Migration from Trieste is unique in the history of Italian migration to Australia, because most people left for political reasons rather than purely economic ones.
Between 1954 and 1961, some 20,000 Triestini left their city, over 90% coming to Australia. This mass exodus, 10% of the entire population, scarred the city’s social fabric depriving it of its youth and skilled labour.
The political situation that drove them to leave work, family and friends was volatile. The immediate post-war era was one of insecurity; after three years of Nazi and Yugoslav occupation, Trieste was ruled by an Anglo-American Military Government from 1945 until 1954. The Cold War was at its height, sectarian, ethnic nationalism was rampant, and Yugoslavia was still claiming sovereignty over Trieste.
Would the city be annexed into Communist Yugoslavia or be returned to Italy? Or, as many agitated, would Trieste become an independent state?
This book by historian Gianfranco Cresciani, himself a Triestino, documents the controversial departure from Trieste of these ‘political refugees’, their integration into the Australian way of life, their successes and failures. Using interviews with over seventy people, archival and private documents and migrant newspapers, Cresciani reveals the heartaches and joys of the Triestine diaspora.
