The purpose of this study was to research the settlement of the Solidarity wave of Polish immigrants in Melbourne who arrived in Australia between 1980-84 and thus reduce the gap in knowledge about this group of immigrants. Because of the limited knowledge available about the settlement outcomes of Polish immigrants, a comprehensive data collection process was undertaken through interviews involving 60 participants. This thesis comprises six chapters beginning with the context of this research, followed by a brief history of Polish community migration to Australia including statistical information. 198083 were the peak years of the second wave of Polish migration to Australia, the majority of whom came as refugees and under the Special Humanitarian Program at the time of political and economic turning points in the recent history of Poland. These immigrants left Poland for political and economic reasons, because they had had enough of the system - the politics, the economy and the consequences of both, the way Poland functioned at that time, and were pessimistic about its improvement and thus improvement of their own future. They came mainly in family units, at the prime of their lives (25-34 years in age), with a high level of education and from a highly urbanised environment where accommodation was scarce and where there was a shortage of goods including food items. Some had high status positions before leaving Polan d. A large number of these immigrants had travelled abroad from Poland previously but only one of the interviewees had been in Australia before. The affluence of the West, compared to Poland, also played an important role in these immigrants deciding to leave their home country. To the majority of them, Australia was their preferred country of migration. Men were the driving force in deciding to leave Poland and less than 20 per cent of couples made the decision mutually. With some couples, the male arrived in Australia first and then sponsored his wife and children. Their 'road' from Poland to Australia was usually through a transit country in Europe ego Austria, Germany, where they were obliged to wait on average several months before a permanent visa was obtained for Australia. They arrived with no or only a few possessions but had hope, courage and willingness to work to establish theirs and their children's lives in their adopted country. They had little knowledge of Australia, particularly the day-to-day aspects of living here. The 1980s wave of Polish immigrants imagined Australia to have European architecture and be less multicultural. Their reasons for wanting to migrate to Australia were because of having a relative or a friend here, and because there were attracted to Australia as a rich and unspoiled country, with a democratic system and a climate to be envied. They also thought Australia to be one of the best countries for immigrants to settle in. These immigrants had little knowledge of Polonia in Australia and only a quarter could understand English. Upon arrival, they stayed in migrant hostels in Melbourne where they attended English language classes and accessed a range of support services available to them. Their first impressions of Australia were negative, at times very negative, however, this did not seem to affect their settlement over the long term. After 10-14 years of living in Australia, these immigrants have come a long way in their settlement. This includes their English language proficiency, occupational status, social support networks, job and life satisfaction. These achievements did not come easy, but they resulted from hard work, further education, compromises and utilisation of skills and knowledge which they brought with them. Also helpful was the range of support services available to them and the Australian policy of multiculturalism. Not all have succeeded and many paid a price for migration ego marriage break up, deterioration in health, are unemployed, have no contact with their close families in Poland. The most difficult thing to cope with in the initial years of settlement for these immigrants was learning English and not being able to communicate in that language yet being required to work on establishing their lives in Australia. They also experienced high levels of isolation and stress and missed their families in Poland. Their o ccupational adjustment was also difficult although with time many have regained their occupational status and now work in positions commensurate with their skills and qualifications. They did not recall the process of qualifications recognition as a difficult one but believed that staff at the appropriate agencies could have been more attentive and more proactive to these migrants' particular needs. At the time of the interview, only eight per cent often had difficulties with understanding English and another 16 per cent had such difficulties sometimes. Their written English proficiency was significantly lower, 34 per cent experienced difficulties often or very often and another 20 per cent sometimes. Whilst a quarter were not interested in pursuing their English language skills further, just over half were interested, especially in wanting to improve their written skills. Approximately half of these immigrants undertook further or additional studies at Technical and Further Education (TAFE) colleges and universities and another half participated in private vocational courses. Undertaking further or additional studies played a very significant role in the 1980s Solidarity wave of Polish immigrants regaining their occupational status and acquisition of good English language skills. Fifty two per cent of these immigrants worked as labourers and machine operators in their first jobs in Australia, now this percentage is 24 which is still very considerably higher when compared to Poland where only four per cent of them worked as machine operators and none worked as a labourer. After 10-14 years in Australia, the majority of the study group worked as professionals and para-professionals, technicians and service workers. No