2nd September 1940

Giorgio Scola wrote on Monday 2 September: Dawn and breakfast-time come as a relief. It is so cold that most of us spend a long morning almost entirely down below. There is considerable discussion amongst ourselves as to when and where we shall be landing, and ultimately where we will be camped. Routine day but brightened at tea-time, when our leader declares that we are expected to land tomorrow and after breakfast tomorrow we must clean and tidy up the Mess and collect our belongs together, to be ready. Our leader suggests that we make ourselves as spick and span as possible. If Melbourne is our destination, land should be visible before tomorrow morning.

(12,000 miles behind barbed wire - The internment of Giorgio Enrico Scola

·https://www.theduneraitalians.com/_files/ugd/f829b6_971886d74a4e45db87e4941065a771ff.pdf  )

After 55 days onboard the MV Dunera, the UK Italian internees, prepared for life in an internment camp in Australia. Little did they realise that for many of them, internment was a long and protracted process.

Some men were heavy with grief after losing family in the tragedy of the Arandora Star.

Some men had wives and children in Italy.

Some men had children born after their internment.

The Blitz of London began on the 7th September 1940 and soon men feared for the safety of loved ones living in London.

The day of their arrival in Melbourne on the 3rd September 1940 had personal relevance for Vittorio Bechelli, Giuseppe Dorà and Venuto Corinti.  For Bechelli and Dorà it was their 41st birthdays and for Corinti his 26th birthday.

200 Men, 200 Stories

This website/blog and its collection of items offers a glimpse into the lives of the Dunera Italians before, during and after internment.

This group of 200 men are often a mere footnote in the history of internment in Australia and their journey is an ‘almost forgotten’ history.

But they were fathers, brothers, sons, uncles, husbands and friends. They were men from diverse occupations: shopkeepers, ice cream makers, doctors, musician, journalist,

maître chefs, electrical engineers, caterers, café owners, terrazzo and marble workers, ice merchants, dress designer, bank clerk, ladies’ hairdresser, waiters, teacher, maître d’hotel.

Five Italian internees are laid to rest at the Ossario, Murchison Cemetery, Victoria and six died at sea on their return journey home.

Nine men stayed in Australia, two stayed for a brief time married and then returned to England. One man was joined by his wife in Australia, stayed for 10 years then left Australia, while another returned to Scotland and then emigrated to Australia with his wife and daughter.

Not all men were born in Italy.

Every man has a story....