Use your mouse to drag the bar along the date line for a timeline of Italian migration in historical context.
- 2010 4% Carlton residents are Italian born (25% in 1960). Carlton retains Italian character. Continues to represent Italian-Australian history and culture in the public imagination.
- 2010 From a country of emigrants, Italy becomes a destination for migrants. 6.5% of the population are now foreign workers.
- 2010 Indians overtake Italians as the largest non-English speaking minority living in Australia.
- 2006 Italy wins fourth FIFA World Cup, having beaten Australia in the quarter final.
- 2006 First MPs, Senator Nino Randazzo and Deputy Marco Fedi, elected to the Italian Parliament in the new Africa, Asia, Oceania and Antarctic constituency. Both are re-elected in 2008.
- 2006 Census records 199,124 Italian born residents of Australia, 46% of whom are in Victoria. 852,417 people identify as having Italian heritage.
- 2001 September 11 terrorist attack on USA
- 2001 September 11 terrorist attack on USA shifts the political climate of the world.
- 2001 Italian citizens resident abroad allowed to elect their own representatives in the Italian Parliament by postal ballot.
- 1999 Australian Republic referendum held in November. Proposal for Australia to become a republic rejected in all states.
- 1998 Italian President, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, visits Australia.
- 1997 James Gobbo becomes Governor of Victoria. Sir James exemplifies the ambitions and success of migrants for whom education was one way to distinguish themselves in their new homeland.
- 1993 Maastricht Treaty establishes European Union, of which Italy is part.
- 1992 Law 91 makes it easier to acquire, reacquire or retain Italian citizenship. Italian consulates flooded with requests for citizenship by migrants and descendents of migrants.
- 1992 Bridging Two Worlds: The Jews, Italians and Carlton exhibition held at the Museum of Victoria. Mounted by the Italian Historical Society with the Jewish Museum of Australia.
- 1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall marks end of Cold War and heralds era of economic and cultural globalisation.
- 1989 Significant changes in Italian politics follow the fall of the Berlin Wall. New parties and new actors emerge.
- 1988 New Parliament House opens. Designed by Italian-American architect Romaldo (Aldo) Giurgola. Giurgola later settles in Australia.
- 1988 Australia’s Italians 1788–1988 exhibition mounted by the Italian Historical Society. The exhibition is opened in Canberra by the President of the Republic Francesco Cossiga.
- 1987 The play Wogs Out of Work debuts at the Melbourne Comedy Festival. The writers and performers, from various ethnic backgrounds, turn the spotlight on their experience of growing up in two cultures.
- 1986 Grollo Australia builds Rialto Tower, largest steel structure in the southern hemisphere. Shows influence of migrant skill and labour on Melbourne’s skyline.
- 1985 Victoria’s Italians 1900–1945: An exhibition of photographs and documents held at the State Library of Victoria. Mounted by the Italian Historical Society.
- 1981 Commonwealth Ethnic Schools Program (now Community Language Schools Program) begins, supporting communities to teach languages other than English to children.
- 1980 Italian Historical Society founded at CoAsIt, with the mission of collecting, preserving, interpreting and promoting the history of Italians in Australia.
- 1980 The Special Broadcasting Service (later SBS) starts full time multicultural TV transmissions in Sydney and Melbourne as Channel 0/28.
- 1978 Galbally Report, commissioned by Fraser Government, recommends the provision of services for a multicultural Australia.
- 1976 Improved economic conditions mark end of large-scale emigration from Italy.
- 1975 3ZZ Access Radio starts broadcasts in ethnic languages, followed one month later by 2EA in Sydney and 3EA in Melbourne.
- 1975 Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act introduced.
- 1973 End of mass migration of Italians to Australia
- 1973 More Italians leave Australia than arrive. Turning point in Italian-Australian migration history as balance shifts. Italy and European Community prosper.
- 1973 Whitlam Government makes multiculturalism an official policy. White Australia Policy is abolished.
- 1971 Branch of Filef (Italian Federation of Emigrated Workers and their Families), backed by the Italian Communist Party, opens in Melbourne.
- 1971 Film Handsome, Honest Emigrant in Australia Would Like to Marry Virgin Fellow Countrywoman released. Shot in Australia, the comedy features the Italian migrant experience.
- 1969 Capuchin Church of St Anthony opens in Hawthorn, built by the Italian community.
- 1968 CoAsIt (Italian Assistance Organisation) founded in Melbourne.
- 1967 Official visit to Australia of Italian President of the Republic Giuseppe Saragat.
- 1965 Full voting rights granted to Australia’s indigenous population. Two years later referendum results in inclusion of Aboriginal people in the national census and under Federal jurisdiction.
