Mark it in your diaries:
Norm Marinovich – The History of Croatians in Fremantle
Tuesday 24 February 5.00 – 7.00 pm
Nibbles and drinks at 5.00 pm; the talk starts at 5.30 pm
Mardoo Room, Lower Ground, Fremantle Library
Walyalup Civic Centre, 151 High Street, Fremantle 6160
Croatians have had a presence in Fremantle since the early 1800s. Their contribution to life in Fremantle was initially defined by their background of poverty in their homeland, but later by some of the skills they brought with them and later still by their efforts to integrate into the Australian way of life.
Dalmatia was the poorest part of what was then Yugoslavia, there was not much land, and what was there was very dry and unproductive. The people emigrating were tough and worked hard so they could send money back home to their families. Many immigrants went to the gold-fields but by the eve of the First World War groups of Slavs began to settle in Spearwood, the Swan Valley and Fremantle.
Norm and his brother Mike, were born here in Fremantle, their parents having emigrated around 1928. But after the Second World War, like many Slavic people, the family travelled back to Yugoslavia out of concern for their families there, and to help rebuild the country after the war. The constraints of living under Communist rule however, were difficult to tolerate, and the opportunities in Australia offered better prospects for their sons’ future. The family returned to Western Australia in 1952.
70 years later, come listen to Norm tell his story about his life, and the experience of being a Croatian immigrant in Western Australia.
Bookings may be made through the following link:
https://events.humanitix.com/exploring-fremantle-s-croatian-history-with-norm-marinovich
Fremantle History Society 