The most important social acti

Compare Italian and South Asian migration to Australia in the second half of the twentieth century. Migrants in Australia have had a lot to do with how this country is shaped, from the very beginning when white settlers first arrived on our shores. In comparison with the rest of the world, in particular Europe, Australia is a very new country and due to its isolation, may have had problems attracting people to the shores here. …

…in Australia were living in Queensland and working off the land, where about one-third of Italian migrants had settled. However the introduction of cane-cutting machines in the 1960's greatly reduced the need for rural labour and the migrant workers had to adapt accordingly. Now most of the Italian migrants in Australia live in metropolitan areas. Only seven percent live in Queensland, while in Victoria, almost 90 percent of Italians in Victoria lived in Melbourne. (Castles, 1992 p44).