That’s ‘Amore’

An Essay on Southern European Migration to Australia via Marriage by Proxy

By Eilish Leonard

Student Number – 18923136

HIS3MHI – Making History

Figure 1 – General W.C. Langfitt (nicknamed ‘Bride and Nursery) docked in Germany, 1948
(https://pier21.ca/content/photograph-of-general-wc-langfitt-1948)

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“Sposa e vivaio” (Bride and Nursery)

On the fourteenth of June 1956, ‘The Age’ reported that a ship full of immigrants had

docked in the city of Melbourne. This feat was not remarkable in the slightest, as

many ships with many more immigrants had come through Australian harbours

following the devastation of the Second World War the decade prior. What the

newspaper had deemed newsworthy about this US navy turned passenger ship

coming from Greece was the fact that this ship so aptly nicknamed “Bride and

Nursery” had come with ‘300 prospective brides and hundreds of children’i. These

women and children had come over from Greece to live in Australia, with promises of

stability and peace. These promises had also enticed people from other war-torn

countries situated in Europe such as Italy, Cyprus and England. It wasn’t hard to

persuade people from devasted countries to immigrate to one that barely affected

compared to their own. Even the weeks long voyage on rough seas didn’t deter these

hopeful ‘New Australians’. Due to Australia’s British colonial history only immigrants

from ‘Whiter’ European countries escaped public scrutiny, with RSLs opposing

Italian migration but oddly supporting German migration because they were able to

be ‘easily absorbed into the community’ii. Adding onto this prejudice, many of the

brides referenced in the article had never met with their husbands, and were already

married to them prior to their departure from Greece.

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Figure 2 – The Wedding by Proxy of Marie de Medici to King Henri IV, Peter Paul Reubens, 1622-
1625

Sposato con l'ignoto (Married to the unknown)

Proxy Marriages first became part of Catholic Canonical tradition after the Council of

Trent, held between the years of 1545 and 1563iii, after which many marriages

between the upper classes of various countries took place including the marriage of

Italian noblewoman Marie de Medici and King Henri IV of France. These Marriages

would take place with the bride or groom, and the absentees stand in or ‘proxy’. As a

result Proxy Marriages have been incorporated into the civil marriage codes of many

European and Latin American Countries; including Italy and Greece. This meant that

is was common to send men from particular villages and through them send other

members of the community – more commonly known as ‘Chain Migration’.

Throughout Post-Colonial Australian history it has been vastly easier and more

common for men to migrate to Australia, starting with male convicts, young men

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wanting to find gold during the infamous ‘Gold Rush’, young men wanting to find

prosperity during the Great Depression, and young men trying to escape the war torn

European continent after the Second World War. The Post War immigration policies

of nations following the Second World War “ although dressed as humanitarian

responses to the European refugee crisis, were essentially labour supply schemes

for post war economies”iv. There were no new job opportunities in the war torn

economies of European countries, and the promises of having a stable job were

attractive to the aforementioned men. A couple of years after the war Australian

Immigration offices were set up in the Italian cities of Rome and Messina, following

the Australian Government signed an assisted passage agreement with Italy on 29

March 1951v. This assisted passage agreement favoured younger men as they were

more able to work in a variety of conditions and were more likely to do the jobs that

naturalised Australians didn’t want to do. Even so there was fear that these Italian

men would take jobs and women from young ‘Australian Men’, so Minister for

Immigration Harold Holt said that “In the current phase of our Economy it is

preferable to attract a comparatively large number of migrants who will not be

earning their own living in competition with our own people”vi. This behaviour from

the Anglo-Australian majority led many of these young, single, and male migrants to

seek potential brides from their home villages. According to the 1961 census, around

215,000 people from Greek and Italian origin lived in Australia, with the number of

immigrants from other south European nations being harder to locate as they would

have been under the ‘stateless’ or ‘other’ subheadingsvii. Also in the census of the

same year, the majority of female immigrants from all nations stated As they didn’t

have enough money, they were unable to go back to their home villages, so they had

help from their family and friends back home. One young Italian migrant contacted

his mother and she wrote back that she had found him a suitable bride, and he

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realised that “[he] knew all her family by sight – her mother, father, brother – all of

them”viii but was unable to remember her clearly as when he left she was a “a young

girl of 18”ix. In the case of the Marriage between Virgilio Iscaro and his wife

Genovina, Virgilio was close friends with Genovina’s older brother, but they had

never met one anotherx. Not only did they have to get the documentation required for

the Church, but there was also immigration documentation so they could indeed

come to Australia. This part of the process was difficult as the majority of the forms

people needed to immigrate to Australia were in English. In both cases, the women

were married by proxy to their husbands in their home villages in Italy after only

knowing their husbands through letters, and soon after embarked on the journey of a

lifetime. The same journey also happened for women from Greece and Cyprus, but

not to the same extent.

