Post-WWII reconstruction in Australia was intertwined with mass immigration and industry. Federal and corporate funding for major industries together with government policies for population growth enabled nation-building programs that transformed remote, rural and urban landscapes. The immigration centres and industrial sites featured in this exhibition convey an interdependent spatial and transnational labour network consisting of nodal points of inter-cultural social interactions. The exhibition includes: a study of migrant camps (with the examples of Benalla and Greta), key industrial sites for hydro-electric power generation (Snowy Hydro), defence (Woomera, Long Range Weapons Establishment) and raw-material production (BHP Steelworks, Port Kembla), independent small businesses and associated industry and streetscapes in Melbourne suburbs. These examples are significant to the history of immigration and modernisation, and convey their co-dependence.
The exhibition was made possible by the Australia Research Council Discovery Project DP190101531, Architecture and Industry: The migrant contribution to nation-building 1945-1979, with an interdisciplinary team from The University of Melbourne, Deakin University, The University of Tasmania and The Australian National University.
Where: Museo Italiano CO.AS.IT., 199 Faraday Street, Carlton VIC 3053.
Exhibition : 16 November 2022 – 10 February 2023, Monday to Friday 10am-5pm, Saturday 1-5pm; Free entry.