Summer Camp in Budapest

We are Aimee Borg, Yevgeny Spiteri and Danica Abela. Together with our supervisor, Ivan Ellul, we have spent a week-long summer camp in Budapest last summer.

During our stay, we expanded our knowledge about the archival sector and explored the city and its nearby towns. In this report, we are sharing with you some of the experiences we had in this unforgettable trip!

Our adventure started by participating in a competition held in 2021 within the European Digital Treasures project. This was a competition aimed at students (15-18 years) based in Malta, Hungary, Norway, Portugal, Austria and Spain where we had to make a free interpretation of archival documents about the Construction of Europe from these countries’ archives and from Archives Portal Europe.

The prize was the participation in an international camp week in Hungary between the 3rd and 9th of July 2022.

During our stay in Budapest, we met a lot of youngsters from Hungary, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Croatia. We all had one thing in common –interest in archives.

Apart from learning more about archives and history, we spent quite some time talking about our home countries, traditions, lifestyles and food. We learnt a lot about different cultures, lifestyles and sometimes, even about the similarities between our countries. We easily managed to make friends and we instantly became close friends. During our free time, we went around the picturesque city of Budapest, admiring the different attractions where we often had a couple of foreign friends accompanying us; all of us would get along together very well.

Throughout this week, the lovely organisation team planned for us several activities at the National Archives of Hungary. The archives are situated in Castle District, in a massive neo-gothic building. Together with the rest of the other teams, we presented our works. Yevgeny and Danica made their presentations about the Maltese language and alphabet, while Aimee presented her work about the Manoel Theatre.

At the time of our visit, a spellbinding exhibition was being organised in the basement of the archives, where fundamental Hungarian documents since the time of its first king, St. Stephen were being displayed. After visiting this exhibition, the three of us could understand better the history of Hungary, given that the three of us are keen on European history. Furthermore, this activity helped us to understand the changes and the diverse types of documents which can be found in the Hungarian Archives.

We had the opportunity to look into the actual halls, where all the documents are kept, and also the Conservation Laboratory. This gave us the chance to compare the techniques and archiving styles in Hungary to those in Malta. We could note different conservation practices on antique books covers, bindings and paper, along with some examples of completed and uncompleted restorations. The conservation team taught us how to bind books. This was a unique experience for the three of us, where we familiarised ourselves with the tools and materials used for this process. We kept the books we made as memoirs of what we had learnt there.

Doro Szabo, one of the organisers and archivist, prepared material for us regarding our countries. In our case, Szabo exhibited two detailed maps of Malta. These had cursive Italian writings with village names that could still be legible. The three of us could not help but notice the drastic changes in the sizes of our towns!

One of the exciting activities in our time spent in Budapest was the Time-Capsule activity. Every one of the students had brought a time capsule from their respective countries and we buried it in the small courtyard at the National Archives of Hungary. Together we agreed that in 50 years’ time, on the 6th of July 2072, these boxes will be opened. We truly cannot wait to visit Budapest again, as seventy-year-olds.

When one visits this mesmerising city, one cannot miss exploring the Parliament. The building of the Hungarian Parliament is distinct and clearly visible from several parts around the capital. During our stay in Budapest, we paid a visit to the iconic Hungarian Parliament twice.

We were given a tour by Zoltan, who works at the National Archives of Hungary. He explained the nearby monuments and the building of the Parliament itself. We learnt that this palace is the third largest legislative building in the world and is also fully constructed by material that originated in Hungary. During the second visit, we wandered through the Parliament library, which houses all Parliament records. Additionally, it contains a copy of every book published in Hungary, pertains to Hungary, like a National Library.

Together with our supervisors, we explored other landmarks such as the Hungarian State Opera House, St. Stephen’s Cathedral and Budapest’s Ferris Wheel. We also explored the Dohány Street Synagogue, the largest in Europe, together with its museum. We also visited the Rudas Baths. The House of Terror left a great impact on us. During the Soviet occupation, this former police headquarters was used as a prison and torture house for those suspected of being spies or traitors, as well as minorities such as the Jews and Romani people.

The Hungarian capital city is well-known for its public spaces and gardens. At the first opportunity, we strolled along Budapest City Park, where we passed Heroes Square, an Art Gallery with a temporary exhibition of Goch, as well as Vajdahunyad Castle housing the Museum of Archaeology. The castle area is surrounded by neo-Gothic and neo-Classical buildings together with a moat, a gate bridge and an entrance.

