Block 19: Timeline of events
Post WW2
immigration
policy to
increase
population
for defence
purposes
1952
economic
recession
Workers
brought in to
boost
manufacturing
industries
1961
economic
recession
Major parties
remove
White
Australia
Policy from
platforms
Skilled
migration
programs
introduced
Levels of
migration
questioned
Opposition
to migration
increases
1940
1947 - 1949
1950 - 1954
1955 - 1959
1960 - 1964
1965 - 1970
1978 - 1982
1984 - 1988
Bonegilla Camp
built
Army moves in
Bonegilla
migrant
reception centre
opened
First displaced
people arrive
Army leaves site
First assisted
migrants
arrive
First riot at
camp
Increased
variety of
countries
represented
Tents on site
Influx of
refugees from
Hungary
Migrants stay
for shorter
periods and
arrive almost
daily
Second riot at
camp
Intake of
migrants
reduced
Only migrant
reception
centre
operating in Aus
Migrants
separated by
nationality into
different blocks
Refugees come
from
Czechoslovakia
Bonegilla
migrant
reception centre
closed
Army resumes
control of site
Redevelopment
of site by army
Nearly all of the
centre
demolished
Calls to
establish a
museum on
the site
Back to
Bonegilla 40th
anniversary
Population
of Albury
Wodonga
37,000
Population
of Albury
Wodonga
41,000
Population
of Albury
Wodonga
50,000
Population
of Albury
Wodonga
18,000
Population
of Albury
Wodonga
22,000
What’s going on in Australia?
1971
Family
migration
focus in
government
programs
What’s going on in Albury Wodonga?
Opposition
to migration
from Muslim
countries
increases
2002 today
Heritage
listing for
Block 19
Became the
Bonegilla
Migrant
Experience
Heritage Park
Population
of Albury
Wodonga
90,000
What’s going on in Bonegilla?