During World War II Australia’s industrial infrastructure received an impressive boost, as the nation fought to make itself defensible against Japan and to become as self-sufficient as it could. Much of this capacity remained after the war, and for some decades Australian industry flourished, creating jobs and putting healthy paypackets into the pockets of the working middle classes.
There was so much work, in fact, that Australia reached out to Europe – much of it still struggling with postwar reconstruction and deep poverty – for more potential workers and citizens. Still unwilling to let go of its White Australia tradition, the nation saw Europeans as a tolerable alternative to the still-preferred Britons.
Newcastle’s heavy industries were keen for these new workers, and the BHP steelworks, in particular, offered life-changing opportunities to people fleeing the poverty and problems of the Old World. From many parts of Europe, in waves over a number of years, came people from many countries, all bringing their own customs, cuisines, languages and cultures.
The liner Fairsea famously brought migrants to Newcastle in 1949. Over the next several years the ship carried several groups to Australia, and was noted in its earlier voyages for the spartan nature of its accommodation. Most passengers were housed in large dormitories with cramped, triple-decked bunks.
One postwar migrant was the late Horst Griep, who has left a fascinating photographic record of his family’s journey from Germany to Australia. Horst was born in East Germany and his first job was at the Agfa camera factory. During World War II he helped operate 88mm anti-aircraft guns protecting the factory until the Allied bombers started flying too high for the guns to reach. He was sent to Berlin, where he was when the war ended. After the war’s end he swam the Spree River to surrender to US troops rather than the Russians.
He fled his home town of Wolfen in what was to become East Germany, made his way to Minden and after a number of labouring jobs he found employment at Bad Onhausen doing aerial photography for the British. But because he had family in East Germany he came to be deemed a security risk and had to leave.
According to his son, Jorg, a housing shortage was the main impetus to migrate. At the time, Australia was offering two-year work contracts and free sea travel. The family left from Bremen aboard the Skaubryn and their first Australian landfall was at Fremantle in January 1955. Because Bonegilla migrant camp was full they were taken to Sydney, then via train to Greta migrant camp in the Hunter Valley.
Horst got a three-year contract to work at BHP’s Newcastle steelworks, in the forge and the bloom mill. The migrant workers had to stay in Nissen huts opposite the old Newcastle abattoir site while their families stayed at the Greta camp. Horst’s first labouring jobs were in the forge and bloom mill, but after he won a prize in a photographic competition he was offered him the job of works photographer.
The family’s first house was in a “new” area of Cardiff, but they later moved to Kearsley where they ran a small poulty farm and Horst worked as a photographer for the Cessnock Eagle newspaper. He returned to work at the BHP and took a redundancy just before the plant closed.
The journey to a new life in a new country
New land, new town, new job
Greta migrant camp and after
From our book, The Way We Worked.
60th anniversary supplement for The Cessnock Eagle newspaper, 1973. PDF download.
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Hi my name is Bistra Nikoff 4,5,or 6 when I was in Greta camp in the early 50s I am wondering if anyone remembers us.
Nikolai, Violetta, Iliana & Bistra. Wow. We arrived in Australia in March 1950 went first to Bathurst then to Parkes then to Villawood then to Greta. From there we moved to Bull St Maitland where we were in the 1955 floods. We had 9 ft of water in our house. We lost everything again
But we survived & went on to build a house in East Maitland. My family have all passed on & I am all that is left of the family. I have 3 children & 6 grandkids I feel blessed.