Maltese settlement in Victoria, Australia : changes and continuities

Abstract

The scope of this study on Maltese settlement in Victoria, Australia, is primarily to find out whether there were any changes or continuities with regards to the social, religious and linguistic aspects of the Gozitan community in Victoria during 1970-1990. However I have had three interviewees who had migrated in the late sixties, but lived there for more than ten years, thus are eligible for my timeframe. I limited myself to this time span of twenty years so that I would be able to delve deeper and analyze better the social, religious and linguistic aspects of the Gozitan community in the state of Victoria. I have completed oral interviews with fourteen returned migrants who had lived in Australia approximately between 1970 and 1990. Hence, I will provide my end-results according to the answers which the interviewees have given me, as well as with the aid of books and newspapers which I have read. The First Chapter provides an introductory picture of the Maltese, specifically the Gozitan migrants, living in Australia. Through the help of my interviews, I will be discussing the type of jobs they found during their initial years of living in Australia. I will also give an insight on the reception conditions and their means of communication with their native homeland, and finally find out why many had repatriated back to Gozo. The Second Chapter gives an insight on the religious aspects within the Gozitan and Maltese community in Victoria, Australia. I will discuss the Festas celebrated in Victoria and the religious associations established there. Some comparisons between the Australian church and the Maltese/Gozitan church will also be drawn. Last but not least, I will find out whether there were any continuities or changes amongst the Gozitan community in Australia. The Third Chapter elaborates on the language aspect within the Gozitan and Maltese community in Victoria, Australia. I will give a detailed account on the unique and distinctive Maltese language by which it has now become a part of Australia's multiculturalism. I will try to see how the Gozitans and the Maltese fared in a multicultural Australia, where English was the dominant language. Finally, I will also state whether there was a language shift within the Gozitan and Maltese community in Australia. IV The Fourth chapter discusses the social aspects, including sports, hobbies, cuisine and telecommunications within the Gozitan and Maltese community in Victoria. I shall try to find out whether the lifestyle and traditions of the Gozitans and the Maltese have changed or remained the same. The interviews shall all be converted into transcripts and I will retain the phonetic spelling of dialectic expressions. As also stated above, my interviewees are all returned migrants who have been living in Gozo for the past ten to twenty years. Hence, their answers may vary from one another as one may remember one thing, whilst another might remember something else entirely. Nevertheless, I feel that more or less the interviewees have given me adequate and honest answers to my questions and I have succeeded in getting the answers that I needed to bring about an end result to my title question.