AustLit

Migrants are mobile by definition. They literally uproot themselves and move to sometimes-distant lands for a variety of reasons. Some move away from real or imagined threats to theirs very existence. Others seek a better quality of life. And Some adventurous souls are inhabited by a restless wunderlust - a desire to roll the dice and see what happens. Such mobility requires fortitude and faith. Migrants move through space and, if they have an aspirational disposition, they attempt to accumulate symbolic capital to move up those social and economic hierarchies that bestow status and prestige within their adopted homes.

The migrant journey to Australia often ends with the realisation that one as to make and remake one's identity, and perform a series of adjustments - adjustments in terms of comportment, dress, accent and disposition. this article is a critcal reflection on a multi media presentation that tells a story about the author's father, A. J. D'Cruz. It draws on historical archives and the material remnants of A. J. D' Cruz's relatively short life( letters, photographs, sound recordings, 8mm films). It also provided a singular account of the performance practices involved in becoming a 'New Australian" Combining personal anecdotes and philosophical ruminations on history, technology, and cultural identity, the article interrogates and performs a series of migrant mobilities.

(Abstract)