the australian national university

471 Pages·2010·9.8 MB·English

THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
THE ITALIAN POPULATION OF CARLTON
A DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIOLOGICAL SURVEY
by
Frank Lancaster Jones
A thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of PhilosopQy
in the Researoh School of Social Sciences
at the Australian National University
Maroh 1962
1 i i.
This thesis is based upon original research
conduoted by the author as a scholar in the
Department of Damograpny at the Australian
National University, March 1959 to March 1962.
f
-L.~.
F. L. Jones
iii.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In conducting this research projeot the author received
valuable assistance from several persons. Dr. Jerzy Zubrzycki,
who superviSed the oonduct of this research, was a continuai
SOurce of guidance and encouragement, and his 0\0111 research into
immigrants in Australia vas an indispensable model in planning the
scope and aims of the Carlton surve,y. Professor W. D. Borrie and
Dr. G. A. Price made helpful comments in planning the research
and in interpreting the results of this investigation. Dr. Norma
McArthur advised on the use of appropriate tests of statistical
significance. In the field the author vas assisted by his wife,
whose presence and help during interviews materially improved the
quality of the data and enhanced the prospects of a successful
outcome of the project as a whole. Finally, thanks are due to
Melbourne's Italian population. In particular the author 'WOuld
like to aCknowledge the hospitality and assistance afforded qy
Sig. E. Angerame~ Gav. D. Boffa, Sig. G. Boffa, L. Dimase,
G. Piccione, F. Martello, D. Stell3, and F. Vellar and their
respective families, whose homes were always open to the autoor
and his wife.
If despite the assistance of all these persons factual
errors or deficiencies in analysis are to be found in this work,
they are of course the responsibility of the author alone.
HlECIS iv.
Chapter I
The Carlton survey may be desoribed as a dmDographio and
sociological investigation into selected oharacteristics of
Allstraliat s most l'ltIIlI3rOllS no~British inmigrant grOt1p - the
Italians -- in the metropolis in which they are most heavily
:represented - JelbCll.ll'n8. };s its title suggests this investigation
is limited in its scope, restricted in the main to the oonsideration
of oharacteristics ansnab1e to quantitative analysis. Its aims
have been primarily empirioal, an emphasis dictated by tluJ absence
of comparative studies of Australian metropolitan popllations.
A secondary interest in this study, related to the first,
is in methodology. No social survey of a metropolitan irmligrant
~tion had yet been Qondu.cted in Australia, and questions of
methodology assumad oonsiderable :importance. Problems of seale
and residential mobility had to be overoome before a sample SUr.'Vf!TY'
of Italians in the Carlton area oould be conducted..
A third focus was upon ohain-migration. Every study of
Italians in Australia has stressed the role of this oharacteristio
feature of Italian emigration. Chain-migration has been seen as
a ~terminant of' the residential and. occupational distribution of
Italians in Australia, ani at an even more general level it has
been implied. that behaviour in Australia is a function of origin
in Italy. This hypothesis has been analysed and tested in the
present work, although limitations of size haarpered the analytical
refinements possible in a survey of larger scale.
v.
The form of the present stu~ has been aetormined by the. .
three major interests: the demographic and. sociologioal charaoter
istics ot a metropolitan Italian population, the most appropriate
...t hode by which such a st~ may be effected, and the importance
of origin in Italy as a determinant at the behaviour of Italian
iumigrants in Australia.
Chapter II
In the great period of Italian transoceanio emigration,
from 1895 to t he beginning of the First World War, Ital.ian migration
to Australia constituted only a trickla away from tba main current
of this em1gratory flow. At the turn of the oentury Australia's
Italian-born population nuabered only a ferw thousands and was
distributed among three states, New South Wales, Viotoria, ani
Western Australia. In relative terms, Western .Australia, with a
total population much smaller than that of either New SoIlth Wales
or Victoria, had by far the greatest Italian concentration in these
early years, and by 1911 indeed Western Australia bad also the most
numerous Italian popllation of any mainland state. This represented
the peak: of Italian settlement in the west, and although at subsequent
oensuaes Western Australia has comiDl8d to harbour the de'nBest
Italian concentration at any mainland State, Italian ::imnigration
since 1920 favoured first Queensland and later Victoria and South
Australia.
Victoria's 8BSrgence as a State of Italian ooncentration
came relatively late in the history of Ita.l.ian settlJ::ment in
Australia, and. although in 1881 and 1891 Victoria contai.ned a
Vi.
relatively large nunber of Italians its present concentration has
'been the result of the post-war influx of Italian j_igrams.
Unlike the Italian settlers of earlier ,ears, most of these post
war arrivals showed a disproportionate tendency to settle in
metropolitan areas, particularly in the City of Jlelbou.rm, which
with Fitzroy represents the historical centre of Italian settlement
in the Mel'bourm metropolitan area. Within the City of lblbourne
itself, the Carlton area contained a dense Italian ooncemration,
and even in 1954 20 per cent of the population in some parts of
Carlton and North Carlton oonsisted of Italian-born persons. By
the time of the present survey the Italian popu.l.ation of this area
had grown to such an extent that every third or fottrth house
contained Italian residents. TC>day Carlton is reoognized as
Melbourne's "Italian" suburb.