Figure 3 - Genovina Iscaro on her wedding day, Avellino, Italy, 1956

Un Mondo Completamente Nuovo (A Whole New World)

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After the process of getting married in their home countries, it was time for the newly

married brides to make the long journey to Australia. This meant that they had to

leave their families behind, wait to get the appropiate documentation from both

Church and State, go on a voyage that was weeks long, and arrive in a country where

they didn’t know anyone that well, and for many cases meeting their husbands for

the first time. This was the final stage of a very long process to get these women to

Australia. In many cases, on the part of the arriving brides there was anxiouness and

homesickness as they were going to live in another county on the other side of the

world. The light at the end of the voyage was that they were going to live in a peaceful

and prosperous country – full of new oppurtunities.

Figure 4– A newspaper clipping from the Melbourne-based Italian language newspaper Il Globo,
Caption says ‘Drama of emigraton with a happy ending’, 14 March 1961

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The newspaper clipping from Figure 4, explains the story of a 19 year old bride who

on arrival in Sydney wished to stay on the vessel and return to Italy, and after the

ships chaplain spoke to her she was persuaded to come to shore, and meet her new

husbandxi. This article displays the how much Brides were desired, as there was an

unequal number of men and women in Australia, and the need to grow an immigrant

community. There was already In many cases, these women were unable to speak or

read English fluently and as a result many publications in their native tongues were

released; including Il Globo. This acted as way for the various migrant communities

to converse and read publications in their native langauages but it might have also

lessened the desire to learn English. The newspaper The Sun wrote an article about

how “Sixty-five Italian girls forgot all about the English lessons they had been

learning for the last month”xii. This article could be seen as mockery of the new

brides as the use of the word ‘forgot’ insinuates that they might not be hardworking,

and that they are child like in the sense that they didn’t remember a single word. In

order to assimilate, they needed to learn how to speak English and learn new

‘Australian’ customs and behaviours because “…you have to learn the way they live

in another country if you choose to live there”xiii.

Figure 5 – A newspaper cartoon shows

a caracature of an Italian man with a covered up woman behind him, Herald Sun, 22 June 1957,

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La Percezione (Perceptions)

This alienation of various cultures living in Australia can be seen in prejudices

towards certain surburbs, as Lygon Street in Carlton is known as ‘Little Italy’, and

Oakleigh is often thought to be a Greek Hub. Feelings such as these may have led

some women to remain with her family and only reach out to others from their home

countries. There were at times casual insults directed towards Southern European

migrants, “… the southern Italian is so different to [natural born Australians] that

he will not mix and therefore constute a racial minority, and racial minorites have

always meant trouble”xiv. Additionally in the mid twentieth century, Australia was

not as multicultural as it is today, and it was said that the risk of Italian Catholics

intermarrying with the Australians of Irish Catholic Background could result in an

“unstable and excitable cross”xv. Deogatory terms such as Wog and Dago were used

to describe Southern European Immigrants, and later on those from Middle Eastern

Countries. Not only were there negative perceptions in the wider Australian

community, there were ones within the Italian and Greek communinties. There were

reports of men sending 10 year old photos of themselves, or photos of younger or

more attractive family membersxvi to make themselves more desireable to the women

back in their native countries. This can be seen in the Australian opera Bride of

Fortune where a Calabrian girl is decieved into marrying a man living in Australia

who is 10 years older than her, and who is also an alcoholic and abuserxvii. Stories like

that display the women as people looking for oppurtunity in Australia but after

trickery and deception on the part of the husband their marriages turn out to be

disheartening. On the other side of the spectrum, there are some stories of women

taking the money from their suitors to go to Australia, and not keep their promises of

fidelity. Its true that there may be some cases where that happened, but because of

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this perception it labels the women as either manipulating or naïve. It doesn’t give

them recognition of their courage to leave everything and travel to a new country

where they can’t speak the language, or know the culture. These perceptions may

give people married via Proxy Ceremonies feelings of insecurity in their marriages, so

they may not want to tell anyone about the circumstances in which they were wed.

This can also be observed in the limited literature related to the topic, as most of the

relavent literature found only focus on the Proxy Marriages that occurred in Italy,

and tend to forget about those that occurred in Greece, Cyprus, and other nations.

Conclusione (Conclusion)

It is widely known that Australia is a nation that is mainly made up migrants, ever

since the European Discovery of Australia. Ever since, millions of people have called

Australia home, and many of those people were Southern European Immigrants. In

order to come to Australia for a better life, many women married men who were

already in Australia. This occurred by have a family member or friend stand in place

of the groom – otherwise known as Marriage by Proxy. Marriages by proxy were not

accpeted within Australia but if they occurred in another country, they were legally

binding. When arriving in Australia, the women had to learn a new culture and

language, as well as face public scruntity as Australians’ backgrounds were mainly

English and Irish at the time. That meant that both their family and cultural

communities were strong, as can be seen in the present day.

