THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY THE ITALIAN POPULATION OF CARLTON A DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIOLOGICAL SURVEY by Frank Lancaster Jones A thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of PhilosopQy in the Researoh School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University Maroh 1962 1 i i. This thesis is based upon original research conduoted by the author as a scholar in the Department of Damograpny at the Australian National University, March 1959 to March 1962. f -L.~. F. L. Jones iii. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In conducting this research projeot the author received valuable assistance from several persons. Dr. Jerzy Zubrzycki, who superviSed the oonduct of this research, was a continuai SOurce of guidance and encouragement, and his 0\0111 research into immigrants in Australia vas an indispensable model in planning the scope and aims of the Carlton surve,y. Professor W. D. Borrie and Dr. G. A. Price made helpful comments in planning the research and in interpreting the results of this investigation. Dr. Norma McArthur advised on the use of appropriate tests of statistical significance. In the field the author vas assisted by his wife, whose presence and help during interviews materially improved the quality of the data and enhanced the prospects of a successful outcome of the project as a whole. Finally, thanks are due to Melbourne's Italian population. In particular the author 'WOuld like to aCknowledge the hospitality and assistance afforded qy Sig. E. Angerame~ Gav. D. Boffa, Sig. G. Boffa, L. Dimase, G. Piccione, F. Martello, D. Stell3, and F. Vellar and their respective families, whose homes were always open to the autoor and his wife. If despite the assistance of all these persons factual errors or deficiencies in analysis are to be found in this work, they are of course the responsibility of the author alone. HlECIS iv. Chapter I The Carlton survey may be desoribed as a dmDographio and sociological investigation into selected oharacteristics of Allstraliat s most l'ltIIlI3rOllS no~British inmigrant grOt1p - the Italians -- in the metropolis in which they are most heavily :represented - JelbCll.ll'n8. };s its title suggests this investigation is limited in its scope, restricted in the main to the oonsideration of oharacteristics ansnab1e to quantitative analysis. Its aims have been primarily empirioal, an emphasis dictated by tluJ absence of comparative studies of Australian metropolitan popllations. A secondary interest in this study, related to the first, is in methodology. No social survey of a metropolitan irmligrant ~tion had yet been Qondu.cted in Australia, and questions of methodology assumad oonsiderable :importance. Problems of seale and residential mobility had to be overoome before a sample SUr.'Vf!TY' of Italians in the Carlton area oould be conducted.. A third focus was upon ohain-migration. Every study of Italians in Australia has stressed the role of this oharacteristio feature of Italian emigration. Chain-migration has been seen as a ~terminant of' the residential and. occupational distribution of Italians in Australia, ani at an even more general level it has been implied. that behaviour in Australia is a function of origin in Italy. This hypothesis has been analysed and tested in the present work, although limitations of size haarpered the analytical refinements possible in a survey of larger scale. v. The form of the present stu~ has been aetormined by the. . three major interests: the demographic and. sociologioal charaoter istics ot a metropolitan Italian population, the most appropriate ...t hode by which such a st~ may be effected, and the importance of origin in Italy as a determinant at the behaviour of Italian iumigrants in Australia. Chapter II In the great period of Italian transoceanio emigration, from 1895 to t he beginning of the First World War, Ital.ian migration to Australia constituted only a trickla away from tba main current of this em1gratory flow. At the turn of the oentury Australia's Italian-born population nuabered only a ferw thousands and was distributed among three states, New South Wales, Viotoria, ani Western Australia. In relative terms, Western .Australia, with a total population much smaller than that of either New SoIlth Wales or Victoria, had by far the greatest Italian concentration in these early years, and by 1911 indeed Western Australia bad also the most numerous Italian popllation of any mainland state. This represented the peak: of Italian settlement in the west, and although at subsequent oensuaes Western Australia has comiDl8d to harbour the de'nBest Italian concentration at any mainland State, Italian ::imnigration since 1920 favoured first Queensland and later Victoria and South Australia. Victoria's 8BSrgence as a State of Italian ooncentration came relatively late in the history of Ita.l.ian settlJ::ment in Australia, and. although in 1881 and 1891 Victoria contai.ned a Vi. relatively large nunber of Italians its present concentration has 'been the result of the post-war influx of Italian j_igrams. Unlike the Italian settlers of earlier ,ears, most of these post war arrivals showed a disproportionate tendency to settle in metropolitan areas, particularly in the City of Jlelbou.rm, which with Fitzroy represents the historical centre of Italian settlement in the Mel'bourm metropolitan area. Within the City of lblbourne itself, the Carlton area contained a dense Italian ooncemration, and even in 1954 20 per cent of the population in some parts of Carlton and North Carlton oonsisted of Italian-born persons. By the time of the present survey the Italian popu.l.ation of this area had grown to such an extent that