Bonegilla Migrant Experience & Block 19 Today

Bonegilla 60th Anniversary Celebrations, Fri 7 to Sunday 9 December 2007
Come and join us for a weekend of cultural activities including arts, film, stories, special guests, games, site tours, music, dance and of course sharing food. Friday evening and Saturday will feature a range of activities in town and Sunday will bring everybody together again at Block 19 for a gala Festivale day.

The original Bonegilla Migrant Reception and Training Centre had 24 accommodation blocks and administration buildings, over a 130ha area. Today all that remains of the site is Block 19.

Block 19 is located 10km North East of Wodonga at Bonegilla. It provides visitors with a vivid insight into what migrants would have experienced as their first Australian home.

Such is the historic importance of Block 19, a new interpretative centre called The Beginning Place has been built on it to increase the visitors’ migrant experience. Self Guided Tour brochures are also available to explain how the various remaining buildings were used.

The Beginning Place is open daily from 9.30am to 4.30pm and features historic facts, stories, photos, a short film on immigration, and an artwork from which emanate various peoples’ stories.

The Beginning Place was funded by the Victorian Government and constructed by Major Projects Victoria.

Bonegilla Block 19 – Heritage Values

Block 19 has been nominated for listing on the National Heritage List, as a place of National Significance.

Block 19 is a heritage place of national significance as a remnant of the Bonegilla Reception and Training Centre.

It played a central role in populating Australia in the post-war years with immigrants, principally from Europe. Bonegilla Reception and Training Centre was perhaps more closely associated with changes in the size and character of the Australian population than any other item on the Register of the National Estate.

It defined a critical moment in our development as a nation, and reflects the achievements, joys, trials and sorrows of a large number of people who had the courage to migrate to this land.

Did you know…?
• Bonegilla was one of the first, and the largest and longest-lived migrant reception and training centre. Altogether over 300 000 people spent some time at Bonegilla, before the centre closed in 1971. Most were from non-English speaking European countries, and their arrival changed the composition and size of Australia’s population.
• The site is significant to migrants and refugees. It yields insights into post-war migrant and refugee experiences. The migrant centre was separated geographically and socially from Wodonga and Albury, as well as the rest of the nation. Living conditions were Spartan.
• The site is significant to the whole nation as a host society. It invites exploration of the mixed community responses to newcomers, prompting examination and explanation of the expressions of feelings such as wariness, hostility, compassion, neighbourliness and indifference associated with ‘taking in strangers’.
• Block 19 is a remnant of the Bonegilla Army Camp, which played an important role in defending Australia. It is valued by the Army community. An understanding of the army presence is a prerequisite to understanding not only the layering of the site physically, but also the social setting of the migrant centre, especially when there was conjoint use of the facilities by migrants and soldiers from 1947 to 1949 and after 1966.
• Over 300 000 people had their first ‘landfall’, their ‘Ellis Island’, at Bonegilla. Among those introduced to Australia at Bonegilla were many who won fame and/or notoriety for their achievements: for example, Sir Arvi Parbo, Franca Arena, Arman Alexander Opitz have been cited in heritage registrations of the site.

What’s new at Bonegilla Migrant Experience

‘The Beginning Place’ Grand Opening
The Grand Opening Celebration of ‘Block 19’s’ new interpretation centre ‘The Beginning Place’ took place on December 4, 2005.

A full program of celebrations featured activities that highlighted the migrants’ experiences and ‘The Beginning Place’ was officially opened by Victoria’s Multicultural Affairs, Tourism and Acting Major Projects Minister, Mr John Pandazopoulos.

Improvements onsite at Block 19
• The Beginning Place is now open daily to visitors from 9.30-4.30 with DVD footage, voice recordings of migrants’ personal stories, images and information. In addition, visitors will find a brochure with a map of Block 19 and self-guided tour.
• Block 19 has toilets opened daily for visitors to the site.
• A number of picnic tables have been constructed and will soon be installed at Block 19 for use by visitors.

Where Waters Meet
Dutch Migration Exhibition

Block 19 Bonegilla is now home to a wonderful exhibition “Where Waters Meet” based on the book by Marijke and Dirk Eysbertse. The Exhibition highlights the migration experience from Netherlands to Australia, and features Bonegilla stories and experiences.
The exhibition includes images, original artworks, historical newspaper stories on migrants and Bonegilla migrant reception and training centre, original relics and Bonegilla furnishings.
It is housed in the Block 19 Mess Hall and can be opened for viewing by appointment.

For more information or to make a booking to view the exhibition, contact:
Henk Bierman (02) 6020 8734 / 0414 795 776
or Bonegilla migrant experience (02) 6023 2327

Bonegilla Collections – Albury City Library Museum

Albury City Library Museum is home to the Bonegilla Collection.
The Collection is a people’s history of the Bonegilla Migrant Reception and Training Centre, and includes photographs, objects, documents, oral histories and written experiences that explore and interpret the diversity of the Bonegilla experience.
Albury City Library Museum will be moving to a new home in the centre of town in mid-2007. This exciting new facility will provide a larger semi-permanent display area for the Bonegilla Collection. Albury City Library Museum has a wide range of publications and merchandise relating to Bonegilla. For details contact the museum (phone 02 6023 8333) or log onto the Museum’s website http://www.alburycity.nsw.gov.au/librarymuseum/