For some, it conjures traumatic memories of displacement and uncertainty; for others, it is a symbol of hope.
To this day, the Bonegilla Reception Centre is a site of pilgrimage for those who refuse to forget the thousands of migrants who arrived in Australia after the Second World War - the melancholy, the abject poverty left behind, their initial adjustment to a new homeland.
Today, at the Centre’s entrance stands the Arc Memorial Sculpture, an important tribute to the 300,000 newcomers who, from 1947 to 1971, arrived in Wodonga with hopes of building a new future.
For those wanting to commemorate a family member who once called Bonegilla home, it is still possible to have plaque affixed at the Centre in their honour.
On August 21, the Postregna family organised a special gathering in Albury-Wodonga to remember Agostino Postregna, known as ‘Gus’, on the 10th anniversary of his passing and 70 years after his arrival in Australia in search of a new beginning.
Agostino's brothers, Giulian and Damian. (Photo provided)
It was 1952 when Postregna arrived on the continent, soon finding himself surrounded by barren fields and wooden houses.
He was welcomed into Camp Bonegilla, located in north-eastern Victoria, then a reception and training centre for the thousands of migrants who did not yet have families in Melbourne.
New arrivals were given a small home and an occupation and were offered English lessons to facilitate societal integration and allow them to settle into their new country.
The first room where newcomers to Bonegilla were invited to show their documents. (Photo provided)
Originally from Trieste, Postregna boarded the ship ‘San Giorgio’, along with many others his age before his city was annexed to Italy in 1954.
At the time, Trieste and Istria were divided into two zones (A and B), sequestered militarily by the Allies and the Yugoslavs.
Zone A included the Julian coast, from Monfalcone to Muggia, plus the enclave of Pola, and went down in history as the Free Territory of Trieste. Zone B comprised the rest of Istria.
After a journey of about six weeks, amidst cramped quarters and rough seas, Agostino Postregna reached his new homeland, plagued by a deep sense of nostalgia and great confusion, also due to the seasickness he had been suffering from for more than a month.
He knew little of Australia and unfortunately couldn’t yet speak English.
Arriving at Station Pier and travelling by train for eight hours, Postregna found himself in Bonegilla late at night.
“The only indication for the driver to stop was a fire lit near the tracks, as there was no railway station at that time.”
“My father mentioned the freezing cold when he arrived. It was the middle of winter, August 2, 1952; he was wearing light clothes and had only a small suitcase,” said eldest daughter Giuliana.
“He said he felt so cold that he thought he might need to sleep under the thin mattress so as not to freeze.”
The migrants slept on rudimentary beds, some built with iron from the old gates of local farms.
The walls of the huts were made entirely out of corrugated iron, obviously without insulation. It was very cold in winter, and very hot in summer.
On the right, the bed where Agostino slept. (Photo provided)
Postregna soon found work in the camp kitchens.
“They left a very acrid smell of mutton on his clothes,” Giuliana recounted.
“In July 1952, many young migrants who had just arrived at the camp began to have difficulty finding work because of the recession. They had borrowed money to get to Australia and needed to repay their loans.
“They began to protest, shouting, ‘Give us work or send us back to Italy’,” continued Giuliana, who tried to piece together her father's memories.
“A month later, there were many more protests: over meals, for example, especially from the Italians who were soon chosen as Bonegilla's cooks. They demanded fish, pasta, spaghetti, salt, tomato sauce, olive oil, garlic and coffee for their lunches and dinners. Something was finally changing.”
Postregna left Bonegilla a short time later, and in his later years in Melbourne, went from working on a sheep farm to driving trams, trains and buses.
In 1961, he managed to bring his family to Australia: his mother, father and two younger brothers, Giulian and Damian.
Seven years later, in 1968, he married Alma, originally from the same region of Italy, with whom he had four children: Andrea, Julie, Teresa and Ivana.
Last Sunday, the family wished to commemorate his life - a life defined by immense change and unspeakable sacrifice.
They chose to do so with a plaque in his honour, housed in the very fields that had seen his hope begin to blossom, where he first began his long journey of resilience.
