By Christine de Kock
MIGRANT groups that have left their mark on west are being documented by Sunshine historian Olwen Ford.
Mrs Ford is writing her second book on Sunshine and is focusing on the wave of migrants who moved into the area from 1939 at the beginning of World War II until the fall of Saigon in 1975.
“I started with census data. The City of Sunshine in 1954 had the biggest British born population in Victoria,” she said. “We also had a high population of Maltese, Greek, Polish and Ukrainian people.”
“I’ve started with British families, looking at how they tell their stories in their own words.”
She said most of the British migrants who settled in the area were employed to work for the railways.
A shortage of dwellings resulted in about 600 pre-cut wooden houses being shipped over to Australia from the United Kingdom.
These became known as “Railway houses” and are still prevalent in pockets of Braybrook and Sunshine.
“Sometimes the cupboards were stocked with groceries for the new workers – of course the money was taken out of their wages.”
Mrs Ford added that some British migrants were not so fortunate when they first arrived.
“In the 1960s there was a railway strike and people were left without pay and had to find other jobs.”
Mrs Ford said that migrants flocked to Sunshine because of the number of industries that operated in the area.
She said migrants have made a lasting contribution to Brimbank through the construction of places of worship such as Roman Catholic Churches and the Greek Orthodox Church in West Sunshine.
Mrs Ford makes particular note of the wrought iron gates situated outside Sunshine Heights Primary School as a significant contribution to the west.
The gates were made by two Sunshine sheet iron workers, Stellios (Steve) Panagiotou and his friend, Aggelis Aggelides, both Greek Cypriots.
Mr Panagiotou was a member of the school committee at that time and the two men the presented the archway to the school at a ceremony in 1963.
In the early 1960s, 50 per cent of the school’s population were of Greek or Greek Cypriot background.
“They were employees at the Massey-Ferguson factory in Sunshine – formerly the Sunshine Harvester Works.
“The Harvester Works have been long time employees in the area.”
She said not only do the gates represent a lasting contribution by migrant workers to the west but it also represents an industry that was pivotal to residents in the west and highlights a sense of continuity with new waves of migration.
“Now a days there would be kids from, I imagine, Sudan and the Philippines passing through the gates,” Mrs Ford said.
To share your story or provide pictures relating Sunshine, representing the period of 1939 to 1975 contact 9312 2284.