It is impossible to visit Budapest without exploring Castle District. Our coordinator Doro guided us through the winding roads of Castle District and explained to us the surroundings. She also explained to us the contents of the Digital Treasures Exhibition which, at the time, was in this area. We visited landmarks such as St. Matthias Church and the Fisherman’s Bastion, which are situated in the Holy Trinity Square.

One of the most remarkable buildings that we visited is the Open Market. There we could experience the typical Hungarian produce and culture. The Open Market, a spacious market in an old railroad building - a testament to the industrial revolution - is full of food and souvenir shops.

Our week was not limited to Budapest. We visited Szentendre, a area near the capital. There, we visited the Open-Air Museum where we could experience different portrayals of Hungary across many eras. Most notably, we discovered two areas: a typical Medieval village and a Transylvanian town where one could discover how businesses, such as the tailor, pharmacist and postal shops, were like and how they operated. The Kansan employees were also dressed according to the epochs that they were in, adding more to the impression of being transported back in time. The team also paid a visit to the town of St. Andrew, where we wandered about before taking a boat across the river Danube to take us back to Hungary.

Another memorable experience was in Margaret Island: among the screams and tears of joy, we formed two teams and competed with each other. Let us say that the Maltese team was not that lucky this time round. However, the organisation team made our disappointment disappear suddenly, especially when food was served! The traditional Goulash soup was as good as it claims to be! Speaking of tasty Hungarian food, we had also tried Lagos; this is a flat round fried dough, normally spread with sour cream and filled with toppings of one’s liking. Although quite different from what we are used to, the Hungarian dishes are delicious and mouth-watering.

The experience was memorable and priceless. We met new people, made new friends, visited many interesting places and learnt a lot about Hungary as well as about other countries. In addition, we learnt about the importance of archives while visiting an archive abroad. By the end of the week, we became one big family. We have no words to thank not only the Digital Treasures’ leaders and organisers but also the National Archives of Malta, especially Leonard Callus, our supervisor Ivan Ellul, and the National Archivist Dr Charles Farrugia, for giving us this opportunity!

Ship manifest detailing the first group of Maltese emigrants who left to Australia after World War II. 10 January 1946. National Archives of Malta.

The Australia Malta Assisted Passage Agreement was signed seventy five years ago, on 31 May 1948, by Arthur Calwell, for the Australian Government, and Commissioner, Captain Henry Curmi, Malta’s representative in Australia. As early as 1944, the assistance scheme received agreement in principle but the Australian government had been reluctant to take it further without a guarantee from the United Kingdom of additional shipping for Maltese migrants. The UK Government was keen to give shipping priority to its own prospective emigrants – and Australia was undoubtedly keen to receive UK immigrants above all other.

The signing of the agreement in May 1948 was made possible by the availability of shipping, due in part to the gradual post-war conversion of troopships. The agreement can also be seen as a major step in the long-standing struggle on the part of the Maltese to be classified as ‘white British subjects’ in Australian immigration policy rather than as ‘semi-white’ and subject to restrictive quotas as had been the case since 1920.

From 1946 to 1976, nearly 140,440 Maltese emigrated to various places. Most - 58 percentwent to Australia, 22 percent to Britain, 13 percent to Canada and 7 percent to the USA.

This was an extraordinary migratory movement, given that Malta’s population over the same period was about 320,000 at its peak. The number of Maltaborn people in Australia increased from 3,238 in 1947 to more than 55,000 in 1966. In other words, approximately one in every six Maltese in Malta had migrated to Australia.

Most migrated under personal nomination by Maltese already settled in Australia and a chain migration occurred which favoured settlement in the cities of Melbourne and Sydney and the outer western suburbs such as Sunshine and St Albans and Blacktown and Pendle Hill.

The Australia-Malta Assisted Passage Agreement was the second such agreement entered into by the Australian Government after the War. The first was with the United Kingdom, under which any Maltese resident in the UK was eligible —such as my father, Loreto, who was stationed there with the Royal Air Force.

Australia needed labour to fuel post-war industrial expansion and the Immigration Minister, Arthur Calwell, expressed the Labor Government’s policy concisely when he said Australia had to ‘populate or perish’. The nation’s capacity for defence, economic development and population growth were seen as interconnected and formed the basis of the government’s commitment to assisted mass immigration. Australia’s population in 1947 was 7.6 million and Calwell’s aim was to attract 70,000 people a year from Britain and Europe.

The migration process is characterised by push and pull factors. The Australia-Malta Assisted Passage Agreement provided an incentive for Maltese migration to Australia as it provided for the governments of Malta and Australia to cooperate ‘in order to assist suitable persons in Malta to proceed to Australia for permanent settlement’. Permanent settlement was defined as a minimum of two years. Under the agreement, prospective emigrants could be nominated by friends or relatives in Australia for assisted passage, provided the nominator could guarantee accommodation for the nominee.

