With a population of over 204,000, the area’s residents represent some of the most culturally unique groups in Australia.

To celebrate the myriad communities who have made Fairfield City their home over the years, from Eastern European groups to the rapidly growing Assyrian community, Fairfield City Museum & Gallery is hosting A Home Away from Home: Exploring Fairfield City’s Multicultural Clubs, running daily until June 10.

Featuring 17 clubs and groups, the exhibition revives the stories of the many migrants who settled in the region and founded clubs as a way of socialising outside of the home, connecting with fellow countrymen and celebrating traditional customs.

While many of these clubs were established decades ago by early migrant communities, the exhibition also aims to highlight the impact these groups continue to have on the development of the Fairfield area today.

One of the communities which have contributed to the multicultural identity of Fairfield City is made up of Italians, many of whom settled in the area during the migration wave which followed World War II.

Though Italians have been present in the area since the 1800s, the post-war migration wave saw approximately 6000 Italians residing in Fairfield by the 1960s, making up 10 per cent of the population.

Many of the Italian migrants were drawn to the area because of its affordability and the fact that its rural surroundings resembled the towns and regions which they had left behind in the Belpaese.

These new arrivals sought out fellow Italians in the hope of preserving their mother tongue, culture and traditions in a foreign world far from anything they had previously known, and eventually invested their own money and labour into building clubs as havens of familiarity.

Though some of these clubs still exist, many died a natural death in the face of economic hardships and declining numbers, as their founders grew old and second and third generations ceased to frequent them at their predecessors had.

Others, however, survived and still thrive today, including Club Marconi, which has used sport as a vehicle to expand and include the wider population, ensuring membership numbers continue to grow and the club remains relevant to the ever-changing needs of the community.

Today, 59 years after its inception, Club Marconi services a membership of over 40,000 and celebrates an array of events relevant to the Italian community, while each year, more than two thousand children of various backgrounds pull on a Marconi guernsey to play their preferred sport.

Other clubs which once represented the various Italian regions and provinces chose to cooperate in order to stay alive, breathing life into new communities such as Club Italia, an amalgamation of the Abruzzi Sports Club, Fogolar Furlan Sydney and the Veneto Club of Sydney.

Fogolar Furlan was established in 1966 by migrants from the north-eastern Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia.

In 1997, Fogolar Furlan merged with the Veneto Club, while the Abruzzi Sports Club joined in 2006 to form Club Italia.

Club Italia is now one of the 40 sub-clubs and seven sports clubs which make up the Mounties Group, which boasts the largest membership of any club in NSW exceeding 110,000.

In conjunction with the ongoing exhibition, members of Club Italia will unite at Fairfield City Museum & Gallery on April 29 for an afternoon of Italian culture, including wood-fired pizza, treats and music and entertainment.

Miranda Cencigh migrated from Friuli to Fairfield in 1962 and has been a member of Fogolar Furlan, now Club Italia, for as long as she can remember.

Along with other members of the club, including president of the Ladies Auxiliary Lidia Gentilini, Mrs Cencigh will promote all that Italian culture has to offer and demonstrate how the Italian community has weaved its way into the fabric of Fairfield’s society.

Maria Santomingo will make pasta in cooking demonstrations, while Azelia Donati will make frittelle, traditional balls of sweetness prepared during Carnevale in Italy.

Mrs Cencigh’s husband Gino will also put on a game of bocce, demonstrating how Italians’ favourite pastime works, while traditional card games such as Briscola and Tressette will unfold at a table as they would in the piazza of an Italian village.

The day will reflect the exhibition at large in celebrating Fairfield City’s status as home to one of the most culturally diverse populations in our nation and telling the stories of migration and settlement in the area.