by Michelle, ASRC volunteer My grandfather, Adolfo Calligaro, arrived in Australia from northern Italy in 1927. He was a keen cyclist and amateur boxer and did national service with the Alpini. But he became uncomfortable in Italy with the rise of fascism and decided to bring his skills and energy to strike out in a
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by Kon Karapanagiotidis, CEO and Founder, ASRC How did you carry the grief of having to leave home, of losing the warm embrace of your mother and your homeland forever? I feel such sadness for you, that when your parents passed the sea still stood between you. How did you endure enough struggles for a
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By Margot, ASRC volunteer My dad, Ted was born in 1920 in England; the third of five children of a WW1 veteran turned Scottish coal miner and a Yorkshire grocer’s daughter. When the 1930s depression began to take its toll, Ted’s parents agreed to let him come to Australia with an aunt and uncle who had no children
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By Joan, ASRC volunteer and refugee rights advocate. My family was Austrian, and I was born on 4th of October, 1935. Hitler had been appointed Chancellor of Germany in January 1933 and achieved full dictatorial control by August 1934. Austria hadn’t yet fallen to the Nazis, but it was only a matter of time. Four
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In the lottery of birth, Sara* was born into a country where she was persecuted by her government, simply because of her ethnicity. When she escaped, she sought safety in our community. Everyday you are running but you don’t get any results. Then you have to get up again. I feel like I am wasting
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