The agreement also provided for group nominations to be made in Australia by government instrumentalities and other organisations for migrants belonging to specified categories. Group nominees were to be selected by Australian recruits in Malta. Over time, there were different schemes within the Group Nomination provision, including the Child Migration Scheme, the Commonwealth Nomination (Trades) Scheme, the Unskilled Workers Project and the Single Young Women Migrants’ Scheme.

In 1949 and the 1950s, Maltese tradesmen were recruited in groups to help build the national capital in Canberra, while others worked at Woomera. The State Electricity Commission of Victoria needed workers at the Yallourn brown coal mine, the South Australian Water Board and the West Australian Railways needed labourers, and the Queensland Government needed sugar cane cutters. There were also occasional group nominations by private companies such as the Metropolitan Ice and Fresh Food Company in Melbourne.

Most Maltese, however, were assisted by personal rather than group nomination. No applicant for an assisted passage could be successful unless there was a reasonable assurance that he or she would obtain employment and accommodation in Australia. The agreement stipulated that the reception and welfare of assisted migrants was the responsibility of the Commissioner for Malta in Australia; though the Commonwealth Employment Service would help them obtain work. Also, from the date of arrival, the Maltese migrants would be eligible for health and medical service benefits, maternity allowances, child endowment and sickness and unemployment benefits.

The personal nomination form was a form that had to be completed by someone in Australia guaranteeing accommodation and employment for a prospective migrant from Malta. The completed form was then sent to, or handed in, at the office of Malta's Commissioner in Melbourne (later Canberra). Once approved by the Commissioner's office, Malta's Emigration Department was notified and the nominated prospective emigrant in Malta would be cleared for assisted passage subject to the requirements of the Agreement pertaining to good character, criminal record, etc.

The extent of assistance toward passages to Australia was set out in Clauses 2, 3 and 6 of the agreement’s Schedule and stipulated that costs were to be shared by the two governments. All migrants aged nineteen and over would be charged no less than ten English pounds each; juveniles from fourteen years of age up to nineteen - no less than five pounds, and children under fourteen travelled free. Single men and women over the age of forty-five, or married childless couples over the age of forty-five, were not eligible for assistance as was also the case with married persons aged over fifty and travelling with one or more children. Exceptions could be made for elderly parents joining their children who were already established in Australia.

The Schedule listed the sums to be contributed by the Australian government and specified that the Maltese government had to make a contribution that was not less than that of Australia. The Australian government paid thirty pounds sterling for each approved migrant aged over nineteen.

The agreement also specified the procedure for selection and granting of assistance. Special application forms were designed by the Maltese government in consultation with Australian officials, these had to be submitted to the Malta Emigration Department by each applicant who was also required to provide certificates of character. Evidence of trade qualifications also had to be provided in relevant cases. The next step in the procedure involved a medical examination by a Maltese government doctor and then approved by the Australian government.

Again, and in consultation, nomination forms were prepared for distribution by the Commissioner for Malta in Australia. On being satisfied with the bona fides of the nominators, the Commissioner would forward the forms to the Australian migration authorities for approval. Once approval was received, the Commissioner would then send the nominations to the relevant Department of Emigration in Malta. The nominee needed to fulfill the requirement for evidence of good character and trade skills (where appropriate) and undergo a medical examination. The Schedule gave extensive powers to the Australian government’s representative in Malta to reject applicants, even after they had satisfied all other requirements. The Australian government had the final responsibility ‘for deciding the suitability on mental, moral, physical and other grounds of each applicant and his family’.

Each assisted migrant was required to remain in Australia for at least two years, otherwise he or she would be liable to repay the Australian government the amount jointly contributed by the Maltese and Australian governments. The agreement was renewed every so often, and with amended titles was renegotiated in 1957, 1965 and 1970.

In Australia, there was a demand for labour, which was well-publicized in Malta. Wages were relatively high, and Australia was far from the war-torn devastation of Europe. There were opportunities for the future and many of the migrants that I have interviewed over the decades mention that they migrated predominantly for the benefit of their children. My grandfather, Salvu Meilak, told my dad when he was young that Australia was ‘the Land of the Future’. This was in the 1930s but applied equally, in the perceptions of many, in the post-War period.

