150 years of Italians in Queensland: an introduction

Abstract

Italians are historically symbolic of Queensland’s cultural ‘otherness’. They have faced many challenges that are intimately connected to global forces and transnational trends over their 150 years of history. This history and their community growth are emblematic of wider national and racial tensions. Any focus on Queensland’s Italians cannot be separated, therefore, from the broader struggles and prejudices that characterise Australia’s colonial, sectarian, class-segregated and racist past. This article examines what amounts to a journey of multiple layers, evoked through the historiography, including new research, and various migrant experiences