male interviewee was working as a labourer and only six per cent continued to work as machine operators. Female interviewees have not done as well in their occup ational adjustment, 12 per cent continue to work as labourers and 27 per cent as machine operators. This study found that there was a high level of job satisfaction amongst this wave of Polish immigrants, however, compared to Poland, their job satisfaction was lower. Twelve per cent of the study sample were unemployed, usually unemployed for a substantial period due to English language difficulties and overall lack of jobs. Polish immigrants strongly believed that job opportunities for immigrants in Australia are worse compared to Australian-born persons. With regards to social support networks, it was found that Polish immigrants had good levels of such networks and that the vast majority of these were involving other Polish immigrants. There was also contact with people from other cultural backgrounds but it was often more distant and not as regular. As with the first large wave of Polish immigrants to Australia, this group also relies on themselves at times of need and do not use welfare services other than the Department of Social Security. Study findings indicated a very high level of life satisfaction amongst this group of immigrants and 65 per cent believed that their standard of living had improved since leaving Poland. They hold Australia in high regard. What these immigrants liked about their lives in Australia was their accommodation, adequate remuneration, the economic and political stability, life stability, comfortable and peaceful living conditions. Seventy per cent of these immigrants were in the process of paying off their homes or have already done so. They continue to be in good health generally, but 30 per cent felt that their health had deteriorated since leaving Poland. These immigrants also had some dislikes regarding their lives in Australia and these included demanding work lifestyles, different social life, some Australian attitudes and the tyranny of distance. Overall, three quarters assessed their decision to migrate as good or very good and ten per cent as bad or very bad. In general, Polish immigrants were not conside ring a return migration to Poland. Amongst the negative outcomes of migration for these immigrants, was the relatively high marriage breakdown (23%). On the other hand, data on marriage assessment revealed that no interviewee assessed their marriage as unsatisfactory. With couples who remained married, a third believed that migration had had a positive effect on their marriage. This study also aimed to develop a brief profile of children of these immigrants who were found to speak Polish well. Only five per cent could not speak' Polish at all. Parents went to great lengths to ensure that their children maintained the Polish language, In contrast, two thirds of these children did not participate in Polish community life, This research also documented the bicultural identity, in particular these immigrants' identity, links with their mother culture and country, participation in Australian social institutions, attitudes to multiculturalism and other ethnic groups, Ninety per cent of the 1980s Solidarity wave of Polish immigrants continue to identify as Polish and Polish-Australians. The feeling of Polish identity was strong for well over half of interviewees, and feeling Australian strongly or very strongly was stated by only 15 per cent. No interviewee stated his/her identity as being Australian although 97 per cent of these immigrants had acquired Australian citizenship. These immigrants maintained links with Poland and their families there, including inviting relatives for holidays to Australia and Visiting Poland themselves. They continue to eat Polish cuisine and celebrate Christmas and Easter in the traditional Polish way. Eighty five per cent of these Polish immigrants found it very important or important to maintain t he Polish culture and 80 per cent put such importance on Polish language maintenance. Their membership of Polish organisations is low, mainly due to lack of time and lack of interest or need. Participation in Polish community functions was reasonably low with only a quarter attending such functions regularly. Further, the majority knew about the 3EA Polish radio program, again, only a quarter listen to it regularly which was partly due to the broadcast time (1.00pm). Polish Weekly was the mostly commonly read Polish newspaper, followed by newspapers from Poland. Generally, the Polish media in Melbourne was not assessed in a positive light. These immigrants also had a negative view of the Polish community as a group in Australia, including Polish organisations and typical Polish characteristics. Church participation by these immigrants has decreased since their arrival. In regards to political preferences, half of these Polish immigrants tended to vote for the Liberal Party and between 20-32 per cent tended to vote for the Australian Labour Party. Half of the interviewees followed the political processes in Australia, however, no one belonged to a political party. They were reluctant to accept people from some cultures such as Middle Eastern or Asian. Multiculturalism was seen by them as a positive aspect of Australia and one which helps immigrants in settlement. These immigrants were not refugees but migrated in refugee like situations. They do not fit any of the immigrant or refugee settlement models. A new typology for these immigrants is developed using criteria such as: job and life satisfaction, English language proficiency, maintenance of Polish culture and language and adoption of the' Australian culture,
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/258919 |
| Date | January 1997 |
| Creators | Drozd, Elizabeth, elizabethd@apcs.org.au |
| Publisher | RMIT University. Language and Cultural Studies |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.rmit.edu.au/help/disclaimer, Copyright Elizabeth Drozd |
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