In the first five years after the War, nearly 5,000 Malta-born persons settled in Australia. This was more than the total number who had settled permanently during the previous twenty-five years. Australia siphoned off much of the cream of the Maltese population, especially its skilled tradesmen. In September 1948 there were more than 20,000 prospective emigrants registered for Australia in Malta: 5,245 were skilled tradesmen, and about 12,000 were wives and children.

Until the 1970s, the migrants travelled mostly by ship and these ‘migrant boats’ ranged from converted warships and comfortable passenger liners through to notorious ‘hell ships’. The scarcity of shipping after the War meant that emigrants had to take whatever was available.

The first group of postwar emigrants left Malta on the ‘Rangitiki’ on 10 January 1946. There were sixtyfour Maltese in all and they were either returning migrants or related to Maltese already settled in Australia. The Times of Malta described the scene at the Valletta Customs House as ‘a mixture of sadness and gaiety... There were tears and smiles and handkerchief-waving as the ship slowly left the harbour’. This scene would be repeated many times but with much larger numbers of Maltese passengers. The conflicting emotions presumably applied to each and every voyage.

In August 1948, the largest group ever to emigrate to Australia in one ship, up to that time – 451 Maltese arrived along with 900 Polish ex-servicemen, on the ‘Strathnaver’. Even though the Australia-Malta Assisted Passage Agreement was not officially implemented until 1st January 1949, it had been signed in May 1948 and the ‘Strathnaver’ Maltese were covered by it. Such was the desperation for shipping after the War that the ‘Strathnaver’ was still in troop carrying condition when it brought its passengers to Australia.

In 1948 and 1949, migrants from Malta arrived in Australia on ships such as the ‘Moreton Bay’, ‘Partizanka’, ‘Esperance Bay’, ‘Orduna’, ‘Toscana’, ‘Asturias’, ‘Largs Bay’, ‘Cyrenia’, ‘Msir’ (one of the ‘hell ships’), ‘Surriento’ and ‘Columbia’. There were some large groups of Maltese on some of the boats. In late 1949, the ‘Columbia’ brought more than a thousand Maltese to Australia.

The push factors in Malta were overwhelming. Malta was the most densely populated place in the British Empire, with more than 2000 people to the square mile and an increasing birth rate. The cost of living had risen eightfold over the pre-War level but wages had only doubled. The Department of Emigration and Labour reported that year that ‘On an average of three dependents to each worker it will be found that in ten years’ time we shall, except for a bigger and vigorously sustained emigration drive, have a population of 120,000 unprovided for, with terrible consequences to the standard of living, the life and the economy of the Island’. In 1949, 42,000 Maltese were registered for emigration.

The above-mentioned report, by the Director of Emigration, John Axisa, to Emigration Minister John J. Cole on 28 July, 1949, made five points. Points three to eight are worth quoting here as they sum up the ‘push’ factors well:

“3. With full employment during the six years of war, and with a reconstruction programme extending over eight to ten years thereafter, the economic position of the Island has been reasonably satisfactory, the standard of living has been raised and, in spite of a big decrease in the birth rate during the worst years of the war, the population increased from 250,000 in 1939 to 305,000 in 1948. ... The net natural increase in population in 19481 was 8,000.

4. The density of population in these Islands is 2,511 to the square mile. The working population is 92,956 and well over one-third are employed in the Services including the Imperial Service. Manufactures absorb only one-fifth of the working population and agriculture only one-eighth. The building trade accounts for one-tenth. It will thus be seen that industry and agriculture, which are the principal resources on which the economy of any country is normally built, account for only one-third of the working population. The remaining two-thirds depend on entirely fortuitous circumstances, namely, employment with the Services, reconstruction, and trade - the first rising and falling with the international political barometer of time, the second rapidly coming to an end, and the third largely depending on the fate of the first two.

1 The original version states 1949. Evidently this was a typo given that the report is date 28 July 1949.

5. The solution to an economic situation of this kind would normally be found in an expansion of industry and of agriculture - but the lack of natural resources in Malta makes such an expansion difficult. The drive that has been initiated in a few industries will, it is hoped, help to absorb quite a few men, but compared with the disproportion in the unstable openings for employment existing on the Island, the effect will hardly be perceptible.

6. It should be realized that during the next ten years no fewer than 30,000 boys will have attained the age of nineteen years, and nearly 10,000 men will have been laid off the various branches of reconstruction. Even if the present rate were to be maintained in other employment, the absorptive rate for replacing outgoing workers is not likely to exceed 1,000 a year. So that out of 40,000 workers that will be seeking employment only 10,000 are likely to find it.

