Why were waves of Italian immigration to Canada and Australia later than those to the United States? (construction, high school)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Italian immigration prior to WWII was actually quite rural. Many Italians bought land in rural areas, and to this day many rural enterprises are run by Italian families who have been there a few generations. Italians were important in the fruit growing industry, the growing of olives, a lot of the wine industry.etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack
With a few exceptions, this was not really the case in Canada.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack
Some Italians did go to small towns in southern Ontario and were involved in some of the same things you described: fruit farming and wineries. But it was still a massively urban immigration overall.
I wonder if the climate had anything to do with it. Probably Australia was more suitable for growing the fruits that Italians had greater familiarity with?
I wonder if the climate had anything to do with it. Probably Australia was more suitable for growing the fruits that Italians had greater familiarity with?
I am pretty sure that's what happened. You can grow tomatoes and grapes in some parts of southern Ontario, but not olives for example.
For Asian immigration (at least immigration from east Asia, like the Chinese or Japanese), I wonder if the United States, Canada or Australia has the longer or more established history?
I used to assume because of Hawaii and the West coast, the US had earlier numbers of this Asian immigration but then again, after learning a bit on Canadian and Australian history, I'm not so sure.
Or all three countries pretty equal in how old their Asian communities are (it seems harder to tell compared to Italian immigration, because many Asian communities are still newer)?
Not sure about the other countries but in Canada by the 1870s and 1880s there were decent-sized Japanese and Chinese communities. The first Japanese were into fishing and farming in BC on the west coast, and a large number of Chinese labourers built the transcontinental railway which was completed around 1885 I think.
I notice how sometimes you can (imperfectly) get at roughly how old or new an immigrant community feels or at least is perceived by others by assumptions people make about how much of their culture is retained.
For example, in the United States, people often attempt to speak Spanish to people who (in their minds) look "Hispanic" or have a Spanish last name but few people attempt to speak, for instance, German to those Americans with a German last name. Young Italian-Americans rarely get asked in the US, if they speak Italian or cook Italian food at home, while say young Chinese-Americans do get asked these questions more often. This doesn't mean that Spanish communities are younger than German communities in the US in history, or that Italians necessarily have a longer history than Chinese, though, but that it seems large scale Italian and German immigration seems to have stopped or at least decreased a lot compared to Latin American and Chinese immigration which seems more ongoing so people perceive the latter ones as more "new" or less established.
I wonder if the climate had anything to do with it. Probably Australia was more suitable for growing the fruits that Italians had greater familiarity with?
Yes that is part of it. Especially here in WA we have a Mediterranean climate, similar to southern Italy, where citrus fruits, olives, grapes, persimmons thrive.
Italian immigrants were less inclined to USA in post war period because they suffered discrimination in housing and unemployment. So, they preferred immigrating to other countries.
For Asian immigration (at least immigration from east Asia, like the Chinese or Japanese), I wonder if the United States, Canada or Australia has the longer or more established history?
I used to assume because of Hawaii and the West coast, the US had earlier numbers of this Asian immigration but then again, after learning a bit on Canadian and Australian history, I'm not so sure.
Or all three countries pretty equal in how old their Asian communities are (it seems harder to tell compared to Italian immigration, because many Asian communities are still newer)?
The USA might be slightly ahead of Australia, both countries had gold rushes in the 1850's which bought thousands of Chinese immigrants to both countries (it also eventually led the introduction of the white Australia policy and US Chinese Exclusion Act). Though the USA had their gold rush first.
The Chinatown in Melbourne is actually the oldest continually established Chinatown in the western world, San Francisco's is a few years older but was destroyed in the 1906 earth quake.
Yes the Chinatown in Melbourne is the oldest, although a fairly average one compared to what you would find in most places.
As for Italians, obviously still many immigrants and 1st/2nd generation in Australia that can speak the language, although naturally its dropping. Italian Americans are the more established and more famous but i think i read somewhere that 17 million Americans claim Italian descent yet something like only 700,000 speak the language...so i think Australia and Canada have the more genuine culture nowadays.
Yes the Chinatown in Melbourne is the oldest, although a fairly average one compared to what you would find in most places.
As for Italians, obviously still many immigrants and 1st/2nd generation in Australia that can speak the language, although naturally its dropping. Italian Americans are the more established and more famous but i think i read somewhere that 17 million Americans claim Italian descent yet something like only 700,000 speak the language...so i think Australia and Canada have the more genuine culture nowadays.
Italian Australians generally came later, the majority after the War, you can still hear quite a few older Italians speaking Italian. There are old ones who can't speak English very well even after half a century here.
Melbourne's Chinatown is considered one of the larger and more exceptional in the world, I believe. Plus Melbourne has some VERY Chinese areas in the suburbs like Box Hill.
We are talking Bourke st right? I always figured north American Chinatowns would be much larger. You are right about Italians here, my local barber can barely speak English lol, this doesn't go for just Italians most ethnic communities feel kinda well new if that makes sense, Italian American families are probably like the barone's on everybody loves Raymond..not much Italian culture of any kind going on in the household lol, and that's fine most of them are so far from removed from their heritage it's only natural, same thing will happen in Australia eventually, but it's nice that we have communities that mostly still feel Authentic.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Italian immigrants suffer discrimination
