30 April 2021 12:43pm
Many early Greek Australians had passed through immigration centres like Bonegilla which was situated around 300 kilometres north-east of Melbourne.
Bonegilla was originally an army training camp but in 1947 the Australian Government turned it into a Reception and Processing Centre run by the Department of Immigration.
Albury Wodonga is receiving a cultural tourism boost, with works advancing on the Bonegilla Migrant Experience to allow more visitors to connect with Australia’s fascinating migrant history.
Minister for Regional Development Mary-Anne Thomas visited the Bonegilla Migrant Reception and Training Centre to see redevelopment works at this nationally-significant destination, which has received a grant of $800,000 through the Regional Tourism Investment Fund – Stimulus Round.
Date Time
Funding to digitise ‘Bonegilla cards’
Pictured, Minister Mary-Anne Thomas, resident Doina Eitler and Dr Bruce Pennay with a copy of Mrs Eitler’s Bonegilla card.
Works at Bonegilla Migrant Experience will allow more visitors to connect with the country’s migrant history.
Minister for Regional Development Mary-Anne Thomas today visited the former Bonegilla Migrant Reception and Training Centre to see redevelopment works at this nationally significant destination and formally announce a grant of $800,000 through the Victorian Government’s Regional Tourism Investment Fund – Stimulus Round.
“We are proud to be funding a project of national significance that will allow future generations to learn about the history of the Bonegilla Migrant Centre and our nation’s migrant heritage, while creating more jobs in the region,” Minister Thomas said.
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Going through the journal of our colleague Claire Paizanou Gazis, there is a script, which was written at the beginning of the ’60s with the departure of her sister Eleni for Australia.
This scene, was meant to be transformed in real life with so many episodes, since this year completes 53 years of production.
“Leaning on a rail in a corner of the ocean streamer Patris, with a broken heart and gazing on yonder, I was trying, as it was leaving the calm waters of the Limassol’s Port, to put myself together, sense what I was leaving behind and get ready towards what was in waiting for me,” Ms Gazis said.