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Basques in Australia by William A. Douglass In the spring of 1977 William A. Douglass spend three months in Australia conducting a preliminary study of Basque and Abruzzesi-Molisani Italian emigration to North Queensland. The following is a brief overview of the history and current status of Basque settlement in the southern continent. For the student of Basque emigration, Australia presents an obvious enigma. To my knowledge, no Basque emigrant to that land has ever engaged in the sheep business. This, despite the fact that Australia is world-renowned for its sheep industry and Basques were the primary source of sheepherders in parts of both North and South America. Actually, there are several historical and ecological reasons why Basques failed to gain a foothold in the Australian sheep industry. Some of the factors include 1) the fact that Australia’s best sheep country was monopolized by the earliest British settlers, 2) the sheep needed little direct care since they were raised on year round permanent pastures (rather than trailed between winter and summer ranges), and 3) Basque emigration to Australia is a relatively recent phenomenon. No one knows when the first Basque arrived in Australia but it would appear to be around the turn of the present century. It was at that time, or shortly after legislation of the “White Australia Policy” (1901), that the complexion of the labor force in Queensland’s sugar industry was undergoing modification. Prior to the new law which prohibited non-whites from entering, most of the workers for the grueling job of hand cutting sugar cane were the so-called “Kanakas” or Pacific Islanders. These men were signed to exploitative contracts (in some cases they were even kidnapped) and transported from their island homes to work in Queensland’s sugar fields under condition bordering upon slavery. The work itself was both arduous and dangerous. The cane cutter had to work long hours in high humidity with the temperature hovering near the 100o mark. The tassels of the cane stalks easily cut one’s skin. The worker regularly had to carry on his shoulders bundles of cane weighing more than a hundred pounds. The fields were infested with a variety of poisonous snakes, including the deadly and aggressive taipan, which attains a length of twelve feet. Another danger was a mysterious fever which killed many cutters (it was ultimately traced to parasites carried by the droves of rats that inhabited the fields). The legal impediments to the continued entry of Kanaka labor meant that the sugar producers required a new source of workers. Newspapers from the period reflected considerable skepticism that Europeans could withstand the rigors of the tropical climate while engaging in the physically demanding work. However, during the first decade of the twentieth century cane cutting gangs made up of North Italians and, to a lesser degree, Finns, proved otherwise. It was within this milieu that Basques first began to enter Australia. One elderly man who arrived there in 1913 speculated that the initial settlers were seamen who jumped ship in Sydney, heard of the job opportunities in the Queenland sugar industry and made their way north. This hypothesis is partly supported by the fact that the earliest individuals about whom I could gather information were all from around Lequeitio, Vizcaya—a town famed for its mariners. In any event, by 1913 there were two or three sugar cane gangs made up exclusively of Basques operating in the Innisfail area. The gang provided the ambitious man with considerable opportunity since it engaged in piece work. An efficient gang could make excellent wages and Basque can cutters were in considerable demand since they quickly gained a group reputation as dedicated, strong workers. By the 1920s some Basque had acquired their own sugar properties, particularly in the two districts around Ayr and Ingham where new lands were becoming available through government sponsored projects. In the Ingham area by 1924 there were 11 farms owned by “Spanish” (Basques and Catalans). At the same time the Basque population in North Queensland could not have been too large since by one estimate in 1921 there were only about 1700 Old World born persons of Spanish, Portuguese and southern French extraction in all of Australia. During the 1920s the tempo of Basque emigration to the continent increased. It was at this time that Argentina and the United States, the two major countries of destination of Basque emigrants, both implemented restrictive immigration policies. Several elderly Basques that I interviewed in Ingham and Ayr noted that Australia was their second choice, but that they were unable to obtain a visa for their preferred destination. Entry into Australia remained relatively simple if the immigrant had a sponsor, and several Basque can framers were willing to help their countrymen. One woman, Teresa Mendiolea of the Ingham area, is said to have helped several hundred men, in many instances advancing them their travel costs. After the Second World War there was another spate of Basque emigration to Australia. The lingering effects of the Spanish Civil