ALBANIAN MIGRATION TO WESTERN AUSTRALIA SINCE 1924 and the development of the Albanian community in York

Paul Taman

The Albanians differed from the other southern European migrants who came to Australia between the two World Wars because of their Islamic faith, the subsistence economy of Albania at the time and their isolated semi-tribal background. Little has ever been known of these people and until now their community's history in Western Australia has been neglected unlike the larger Greek or Italian communities, about which much more is known. The chronological narrative style has been used in the first two chapters to give an overall picture of Albanian migration to Western Australia as there is no other record of this. The initial section on Albania is an attempt to establish the history and the geography of the country in the mind of the reader, as it is still a land about which little is known by most Western Australians. The remainder of the first chapter traces the development of the Albanian community in Australia between the World Wars. Chapter two narrows its focus to the Albanian families in and around York and discusses the major events that have shaped the development of the local community. To avoid constantly interrupting the flow of the narrative, the analysis of these events and issues has been allotted a separate chapter. The third chapter deals with specific issues and events as well as highlighting the trends as they develop. The ramifications for the Albanian community of such events as the transition of some York land clearers to market gardeners in the early· 1930s or the influx of the refugees after the second World War are discussed and analysed. This section attempts to explain why the Albanian community has such an impaired sense of community and what the events were that brought this about. The social and economic mobility generated by the Albanians through their migration to Australia is analysed and separate sections discuss the differing affects that this had on men and women. The concluding section is basically a brief summary of the history of the Albanian migration to Western Australia since 1924 and development of the community until 1957. It mixes the previous three chapters, both chronologically and analytically, to produce an overview of the development of the Albanian families that have at some stage been residents of ·York. As with any summary, this section allows the reader to gain some understanding of the patterns and events that have shaped the Albanians' history in Western Australia. In some ways it may suit readers unfamiliar with either the subject, or the events, to read this section first as it may then increase their understanding of the rest of the thesis.

ALBANIAN MIGRATION TO WESTERN AUSTRALIA SINCE 1924 and the development of the Albanian community in York

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