Photographs of the Department of Immigration Reception and Training Centre, Bathurst in the National Archives of Australia (Part 2)

A continuation of my earlier post of the camp and its residents in 1950 and 1951. In the first post you will find the images I have labeled as 1-6. A brief discussion is found in the first post.

Image 7: Portrait in progress, 1951 (NAA A12111, 1/1951/22/33; barcode: 7427682)

Image 8: Paintings & art work (NAA A12111, 1/1951/22/25; barcode: 7427674)

Image 9: Crèche storytelling with Aboriginal mural, 1951 (NAA A12111, 1/1951/22/27; barcode: 7427676)

Image 10: Ukraine woman displays clothing at New Australian's Handicrafts exhibition at Bathurst - CU1247-5, 1950 (NAA A8139, Volume 8, CU1247-5; barcode: 8286606)

Image 11: New Australians stage Tosca at Bathurst migrant centre - CU1250-1, 1950 (NAA A8139, Volume 8, CU1250-1; barcode: 8286616)

Image 12: Bathurst Camp Post Office, 1951 (NAA C4076, C4076/1, HN6013 part B; Barcode: 3037290)

Image 13: Bathurst Camp Post Office, 1951 (NAA C4076, C4076/1, HN6013 part A; barcode: 3037289)

For details of NAA series A12111 (see, part 1 of this post). The originals photographs for images 10 and 11 are from NAA series A8139, Photograph albums of prints in 'L' series and 'CU' series [produced by the Australian News and Information Bureau, Canberra]. The originals for images 12 and 13 are in NAA series C4076, Photographic negatives, single number series with HN (Historical, New South Wales) prefix [produced by the Postmaster-General's Department, State Administration, New South Wales].

Images: © Commonwealth of Australia, 1950 and 1951.

Photographs of the Department of Immigration Reception and Training Centre, Bathurst in the National Archives of Australia (Part 1)

Constant Reader, I am attempting, as I have said several times, to locate evidence of my dad through the trail of records; to that end I have been interrogating the records database at the National Archives of Australia (NAA). I am looking for any and all records of the Department of Immigration Reception and Training Centre, Bathurst and I have found a series of photographs (part of NAA series A8139, A12111 & C4076) of the camp and its residents from 1950 and 1951.

The photographs, which are quite formal, were most likely taken for publicity purposes and give some indication of the spartan nature of the place (the site and all the buildings were ex-Army and so were light on creature comforts) and of the life there for the "New Australians" as they were often called at the time. Its also useful to remember that a person's stay here was always intended to be short - long enough to learn basic Australian English, some basic skills, and to acclimatise to the new country and its people.

Image 1: Children at gate, 1951 (NAA A12111, 1/1951/22/26; barcode: 7427675).

Image 2: Family room, 1951 (NAA A12111, 1/1951/22/29; barcode: 7427678).

Image 3: English class, 1951 (NAA A12111, 1/1951/22/34; barcode: 7427683)

Image 4: Carpenters at work, 1951 (NAA A12111, 1/1951/22/32; barcode: 7427681)

Image 5: Children at play in front of Centre, 1951 (NAA A12111, 1/1951/22/31; barcode: 7427680)

Image 6: Family walk, accommodation in back, 1951 (NAA A12111, 1/1951/22/30; barcode: 7427679)

These image and associated information are viewable through the NAA database,see the link at the top of this post. The image captions are taken from the NAA record for the photograph. The originals are part of NAA series A12111, Immigration Photographic Archive 1946 - Today.

Images: © Commonwealth of Australia, 1950 and 1951.

Lost in the records labyrinth

For the last two weeks, during the spare hour here and there I have been continuing my search for my dad by following the paper trail. Being a librarian and priding myself on my search and re-search skills I had thought that the road would be tough but that I would find some breadcrumbs of information. Well Constant Reader, pride goeth before a fall; other than my initial finds l have located nothing new. Two paths have been followed, the National Archives of Australia and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and I have found many records at the NAA and have had nothing from the UNHCR (in fact the UNHCR does not reply to my emails even to tell me that they can't help me).

At the NAA there is a bewildering number of records of current and former Commonwealth agencies that could have or would have assisted my father, at last count I found four major bodies (e.g Department of Immigration, Central Office) and fifteen minor bodies on the virtual paths, tracks and secondary roads as represented by the NAA database. In truth I don't what I am doing and don't know enough about how a displaced person like my father progressed through the system, or anything about the agencies or their records. He may well appear in the records, however, it is likely as a name within a record and not as the subject of the record, in this manner he appears in the nominal roll of the ship Goya (see Voyage of the Goya, September-October, 1949 in this blog). As such he will not appear in the record indexes. Knowing the administrative process would help as it would lead me to some of the right doors to knock on (in a virtual sense).