- 1959 Il Globo, Italian language newspaper, first published. Now part of the Italian Media Corporation, which includes Sydney’s La Fiamma and the radio station Rete Italia, Il Globo is now published daily in Melbourne.
- 1958 Sergio Silvagni makes his debut for Carlton Football Club. Sergio is one of a large number of Italian Australians to excel in Australian sports.
- 1958 Economic development in Italy climaxes between 1958–1963. Main activity in the north, which results in considerable migration from the south, and from the country to the cities.
- 1958 Migration Act abolishes Dictation Test. A part of immigration application process for 57 years, the Test was used to restrict the number of non-white migrants.
- 1957 European Economic Community (EEC) established with Italy is one of the six founding members. As a consequence, Italian migration is progressively redirected towards Europe.
- 1957 They’re a Weird Mob published. Comic novel written by John O’Grady under the pen name ‘Nino Culotta’. Story of an Italian migrant making his way in Australia.
- 1956 Olympic Games held in Melbourne. A number of Italians stay in Melbourne after the team leaves.
- 1955 Marriage by proxy, begun in the 1920s, peaks in the 1950s and 1960s. This practice brings women to Australia to join the growing community of single Italian men.
- 1954 Several famous Italian professional boxers tour Australia during the 1950s, including Primo Carnera, Bruno Visintin, Mario D’Agata, Sergio Caprari and Luigi Coluzzi.
- 1954 Café Sport opens. The first Italian café in Lygon Street.
- 1953 Il Contratto filmed, the first of four films on the Italian migrant experience by pioneering filmmaker Giorgio Mangiamele.
- 1952 2,000 disillusioned Italian immigrants riot over conditions at Bonegilla Migrant Reception Centre demanding employment or repatriation.
- 1951 Agostino’s grocery is purchased by Carlo Valmorbida. Valmorbida’s business becomes one of the earliest large scale Italian wholesale food businesses.
- 1951 Italy and Australia sign the first assisted migration agreement. Migrants guaranteed work for two years.
- 1951 Economic recession in Australia. Increase in hositilities against migrants during recession years.
- 1950 The Commonwealth-funded Good Neighbour Council formed to welcome and assist refugees and migrants. Adult Migrant Education Scheme established to teach English to new settlers.
- 1950 Korean War begins
- 1949 Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme begins. Over 70,000 migrant workers from 32 countries employed in construction. Engineering triumph and successful social experiment.
- 1947 Bonegilla Migrant Reception Centre opens. Over 24 years, Bonegilla hosts 320,000 newly arrived migrants from 30 countries.
- 1947 Dances held at St George’s Hall raise money to support migrants and become a social fixture.
- 1947 The Capuchin Fathers start the newspaper La Fiamma in Sydney. The newspaper is an alternative to Il Risveglio (1944–1956) published by the left-leaning movement, Italia Libera.
- 1947 Refugee migration begins under the Displaced Persons Scheme. 170,000 people assisted over 13 years, including many Italians from the areas annexed by Yugoslavia.
- 1946 Mass migration from war-stricken Italy begins. 5% of migrants between 1946 and 1976 choose Australia. Emigration continues to be an outlet for social tensions and a source of revenue.
- 1946 Lena Santospirito, who during World War II had organised community support and fund-raising activities, becomes President of the Archbishop’s Committee for Italian Relief. Coordinates local social services.
- 1946 No governmental support services for migrants. Support given by relatives, paesani and Catholic Church. During the 1940s and 1950s a number of Italian Religious Orders arrive in Australia.
- 1946 Mass post-war migration to Australia sees over 380,000 Italians arrive between 1947 and 1970. Carlton is deeply changed due to Italian influence on its culture and landscape.
- 1946 Cold War begins
- 1946 Cold War begins. The world is dominated by two rival super-powers, the United States and the Soviet Union for the years between 1946–1989.
- 1946 Italian referendum abolishes monarchy. Birth of Italian Republic.
- 1945 The Allies win World War II. 55,000,000 are dead as a result of the war.
- 1945 The multi-ethnic areas of Istria and Dalmatia taken over by Yugoslavia. Thousands of Italians are killed and hundreds of thousands leave as refugees.
- 1945 Northern Italy liberated by Allied and Italian partisan forces. Mussolini is executed by partisans.
- 1945 Australia embarks on period of mass immigration. White Australia and assimilation into a culturally British Australia remain official policies.
- 1943 Allied forces land in Sicily. Mussolini, deposed and arrested, then freed by the Germans, forms Government in Northern Italy (Republic of Salò). Monarchist Government signs armistice.
- 1942 Borsari Emporium opens in Lygon Street, Carlton. Olympic medalist, Nino Borsari, had become stranded in Melbourne on outbreak of World War II.