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REFERENCES

Figures

Figure 1 – Galburda Family arrived from Poland October 3 1948, Photograph of

General W.C Langfitt, 1948,.[image], (1948), Canadian Museum of Immigration at

Pier 21 < https://pier21.ca/content/photograph-of-general-wc-langfitt-1948>,

[DI2015.420.4], accessed 12 October 2019

Figure 2 – Rubens, Peter Paul., The Marriage of Marie de Medici, [painting], (1621-

1625), <https://www.freeart.com/gallery/r/rubens/rubens25.html#note>, accessed

15 October 2019

Figure 3 – Photo of Genovina (Gina) Iscaro on her wedding day, taken with

courtesy from the private photo album of Virglio (Jim) and Genovina (Gina) Iscaro,

Figure 4- ‘Dramma dell’emigrazione a lieto fine’, Il Globo, 14 March 1961, p 10, from

By Proxy: A study of Italian proxy brides in Australia – Susi Bella Wardrop [book], p

53

Figure 5 – Green, William Ellis, Wegs Wee from the Herald Sun, 22 June 1957, in

TROVE (online database), accessed 20 October 2019

*A note on copyright: I have fullfilled, respected, and complied with, to the best of

my knowledge, all guidelines and laws as given by all concerned parties with regards

to copyright.

Primary

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‘”Bride, Nursery” Ship brings 1300’, The Age, 14 June 1956, item HT 1302, in

Museum Victoria Collections (Trove Online Database), accessed 22 September 2019

Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics, Census of the Commonwealth 1961

– Census Bulletin No. 27 (Nationality of the Population of Australia by States and

Territories) (1961),

2107.0,<https://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/free.nsf/0/9FC87EA3A26E102A

CA2578EA00203E2B/$File/1961%20Census%20-%20Bulletin%20No%2027.pdf>,

accessed 10 October 2019

Iscaro, G.,and Iscaro., V, ‘Interview of Jim and Gina Iscaro’, [sound recording],

(2017), accessed 25 September 2019

“Proxy Brides Forget their English lessons”, The Sun, 5 January 1955, found in ibid,

51

Secondary

Balint, Ruth, ‘Industry and Sunshine’, History Australia, 11/1, (2014), 106

Iuliano, Susanna., ‘Donne e buoi dai paesi tuoi (Choose women and oxen from your

home village): Italian Proxy Marriages in Post-War Australia’, Australian Journal of

Social Issues, 34/4, (1999), 320

Lampugnani, Rosario, ‘Postwar Migration Policies with Particular reference to

Italian Migration to Australia’, Australian Journal of Politics and History, 33/3,

(1987), 202

Scarparo, Susanna, ‘Italian Proxy Brides in Australia’, Altreitalie: International

Journal of Studies on the Peoples of Italian Origin of the World, 38-39, (2009), 85-

108.

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Wardrop, Susi Bella, By Proxy: A study of Italian Proxy Brides in Australia,

(Carlton, VIC: Italian Historical Society. CO.AS.IT, 1996), 5.

i ‘”Bride, Nursery” Ship brings 1300’, The Age, 14 June 1956, item HT 1302, in Museum Victoria
Collections (online database), accessed 22 September 2019
ii
Rosario Lampugnani, ‘Postwar Migration Policies with Particular reference to Italian Migration to
Australia’, Australian Journal of Politics and History, 33/3, (1987), 202
iii
Susanna Iuliano, ‘Donne e buoi dai paesi tuoi (Choose women and oxen from your home village):
Italian Proxy Marriages in Post-War Australia’, Australian Journal of Social Issues, 34/4, (1999), 320
iv
Ruth Balint, ‘Industry and Sunshine’, History Australia, 11/1, (2014), 106
v
Susi Bella Wardrop, By Proxy: A study of Italian Proxy Brides in Australia, (Carlton, VIC: Italian
Historical Society. CO.AS.IT, 1996), 5.
vi
Ibid, 6
vii
Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics, Census of the Commonwealth 1961 – Census
Bulletin No. 27 (Nationality of the Population of Australia by States and Territories) (1961),
2107.0,<https://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/free.nsf/0/9FC87EA3A26E102ACA2578EA00203
E2B/$File/1961%20Census%20-%20Bulletin%20No%2027.pdf>, accessed 10 October 2019
viii
Ibid, 20
ix
Ibid, 21
xx
Genovina and Virgilio Iscaro, ‘Interview of Jim and Gina Iscaro’, [sound recording], (2017), accessed
25 September 2019
xi
Ibid, 52
xii
“Proxy Brides Forget their English lessons”, The Sun, 5 January 1955, ibid, 51
xiii
Genovina and Virgilio Iscaro, ‘Interview of Jim and Gina Iscaro’, [sound recording], (2017),
accessed 25 September 2019
xiv
Susanna Scarparo, ‘Italian Proxy Brides in Australia’, Altreitalie: International Journal of Studies
on the Peoples of Italian Origin of the World, 38-39,(2009), 88
xv
Susanna Scarparo, ‘Italian Proxy Brides in Australia’, Altreitalie: International Journal of Studies
on the Peoples of Italian Origin of the World, 38-39,(2009), 88

Ibid, 40
xvi

Susanna Scarparo, ‘Italian Proxy Brides in Australia’, Alteritalie: International Journal of Studies
xvii

on the Peoples of Italian Origin of the World, 38-39, (2009), 99

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