AustLit logo

AustLit

Issue Details: First known date: 1963... 1963 A Migrant's Story : The Struggle and Success of an Italian-Australian, 1920s-1960s
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Latest Issues

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Notes:
illus; portrait: Osvaldo Bonutto

Works about this Work

Calvary or Limbo? Articulating Identity and Citizenship in Two Italian Australian Autobiographical Narratives of World War II Internment Jessica Carniel , 2016 single work criticism
— Appears in: Queensland Review , June vol. 23 no. 1 2016; (p. 20-34)

'Almost 5,000 Italians were interned in Australia during World War II, a high proportion of them Queensland residents. Internment was a pivotal experience for the Italian community, both locally and nationally, complicating Italian Australians’ sense of belonging to their adopted country. Through an examination of two migrant autobiographical narratives of internment, Osvaldo Bonutto's A Migrant's Story and Peter Dalseno's Sugar, Tears and Eyeties, this article explores the impact of internment on the experience and articulation of cultural and civic belonging to Australian society. It finds that internment was a ‘trial’ or ‘transitional’ phase for these internees’ personal and civic identities, and that the articulation of these identities and sense of belonging is historically contingent, influenced by the shift from assimilation to multiculturalism in settlement ideology, as well as Italian Australians’ changing place in Australian society throughout the twentieth century.' (Publication abstract)

'You're on the List!' Writing the Australian Italian Experience of War-Time Internment John Gatt-Rutter , 2008 single work criticism
— Appears in: FULGOR , November vol. 3 no. 3 2008; The Bilingual Cockatoo : Writing Italian Australian Lives 2014; (p. 30-67)
This paper compares the discursive and experiential valence of the two fullest autobiographical accounts of internment written by Australian Italians, that by Claudio Alcorso in The Wind You Say (1993) and that by Peter Dalseno (1994), both of whom were in Loveday from 1942 to 1944 (while Alcorso had been in Hay from June 1940). Beyond the shock of unmerited deprivation of liberty and the equally unmerited stigma of being defined as "enemy aliens", the experience of, and discourse on, internment of the two turns out very different, despite the relative closeness in age when detained. For Alcorso, a patrician from Rome, the internment experience is one of opening up to and enamourment with the world and with life - the Australian outback, working-class and other Australian Italians, human creativity - and the worst crisis comes with release. For Dalseno's alter ego, Peter Delano, raised in the Ingham area, the initial shock is worst, denying him his hard won Australian identity component, and internment represents an intensification of the sordidness of life outside, while release brings with it reacceptance into the wider Australian society. This study thus shows the diversity of ways in which a common history is experienced and discursively conveyed by individuals. [Author's abstract]
Bello the Bilingual Cockatoo : Writing Italian Lives in Australia John Gatt-Rutter , 2006 single work criticism
— Appears in: Annali d'Italianistica , vol. 24 no. 2006; (p. 107-131) The Bilingual Cockatoo : Writing Italian Australian Lives 2014; (p. 1-29)
[Review] A Migrant's Story : The Struggle and Success of an Italian-Australian Warren McMillan , 1995 single work review
— Appears in: Queensland Review , April vol. 2 no. 1 1995; (p. 89-90)

— Review of A Migrant's Story : The Struggle and Success of an Italian-Australian, 1920s-1960s Osvaldo Bonutto , 1963 single work autobiography

'A Migrant's Story by Osvaldo Bonutto is a thin volume. Even with the addition of forewords and commentaries it only runs to little more than 100 pages, but it is a story that carries a significance far weightier than its slender text.

It is first and foremost a personal story, but the details are the flesh and blood of much more than Osvaldo Bonutto's life. Reading his story we are offered insights into at least four themes of importance. These include insights into the migration process, into aspects of Australian history, into the management and mismanagement of intercultural community relations, and into the development of an Italo-Australian cultural identity.' (Introduction)

Untitled Antonio Casella , 1994 single work review
— Appears in: Westerly , Summer vol. 39 no. 4 1994; (p. 146-148)

— Review of A Migrant's Story : The Struggle and Success of an Italian-Australian, 1920s-1960s Osvaldo Bonutto , 1963 single work autobiography
Untitled 1964 single work review
— Appears in: The Cairns Post , 1 February 1964; (p. 6)

— Review of A Migrant's Story : The Struggle and Success of an Italian-Australian, 1920s-1960s Osvaldo Bonutto , 1963 single work autobiography
Shorts Judy Smallman , 1994 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , July no. 162 1994; (p. 64)