every third or fottrth house contained Italian residents. TC>day Carlton is reoognized as Melbourne's "Italian" suburb. Chapter III A complete emmeration of this Italian popllation could not be undertaken with the resou.rcss available to the present stud3'. Some selection was called for, and a randcm sample offered the most satisfactory means to this end. Since a random. sample implies the oonstruction of a universe from whioh, and. from which only, such a sample can legitimately be drawn, a list of adult Italian nationals registered as resident in Carlton or North Carlton in November 1958 was drawn up from information on the District Index of .Aliens held by the tBpartment of llIInigration, ~lbourne. ThiB list of adult aliens of Italian nationality was supplemented with a BSQond list of British nationals with Italian-sounding names drawn vi i. frmn the ComDlOtIi&alth electoral rolla for the Carlton area. Subsequent checking of this seoond. list against tho Naturalization or I_x Ileld by tho Department Imnigration in Canberra revealed that while most of these persons had. previously been nationaJ.s of Italy a considlsrable mmber were not listed on this i~x. Several considerations suggested that such persons with Italian-sounding :oa.Des but of indefinite Italian origin shouJ.d. not be rejected from. the sample, and consequently those with addre ..... identical with on!t registered by a person of present or former Italian nationality were included in the major universe. The remainder were kept separate (the minor universe) for independent field-investigation. In addition to al.lowing a randan sample of Italialls resident in the Carlton area to be drawn, the construction of a universe also permitted the collation of valuable prellminary data, the analysis of whioh suggested several areas of subsequent enquiry. Firstly, district of' rttsia.noe in Carlton was significantly related to almost every variable for which infonnationwas obtained. Field-investigation shawed that these relationships stenmed partly or f'rom tile history Italian aettlement in Carlton-North Carlton, but ecological differences within the Carlton area itself' were also involved. Seoond.ly, the territorial canposition or Carlton's Italian population was not at all representative of Italy' B 8.8 a whole, and the majority of Italians in the Carlton area had been drawn from quite restricted parts of Italy. Areas, which in Italy aocounted for only a negligible fraction of total population, in Carlton and Narth Carlton constituted remarkable concentrations. viii. Clearly chain-migration and regional con,oemrations were subjects to be investigated in the field. Finally, the residential mobility of Italian nationals in Carlton-North Carlton was very high. Almost om in five persons whose addressos were ohecked agaiJ'lSt the Aliens Registration Index had registered a change of address between November ~958 and September ~959. Although no .stilllate of the mobility of British nationals of former Italian nationality was possible, changes of such magnitude in the oomposition of the Italian national population of this area frem one year to t he next posed s&riCltls problems, not for drawing a rand.cm sample, but for obtaining a random _~e in the fie~d. The pro_ot thet by the time the present survey was conducted as IItB.tly as oM-third of Italians listed in November 1958 as residents of Carlton-North Carlton might be living at another address was a orucia1 consideration in the choice of a sample design. Chapter IV In an attempt to reduce the high residential mobility of Italians in the Carlton area the idea of sampling indivic3nals was rejected ,in favour of sampling addresses. Italians registered as resident in Carlton or North Carlton were classified according to their place of residence, and the addresses BO obtaired, stratified by district of residence in Carlton and the mmber of Italians registered at each address, provided the sampling frame fran which the Carlton sample was drawn. Two sampling frames were cOl'U!!tructed, 0])9 consisting of persons of definite or probable Italian origin (the major univerme) and the other of addresses of iX. British nationals with names but of indefinite Itali~sound1ng Italian origin (the minor 1lllliverse) ~ Although this sample design reduoed non-response due to residential mobility remarkab~t non-response did occur and intro duced. a bias into the saJIple. The less mobile members of the popul ation tended to be over-represented, since non-response may be aBsUIIl8d to have been greatest among those who were residentially mobile. This tendency was accentuated by a secondary bias arising from the sanple design itself, since Italians who took up residence in the Carl ton area af'ter Noveniber 1958 could be represented in the s~le only to the extent that they occupied or lived at addresses previously occupied by Italians. That this bias was not excessive is suggested by two f'aotors. No signifioant difference could be found between the obtained sample and the universe, although 29 tests of statistical significance were applied to their respective distributions. While the absence o~ observed dif~erences does not imply that sigpificBBt differences did not in fact exist, it does offer at least prima facie evidence that such differences were minimal. Secondly, further analysis suggested that two out o~ three Italians estimated to have taken up residence in Oarlton-North Carlton between November 1958 and June 1960 were in fact included in the sample. Since in 21 of the original 95 addresses Italians leaving a particular address were replaced by other Italians not registered as resident at that address in November 1958, clearly some residentially mbile persons were represented in the obtained sample.