The local public library, in its local history collection has some general information about the Department of Immigration Reception and Training Centre, Bathurst which will help me visualise the place my father lived in when I visit the site. The file told me that other than a memorial not much is left. My fear is that not much is left of my father in the records of the various government agencies (national and international) and he may be impossible to track. Dear Constant Reader you are no doubt thinking I should have talked to him while he was with us, but he often didn't want to talk about the past or simply said he did not remember, and I didn't want to press or pester him, and that, I suspect is a common problem in researching family history. And there is my mother, as a source of information about my father. None the less I will solider on, hopeful that if I keep at this I will eventually find information about him.


Images: Dad by the sea in Italy, and with a group (fellow displaced persons/immigrants?), dated 23/26 June, 1949.

Copyright and the right to reproduce documents or images

Thus far on this blog I have downloaded and used a number of images from the National Archives of Australia and NASA. These images are subject to the copyright laws of the country of origin or various international agreements or Australian legislation. Constant Reader, being a librarian I know more than the average citizen about Australian copyright (but less than any lawyer), however, I forgot to address the copyright question for material I post on my own blog - a common problem.

Copyright law is designed to protect the rights of the creator/producer of the content from unauthorised reproduction, use or reuse. In some cases the rights conferred by copyright law can be waived, transferred, sold or given away; however, users of material can not, or should not assume that they have an automatic right to use said material. Copyright law in Australia and in other jurisdictions imposes penalties for unauthorised use of material. In using images found on the Internet or elsewhere, and other third party content one should not blithely assume a) that no one will notice your use or re-use or care or do anything about it; b) that you have automatic permission as long as you quote the source of the image, et cetera; and, c) that copyright does not apply at all.

In Australia the relevant Commonwealth act is the Copyright Act 1968, including various amendments and regulations, which allow individuals certain limited rights (e.g. "fair dealing") without having to contact the copyright holder in every case. These exemptions are narrow in that they apply to particular situations; they do not grant people broad exemptions from copyright.

The Act is administered by the Commonwealth Attorney-Generals Department; the text can be found at ComLaw (http://www.comlaw.gov.au/). Good, plain English information on copyright in the Australian jurisdiction can be found at the Australian Copyright Council website (http://www.copyright.org.au/). For Australian librarians there is also the Australian Libraries' Copyright Committee (http://www.digital.org.au/alcc/).

In general terms you must do the following if you are going beyond the provisions of the Act before you use third party content:

1. Identify the copyright holder, person or organisation;
2. Contact that person or organisation to ask permission to use the content. The holder may grant use (as did the NAA to me), deny use (subject to the provisions of the Act) or allow use subject to conditions (again subject to the Act);
3. If you have any doubts about what you are doing or posting seek reputable advice (this blog-post is information, not reputable advice!) - e.g. the Australian Copyright Council and/or legal advice.
   

The copyright holder is not obliged to grant you permission beyond what is conferred by the Act.

So for me, on my blog, what is the situation? First I looked at the NAA website to see if they say anything about copyright and archival material. They do. NASA, for the space images? Ditto. From NAA Fact sheet 8 - Copyright:

"Ownership of copyright in records held by the National Archives

The Commonwealth government owns copyright in most of the records held by the National Archives as they are official records produced by Commonwealth government agencies. The Commonwealth is not the copyright owner for records in the Archives collection that were not made by the government, for example letters written by private individuals to the government, or documents provided by other governments. Although such records are the property of the Commonwealth, the Commonwealth cannot give permission to reproduce them, as it is not the copyright owner." (http://www.naa.gov.au/about-us/publications/fact-sheets/fs08.aspx)

NASA on its website in a document titled, Using NASA Imagery and Linking to NASA Web Sites, 10.13.05 (i.e. 13 October, 2005) says, in part, the following:

"Still Images, Audio Recordings, Video, and Related Computer Files

NASA still images; audio files; video; and computer files used in the rendition of 3-dimensional models, such as texture maps and polygon data in any format, generally are not copyrighted. You may use NASA imagery, video, audio, and data files used for the rendition of 3-dimensional models for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations, and Internet Web pages. This general permission extends to personal Web pages." http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html)

Result: email the NAA Copyright people; okay by NASA as per their October 2005 guideline. Apply the copyright symbol and attribute the images.

And finally, the emailed response from the NAA, dated 23 December:

"Dear Peter,

Thank-you for your email. The normal procedure for Copyright approval would be to submit a request to copyright@naa.gov.au with the Series Number and Item details and a brief description of the intended use prior to use, but there is no problem asking for approval now.

For the material that you have used in your blog on the Internet, I give you Copyright approval for its use.

We normally request that the records are cited ...

There is no charge for use of material held in the National Archives of Australia.

Yours sincerely
Gregory F Cope
Copyright Officer
National Archives of Australia
Brisbane Office"

Voyage of the Goya, September-October, 1949

A belated reading yesterday of the NAA's series notes for Series A11760 provided more information and clarification. The series notes on the NAA database told me that the ship my father traveled to Australia on was the S.S. Goya, departing Naples, Italy on 25/9/1949 and arriving Sydney, 23/10/1949. The note informs that the file for this voyage of the Goya, including the list of passengers is Department of Immigration file A434, 49/3/21770. Further, that file is accessible on the NAA database (see above images, to enlarge click on the image); my dad's name appears on p. 29 of the passenger list as passenger 848 (now I understand what "848" on his file means).