— Review of A Migrant's Story : The Struggle and Success of an Italian-Australian, 1920s-1960s Osvaldo Bonutto , 1963 single work autobiography
Our Multicultural Heritage Impacts on the Present Barry York , 1994 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 27 August 1994; (p. C9)

— Review of A Migrant's Story : The Struggle and Success of an Italian-Australian, 1920s-1960s Osvaldo Bonutto , 1963 single work autobiography
Untitled Antonio Casella , 1994 single work review
— Appears in: Westerly , Summer vol. 39 no. 4 1994; (p. 146-148)

— Review of A Migrant's Story : The Struggle and Success of an Italian-Australian, 1920s-1960s Osvaldo Bonutto , 1963 single work autobiography
[Review] A Migrant's Story : The Struggle and Success of an Italian-Australian Warren McMillan , 1995 single work review
— Appears in: Queensland Review , April vol. 2 no. 1 1995; (p. 89-90)

— Review of A Migrant's Story : The Struggle and Success of an Italian-Australian, 1920s-1960s Osvaldo Bonutto , 1963 single work autobiography

'A Migrant's Story by Osvaldo Bonutto is a thin volume. Even with the addition of forewords and commentaries it only runs to little more than 100 pages, but it is a story that carries a significance far weightier than its slender text.

It is first and foremost a personal story, but the details are the flesh and blood of much more than Osvaldo Bonutto's life. Reading his story we are offered insights into at least four themes of importance. These include insights into the migration process, into aspects of Australian history, into the management and mismanagement of intercultural community relations, and into the development of an Italo-Australian cultural identity.' (Introduction)

Italian Views of Australia in the First Half of the Twentieth Century Roslyn Pesman Cooper , 1993 single work criticism
— Appears in: Italians in Australia : Historical and Social Perspectives : Proceedings of the Conference on the Italians in Australia, the first 200 years, held at the University of Wollongong and Macquarie University, 27-29 August 1988 1993; (p. 160-177)
Bello the Bilingual Cockatoo : Writing Italian Lives in Australia John Gatt-Rutter , 2006 single work criticism
— Appears in: Annali d'Italianistica , vol. 24 no. 2006; (p. 107-131) The Bilingual Cockatoo : Writing Italian Australian Lives 2014; (p. 1-29)
'You're on the List!' Writing the Australian Italian Experience of War-Time Internment John Gatt-Rutter , 2008 single work criticism
— Appears in: FULGOR , November vol. 3 no. 3 2008; The Bilingual Cockatoo : Writing Italian Australian Lives 2014; (p. 30-67)
This paper compares the discursive and experiential valence of the two fullest autobiographical accounts of internment written by Australian Italians, that by Claudio Alcorso in The Wind You Say (1993) and that by Peter Dalseno (1994), both of whom were in Loveday from 1942 to 1944 (while Alcorso had been in Hay from June 1940). Beyond the shock of unmerited deprivation of liberty and the equally unmerited stigma of being defined as "enemy aliens", the experience of, and discourse on, internment of the two turns out very different, despite the relative closeness in age when detained. For Alcorso, a patrician from Rome, the internment experience is one of opening up to and enamourment with the world and with life - the Australian outback, working-class and other Australian Italians, human creativity - and the worst crisis comes with release. For Dalseno's alter ego, Peter Delano, raised in the Ingham area, the initial shock is worst, denying him his hard won Australian identity component, and internment represents an intensification of the sordidness of life outside, while release brings with it reacceptance into the wider Australian society. This study thus shows the diversity of ways in which a common history is experienced and discursively conveyed by individuals. [Author's abstract]
Calvary or Limbo? Articulating Identity and Citizenship in Two Italian Australian Autobiographical Narratives of World War II Internment Jessica Carniel , 2016 single work criticism
— Appears in: Queensland Review , June vol. 23 no. 1 2016; (p. 20-34)

'Almost 5,000 Italians were interned in Australia during World War II, a high proportion of them Queensland residents. Internment was a pivotal experience for the Italian community, both locally and nationally, complicating Italian Australians’ sense of belonging to their adopted country. Through an examination of two migrant autobiographical narratives of internment, Osvaldo Bonutto's A Migrant's Story and Peter Dalseno's Sugar, Tears and Eyeties, this article explores the impact of internment on the experience and articulation of cultural and civic belonging to Australian society. It finds that internment was a ‘trial’ or ‘transitional’ phase for these internees’ personal and civic identities, and that the articulation of these identities and sense of belonging is historically contingent, influenced by the shift from assimilation to multiculturalism in settlement ideology, as well as Italian Australians’ changing place in Australian society throughout the twentieth century.' (Publication abstract)

Last amended 28 Aug 2012 10:36:08
X