Books & CDs

The Italian Historical Society has some books on the Italian-Australian history available for sale. These texts about the history of Italians in Australia are particularly useful for secondary schools.

 

 

A$11.00 plus postage 

Proxy marriages were common among the Italian-born living in Australia from the 1920s to the late 1960s. During this period, the majority of Italian migrants were young, single men. While some married women of Irish or German heritage, most men preferred to marry someone from their own village or region. For single women in Italy, proxy marriage often represented an opportunity to escape poverty, repression and boredom. This book features interviews with proxy brides and grooms who talk about their reasons for choosing marriage by proxy, how their relationships grew through several years of correspondence, and the experience of travelling to a new land and building a life together. Not all the stories have positive outcomes and the interviewees speak candidly about the challenges they faced. Illustrated with black and white photographs.