth century some of these went to western Australia to make a new life for themselves. Again, many of them, including my grandfather, were successful.
Interviewer: And what about the Greeks, Helena?
Helena: Well, the Greeks are the fourth largest national group in Australia, after the British, the Irish and the Italians. Most Greeks arrived after the Second World War but in the 1860s there were already about 500 Greeks living in Australia.
Interviewer: So when did the first Greeks arrive?
Helena: Probably in 1830, they went to work in vineyards in southeastern Australia. The Greeks have been making wine for centuries so their experience was very valuable.
Interviewer: But didn't some of them go into the coalmines?
Helena: Yes, they weren't all able to enjoy the pleasant outdoor life of the vineyards. Some of them went to work in the coalmines in Sydney. Others started cafes and bars and restaurants. By 1890 there were Greek cafes and restaurants all over Sydney and out in the countryside (or the bush, as the Australians call it) as well.
Interviewer: And then, as you said, many Greeks arrived after the Second World War, didn't they?
Helena: Yes, yes, that's right. Conditions in Greece were very bad: there was very little work and many people were very poor. Australia needed more workers and so offered to pay the boat fare. People who already had members of their family in Australia took advantage of this offer and went to find a better life there.
Interviewer: Well, thank you, Mario and Helena. Next week we will be talking to Juan from Spain and Margaret from Scotland.