- 1941 Lourdes Grotto at Sacred Heart Church (St George’s), Rathdowne Street, Carlton, opens. Constructed by unemployed Italian men who work voluntarily, the Grotto becomes focus for community religious life.
- 1941 18,432 Italian prisoners of war interned in Australia between 1941–7. After 1943 many work on Australian farms within the Rural Employment Scheme. Many will return as immigrants after the war.
- 1940 4,727 Italians interned as enemy aliens after Italy’s declaration of war. Many politically unaligned but imprisoned as perceived security threat. Others work with the Civil Aliens Corps.
- 1940 Mussolini, thinking Germany will soon win the war, declares war on France and Great Britain.
- 1939 World War II begins
- 1939 World War II begins. The Allied powers (England, France, the United States and the Soviet Union) in conflict with the Axis (Germany, Italy and Japan).
- 1939 Italian born migrants become largest non-British group in Australia, numbering approximately 33,000.
- 1939 Australia fights war on the side of the Allied forces (1939–1945). Immigration from Italy halted between 1940 and 1947.
- 1938 Following the German example, the Italian State passes the first of a series of racial laws.
- 1938 Father Ugo Modotti S.J. arrives to fill position as chaplain of Italian community. Begins to publish the monthly L’Angelo della famiglia.
- 1938 Australian Government announces it will admit 15,000 Jewish refugees over the next three years. Carlton a multicultural melting pot.
- 1934 More racially motivated riots in Kalgoorlie, WA. Two people dead and 560 homes, mostly Italian, burned.
- 1930 Don Bradman scores 452 not out in one innings. Like many contemporary Australians, this icon of Australian manhood has Italian heritage.
- 1930 Guglielmo Marconi turns on the lights in the Sydney Town Hall with a radio signal emitted from his yacht in the port of Genoa.
- 1930 Non-British migration to Australia restricted.
- 1929 The Italian Society Restaurant opens in North Melbourne. The name changes during World War II to Society Restaurant. A milestone in introducing Italian food to Melbournians.
- 1929 Wall Street Crash heralds Great Depression.
- 1929 The Depression hits Australia hard. Hostility towards Southern European workers high during Depression years.
- 1927 Fascist Party branch opens in Melbourne. Leftist Matteotti Club also opens here. Presence of fascist and anti-fascist sympathisers causes tension in Australian Italian communities.
- 1927 Canberra becomes the new capital of Australia.
- 1925 Francesco de Pinedo flies a single-engine, five-seat, biplane flying boat named Gennariello from Rome to Australia, to Tokyo, and back to Rome, making the world seem smaller.
- 1922 Mussolini marches on Rome. During the Fascist dictatorship (1922–1945), the Government officially encourages internal migration and migration to the Italian colonies of Libya and Eastern Africa.
- 1919 Intense social unrest follows the end of World War I. The Fascist movement, led by Mussolini, with a nationalist and populist platform, clashes with socialist organisations.
- 1919 Italians and Anglo-Australians riot in Kalgoorlie. Anti-Italian feeling in Australia strong due to post war economic hardship and social unrest.
- 1918 End of World War I. Regions of Trentino Alto Adige, Venezia Giulia and Istria, formerly Austro-Hungarian territories join Italy. Fiume remains disputed.
- 1917 Cavour Club founded, one of Melbourne’s first Italian social and cultural associations. A vibrant community life will develop around social clubs.
- 1917 Bolshevik revolution in Russia topples czarist regime. Communist era begins.
- 1915 Italy enters World War I on the side of France, England and Russia against Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey.
- 1914 World War I begins
- 1914 World War I begins. Conflict triggered by assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria.
- 1914 Australia joins World War I as part of the British Empire. Immigration halted for duration of war.
- 1913 Italian mass emigration peaks. Between 1876 and 1913, over 14,000,000 people leave, mainly from the South and North-East directed to the Americas and Europe.
- 1908 Earthquake of Messina leaves 120,000 dead. Many forced to migrate to other parts of Italy and to America.
- 1906 Italian Alberto Zelman junior conducts the first Melbourne Symphony Orchestra performance.
- 1901 Australian States federated. Constitution of Australia comes into force, as the six former colonies become states of the Commonwealth of Australia.
- 1901 Australian Federation
- 1901 The Luzzatti-Pantano law introduces important guarantees in favour of emigrants.
- 1901 Census records 5,679 Italian born residents in Australia. Total non-indigenous population: 3,773,248.
- 1901 First piece of federal legislation enacted, the Commonwealth Immigration Restriction Act forms basis of White Australia Policy, cornerstone of Australian immigration policy until 1972.
- 1900 In the 1900s street musicians from Viggiano set up a tightly knit community near Argyle Square, Carlton. This is the nucleus of what will become Melbourne’s Little Italy.