War and the economic and political boycott of the Franco regime all served to isolate Spain from Western Europe’s post-war recovery. At the same time, Australia was experiencing an economic boom, a labor shortage, and was pursuing a liberalized immigration policy in an attempt to swell the national population. The labor shortage was most acute in such sectors of the economy as sugar care cutting which held little appeal to native Australians. The situation in the industry became so acute by 1958 that the Sugar Growers’ Association dispatched a recruiting agent to both Italy and Spain. Over the next seven years five thousand Spanish nationals entered Australia, approximately half of who were Basques. In an attempt to retain the laborers (most of who were unmarried) the organizers even recruited young Basque women to work as domestics in the hope of providing the men the opportunity of founding families in Australia and ultimately settling there. It is likely that during this period the total number of Basques on the continent may have peaked at around 3000 individuals. In the main they were concentrated in the sugar districts of North Queensland, the Ingham and Ayr districts in particular. However, by this time there were also sprinklings of Basques in other parts of the nation and two urban concentrations in Sydney and Melbourne. In part this was a response to the seasonal nature of cane cutting. A man could depend upon only about seven months employment annually. Many of the unemployed stayed on in the sugar districts and sought odd jobs or just bided their time until the next season, but others moved sought in search of work. Some Basques traveled the migrant farm labor circuit, harvesting vegetables and fruits as they ripened throughout South Australia. Other found work in construction on the Australian government’s massive Snowy Mountain Irrigation Project. Many of those who did failed to return to care cutting. Rather, once the work was completed they moved into Sydney or Melbourne and found employment. In the mid-1960s there were developments that altered the Basque role in Australia. At that time sugar harvesting was mechanized, putting many cane cutters out of work. This, combined with improving economic conditions in Europe, all but terminated Basque emigration to Australia. In fact, many ex-cane cutters returned home to the Basque country at this time. Others found new work in Australia; some even bought the expensive harvesters and went into business for themselves, contracting their services to the sugar growers. The Basques of Australia have never been many in numbers and in the sugar district they scattered over considerable distances. The seasonal nature of cane cutting also made a segment of the populace mobile. Consequently, with a few exceptions there has been little opportunity for Basques to manifest their ethnic identity collectively. In the small town of Trebonne near Ingham there is a fronton where local Basques have held an annual picnic and athletic competitions. Every Sunday many Basques still gather at a local tavern which was once under Basque ownership. In Ayr there is a Basque-dominated Spanish club. Melbourne once had a Basque club, since disbanded, the Sydney has an organization called Gure Txoko. Gure Txoko has its own club house, fronton, and about 50 members. Every Sunday there is a pot luck dinner held there, but during the remainder of the week the building stands vacant. Formerly, the club fielded a soccer team and one of the highpoints of its existence was its defeat of the much larger Sydney Spanish Club’s selection. The event was commemorated in a club song. During my stay in Sydney I attended Gure Txoko’s Aberri Eguna affair. At the same time, Arriya II, the champion woodchopper of the Basque country, was competing against Australia’s best entries at Sydney’s Royal Easter Show fairgrounds. Arriya II won handily, and later he and several of the Australian competitors attended the Aberri Eguna dinner at Gure Txoko. In conclusion, most signs point to continued decline of Australia’s Basque colony. Improved conditions in Europe on the one hand and recent economic crisis in Australia on the other have cut Basque emigration to the southern continent to a trickle. For the past ten years, more Basques have left the nation than have emigrated there. However, it is risky to make long range predictions as there is an established Basque presence in Australia that could easily serve as an attraction to future emigrants were condition to change. In this same vein one relatively recent thread of Basque emigration to Sydney deserves mention. For several centuries many of the entrepreneurs of the Philippine Islands have been Basque. Today there are several hundred well-to-do Basque families in the Asian nation. However, by the late 1960’s, or prior to imposition of martial law by President Marcos, wealthy families lived in considerable fear for their personal safety. The threat of kidnappings was particularly acute. Consequently, dozens of Philippine Basque families, tired of leading a garrison existence, transferred their capital and residence to Sydney. |
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