The NAA series note for A11760 states in part:

"The ship's nominal roll is a list of all the passengers that were on board when the ship sailed from its port of departure. (The nominal roll for this voyage of the Goya is on file A434, 1949/3/21770). Each passenger is given a nominal roll number and these numbers have been used as the item control symbols for this series.

There were 890 Displaced Persons on board the Goya when it left Naples on 25 September 1949.

The Goya arrived in Sydney on 23 October 1949.

The passengers disembarked and were transported by train to the Department of Immigration Reception and Training Centre, Bathurst."

The note partially answers a question I have, "What happened when he arrived and where did he go?" The answer appears to be the Department of Immigration Reception and Training Centre, Bathurst.

Images: © Commonwealth of Australia, 2004, 2008.

First fruits: NAA comes through

A staff member of National Archives of Australia emailed me yesterday to tell me that a digital copy of my father's immigration file is now accessible.

As mentioned in an earlier post the file title indicated that it contained migrant selection documents, well that is exactly we have, a range of administrative paperwork:

• Processing Centre index card (1 card, 2 sides) (see the images above: for an enlargement click on the image);
• I.R.O. Resettlement Registration form (4 pages);
• I.R.O. Resettlement Medical Examination form (1 sheet, folded into 4 pages); and,
• I.R.O. Emigration X-Ray card (1 card, 2 sides; chest x-ray attached).
  

The file was created and maintained by the Commonwealth Department of Immigration, Central Office as file A11760/1. All in all the file contains 12 pages and holds the assessments carried out to verify my dad's suitability (background and medical) for emigration to Australia. The file is quite dry stuff, however, a first examination did turn up some interesting crumbs of information. Once I digest its contents I will discuss it in a future post (yes, Constant Reader, its really a ploy to keep you tuned in for future installments). A couple of things I can say immediately, the alteration of his surname occurred prior to his arrival in Australia, and not here as family lore has it; the documents also allow me to construct a rough list of dates and places and occupations for my dad back to 1937. There is not much detail but there are leads to follow.

The file's series notes (i.e. series A11760) on the NAA database provide additional useful information, namely details such as the ship's name, S.S Goya. The moral here is read the series notes!

A major line of inquiry will be with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (www.unhcr.org). The UNHCR is the successor body for the UN International Refugee Organization (IRO) with the IRO being wound up on 31 December, 1950 and the UNHCR commencing operations on 1 January, 1951. Its a safe bet that the UNHCR may have inherited the IRO archives or know where they are. If the archives exist and are accessable I can track dad before he came to the attention of the Australian authorities.

The IRO was established in July 1947 as a non-permanent body of the UN and was intended to assist the millions of refugees like my dad in the post war period; due to difficulties encountered with the Soviet government the IRO worked only in the areas occupied by the western armies.

The file is viewable as a digital copy at the NAA web site (www.naa.gov.au)

Images: © Commonwealth of Australia, 2008.

Being processed

The $16.50 has been sent (by credit card) and my request for a digital copy of my Dad's file is being processed, according to my online NAA order account. Imagine my surprise tonight when I checked my mail box and found a white envelope from the National Archives, "they've sent photocopies!", I said and opened the thing right there in my drive way. As I was ripping it open a stray thought occurred, "the envelope's not very big or fat, what if the file only had one page in it?"

Nothing of the sort, just an efficient federal public servant sending me a form letter (explaining the NAA's services), a payment advice form and some advice as to the costs involved with the various access options. I did glean from that I may have to wait 20 working days for my digital copies to appear and that the NAA will email when they are available. Disappointment.

First success at the NAA

This evening I decided to re-visit the National Archives of Australia web (www.naa.gov.au) to see if any decision was reached about access to the immigration file on my father held there. A few weeks after his death I took an educated guess that Customs or Immigration may have created a file on him and I was right.

Using the Name search at the NAA website I found a listing for a file created by the Department of Immigration, Central Office in September 1949. At the time of my first enquiry the file was marked "Not yet examined", meaning it had not been assessed for release. So I emailed asking for access and checked tonight to find the file is now marked "Open" and that a decision on the file's status was made on "27 Nov 2008". Bureaucracy does not always move slowly.

And the name of the file: "Migrant Selection Documents for Displaced Persons who travelled to Australia per Goya departing Naples 25 September 1949". The listing (and name on the file) for Dad gives the Serbian spelling of his name and the anglicised version. Now I just need to order a copy of the file; apparently I can do this online and view a digital copy of the file (for $16.50) or a photocopy can be sent for $25.00. I think I'll go digital as the wait for the post would kill me.