- 1899 FIAT car company founded in Turin. The industrial revolution arrives late in Italy and is largely concentrated in the triangle marked by the Northern cities of Turin, Milan and Genoa.
- 1896 Dante Alighieri Society opens in Melbourne to foster and promote Italian language and culture.
- 1891 First Italians arrive to work in Queensland sugar cane industry. Many thousands will come during the twentieth century.
- 1891 Spectacular crash brings Marvellous Melbourne’s boom time to an abrupt end. Banks and businesses fail, thousands of shareholders lose their money, tens of thousands of workers are put out of work.
- 1888 The Crispi law recognising the right to emigrate and regulating emigration enacted.
- 1888 Melbourne Centennial International Exhibition. 22 firms offer Italian commodities including alabaster, statues, jewellery, glassware, furniture, wine, salami, pasta, paper, straw artefacts.
- 1885 The first Italian language newspaper in Australia, the socialist L’Italo-Australiano, published in Melbourne.
- 1883 Anglo-Italian commercial treaty gives greater freedom and rights to Italians in Australia.
- 1882 20 Italian families establish farming colony in New Italy, NSW after an arduous journey following false promises of Marquis de Rays. They are among Australia’s first refugees and are assisted by Government.
- 1880 Melbourne International Exhibition opens in newly constructed Exhibition Building. So many Italian companies exhibit that Australia provides war ship to transport goods.
- 1876 Poverty induces many Italians to migrate in the years after unification.
- 1876 Arrival in Melbourne of astronomer Baracchi, civil engineers Checchi and Catani, and librarian Gagliardi. They make significant scientific and cultural contributions to the developing nation.
- 1870 Italian army takes Rome. Resulting standoff between the Papacy and the Italian State lasts until 1929.
- 1861 Unification of Italy
- 1861 Italy unites under King Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy. Process completed 1918.
- 1860 Charismatic Risorgimento fighter Giuseppe Garibaldi marches across Sicily to Naples with 1000 volunteers: as a result, Southern Italy is wrenched from Bourbon rule.
- 1860 The play Garibaldi staged at the Prince of Wales Theatre in Melbourne. The following year, a committee of Victorian admirers donates a precious ceremonial sword to Garibaldi.
- 1854 Raffaello Carboni helps bring European republicanism and democracy to goldfields. Carboni is arrested, tried and acquitted for involvement in Eureka Stockade.
- 1854 Eureka Stockade sees bloody clash between miners and government forces on Ballarat goldfields. Miners protest to gain civil rights and against expensive mining licences.
- 1852 Risorgimento hero Giuseppe Garibaldi visits Australia. His son Ricciotti lives in Melbourne from 1875 to 1880.
- 1851 About 2000 Swiss Italians travel to Australia. Daylesford area settled and developed in these years largely by Italians.
- 1851 Migration booms on discovery of gold. Expansion of cities: between 1850 and 1890 magnificent mansions, banks, and public buildings erected with Italian craftsmen employed on many projects.
- 1850 The suburb of Carlton laid out by Surveyor-General Robert Hoddle, who envisages gracious Italianate homes set around green squares and wide tree-lined streets.
- 1848 Unsuccessful revolt in Lombardy leads to political émigrés joining Swiss Italian migrants to Daylesford, Australia, including ancestor of AFL football great, Ron Barassi.
- 1835 John Batman trades land rights for household items with Aborigines and Melbourne is settled. The land is surveyed and first land sales take place two years later.
- 1815 Beginning of the Risorgimento (literally, the rebirth), the cultural and political movement aiming for the unification and independence of Italy.
- 1788 The First Fleet arrives in Botany Bay. 1371 people disembark, including 732 convicts. Convict transportations to Australia continue until 1868, totalling about 160,000 people.
- 1788 Giuseppe Tuso (or Tuzo), perhaps a Sicilian, convicted in England and transported to New South Wales.
- 1770 British lay claim to Australia
- 1770 Venetian Antonio Ponto and Italian-American James Mario Matra accompany Cook’s expedition to Australia.
- 1770 James Cook claims possession of the east coast of Australia, which he names New South Wales.
- 1676 Father Vittorio Riccio draws map of uncharted continent based on talk of Dutch sailors. He seeks permission from the Pope to take mission to this land but dies before receiving favourable reply. _ Padre Vittorio Riccio traccia la mappa di un territorio sconosciuto sulla base di conversazioni con marinai olandesi. Chiede il permesso del Papa per portare una missione in questa terra, ma muore prima di ricevere l’autorizzazione.
- 1500 Italy is politically and socially fragmented. Enormously sophisticated and prosperous cities coexist with largely underdeveloped rural economies.