Chapter III
A complete emmeration of this Italian popllation could
not be undertaken with the resou.rcss available to the present
stud3'. Some selection was called for, and a randcm sample offered
the most satisfactory means to this end. Since a random. sample
implies the oonstruction of a universe from whioh, and. from which
only, such a sample can legitimately be drawn, a list of adult
Italian nationals registered as resident in Carlton or North Carlton
in November 1958 was drawn up from information on the District Index
of .Aliens held by the tBpartment of llIInigration, ~lbourne. ThiB
list of adult aliens of Italian nationality was supplemented with
a BSQond list of British nationals with Italian-sounding names drawn
vi i.
frmn the ComDlOtIi&alth electoral rolla for the Carlton area.
Subsequent checking of this seoond. list against tho Naturalization
or
I_x Ileld by tho Department Imnigration in Canberra revealed
that while most of these persons had. previously been nationaJ.s of
Italy a considlsrable mmber were not listed on this i~x. Several
considerations suggested that such persons with Italian-sounding
:oa.Des but of indefinite Italian origin shouJ.d. not be rejected from.
the sample, and consequently those with addre ..... identical with
on!t registered by a person of present or former Italian nationality
were included in the major universe. The remainder were kept
separate (the minor universe) for independent field-investigation.
In addition to al.lowing a randan sample of Italialls
resident in the Carlton area to be drawn, the construction of a
universe also permitted the collation of valuable prellminary data,
the analysis of whioh suggested several areas of subsequent enquiry.
Firstly, district of' rttsia.noe in Carlton was significantly related
to almost every variable for which infonnationwas obtained.
Field-investigation shawed that these relationships stenmed partly
or
f'rom tile history Italian aettlement in Carlton-North Carlton,
but ecological differences within the Carlton area itself' were also
involved. Seoond.ly, the territorial canposition or Carlton's
Italian population was not at all representative of Italy' B 8.8 a
whole, and the majority of Italians in the Carlton area had been
drawn from quite restricted parts of Italy. Areas, which in Italy
aocounted for only a negligible fraction of total population, in
Carlton and Narth Carlton constituted remarkable concentrations.
viii.
Clearly chain-migration and regional con,oemrations were subjects
to be investigated in the field. Finally, the residential mobility
of Italian nationals in Carlton-North Carlton was very high. Almost
om in five persons whose addressos were ohecked agaiJ'lSt the Aliens
Registration Index had registered a change of address between
November ~958 and September ~959. Although no .stilllate of the
mobility of British nationals of former Italian nationality was
possible, changes of such magnitude in the oomposition of the
Italian national population of this area frem one year to t he next
posed s&riCltls problems, not for drawing a rand.cm sample, but for
obtaining a random _~e in the fie~d. The pro_ot thet by the
time the present survey was conducted as IItB.tly as oM-third of Italians
listed in November 1958 as residents of Carlton-North Carlton might
be living at another address was a orucia1 consideration in the
choice of a sample design.
Chapter IV
In an attempt to reduce the high residential mobility of
Italians in the Carlton area the idea of sampling indivic3nals was
rejected ,in favour of sampling addresses. Italians registered as
resident in Carlton or North Carlton were classified according to
their place of residence, and the addresses BO obtaired, stratified
by district of residence in Carlton and the mmber of Italians
registered at each address, provided the sampling frame fran
which the Carlton sample was drawn. Two sampling frames were
cOl'U!!tructed, 0])9 consisting of persons of definite or probable
Italian origin (the major univerme) and the other of addresses of
iX.
British nationals with names but of indefinite
Itali~sound1ng
Italian origin (the minor 1lllliverse) ~
Although this sample design reduoed non-response due to
residential mobility remarkab~t non-response did occur and intro
duced. a bias into the saJIple. The less mobile members of the popul
ation tended to be over-represented, since non-response may be aBsUIIl8d
to have been greatest among those who were residentially mobile. This
tendency was accentuated by a secondary bias arising from the sanple
design itself, since Italians who took up residence in the Carl ton
area af'ter Noveniber 1958 could be represented in the s~le only to
the extent that they occupied or lived at addresses previously
occupied by Italians.
That this bias was not excessive is suggested by two f'aotors.
No signifioant difference could be found between the obtained sample
and the universe, although 29 tests of statistical significance were
applied to their respective distributions. While the absence o~
observed dif~erences does not imply that sigpificBBt differences did
not in fact exist, it does offer at least prima facie evidence that
such differences were minimal. Secondly, further analysis suggested
that two out o~ three Italians estimated to have taken up residence
in Oarlton-North Carlton between November 1958 and June 1960 were in
fact included in the sample. Since in 21 of the original 95
addresses Italians leaving a particular address were replaced by
other Italians not registered as resident at that address in November
1958, clearly some residentially mbile persons were represented in
the obtained sample.