Multicultural Fishing

In the era just after World War I, Western Australia saw an influx of Sicilians, Molfettese and Croatians migrants, who came with skills from their country of origin. Many of the migrants spoke little or no English, but had the skills to work in the fishing industry.  

Those who migrated to Australia often came out on their own, or with a few close relatives, and aimed to establish themselves before bringing their family out. Those first migrants, who were mostly men, would write home to keep in touch with family and friends, and then once financially stable, would return to their country of origin to visit family, become engage, get married or help bring their families to Fremantle. Today we refer to these initial individuals as ‘paper and chain migrants’. 

This is how Fremantle's fishing industry, gradually evolved to become a multi-cultural industry, dominated by families from discrete villages or regions of Italy, Croatia, Greece and, after 1950, Portugal.