7. The balance of thirty-thousand unemployed wage earners is almost equivalent to the present number of workers in employment with the Services, or to a third of the working population. On an average of three dependents to each worker it will be found that in ten years’ time we shall, except for a bigger and vigorously sustained emigration drive, have a population of 120,000 unprovided for, with terrible consequences to the standard of living, the life and the economy of the Island.

8. Even before the publication of the 1948 Census, which enables us to look so revealingly into the future, there was general agreement that emigration was our only salvation, but there was never adequate appreciation of the problem in the way the Census has placed it before us. On the above basis it is necessary for our people to emigrate at a minimum rate of 12,000 a year.”

Much of the credit for the favourable circumstances for emigration after the War goes to John J. Cole who, as Malta’s Emigration Minister, lobbied for the interests of Malta’s prospective emigrants with officials in London, Canada, the USA and Australia on a hectic trip between September and December 1948. In Australia, with his Director of Emigration, John Axisa, Cole met with Prime Minister Ben Chifley and Immigration Minister, Arthur Calwell. As an indication of the high esteem in which Cole – and Maltawas held, the Speaker of the House of Representatives in Canberra invited him to take a seat on the floor of the House.

I had the pleasure of recording an eighty-minute interview with Mr Cole at his home in Melbourne in 1984. I have digitized the original cassette recording and it is available on Youtube (use search words ‘John J. Cole Malta Barry York’). He had migrated to Australia from Malta with his wife and family in 1958. He said he was one of the scores of thousands of prospective emigrants in Malta after the War. He had been in full-time employment as a clerk in the dockyard. He had security and a guaranteed pension on retirement. He continued that he was typical of the thousands of Maltese prospective emigrants after the War: they had jobs but knew that Malta’s economic future was not good, given the inevitable decline of the number of British forces in Malta, especially the Royal Navy, and they wanted something better for their families and children.

John Cole is an immensely important figure in twentieth century Maltese political history, especially its emigration story. He was the first Minister of Emigration, in a Labour government elected following self-government in 1947. Mr Cole was born at Casa Paola in 1915 and entered politics via the General Workers Union, which he had represented among the clerks in the dockyard. Prior to that he had been a schoolteacher.

Mr Cole is also noteworthy as the instigator of Malta’s Prospective Emigrants’ Organisation (MPEO), a body of great importance that requires much more scholarly attention in terms of Malta’s emigration story. Shortly after the War, Mr. Cole, who was an eloquent and knowledgeable speaker and very capable organizer, placed advertisements in the Maltese press calling for the formation of an organization of people who wanted to emigrate, with a view to investigating possible destinations, identifying obstacles and solutions, and, above all, applying pressure on the colonial authorities who administered Malta prior to self-government.

‘There was a great surge of people wanting to leave the island’, he told me, but Malta’s colonial administration was bureaucratic and undemocratic which meant that it was not responsive to people’s needs and desires. ‘People were becoming impatient’. Under the colonial administration, he said, ‘we couldn’t really get anything moving and we said the only way it could be done was to organize ourselves and pressure the government to move… [and] under the auspices of the General Workers Union we organized the Prospective Emigrants Organization’.

‘The future didn’t hold much promise because jobs were going to be very scarce and decisions were made by people who were in full employment at the time to try and find a future somewhere else and, of course, there was a search as to where to find this future… Australia presented itself as a very promising land’. Moreover, Australia was the only place with an organized mass immigration program and a Department of Information actively promoting it.

The MPEO was a remarkable organization, really a mass movement. Huge meetings were held at which prospective emigrants could voice their opinions and where information was shared. It was akin to an unofficial ‘people’s emigration department’, though, of course, with none of the authority or power of an actual governmental department. This changed with self-government in 1947 and the election of the Labour government, headed by Prime Minister Paul Boffa, with Cole appointed as Minister of Emigration.

According to Mr Cole, the colonial authorities had been very slow moving but this now changed with Malta’s new Legislative Assembly able to forge its own way forward. The MPEO’s basic platform provided the new government with a policy approach. As Mr Cole put it: ‘The whole thing was to have organized migration not disorganized… Up to the War, migration was a palliative but after the War it had to be, in those conditions, a remedy not a palliative’.

On the Maltese side, credit for the Australia-Malta Assisted Passage Agreement goes to Captain Henry Curmi, Malta’s Commissioner in Australia, Frank Corder, Curmi’s Legal Advisor, John J. Cole, Malta’s Emigration Minister and John Axisa, Malta’s Director of Emigration.

On the Australian side, credit goes to Labor Prime Minister, Ben Chifley, Immigration Minister, Arthur Calwell and External Affairs Minister, Herbert V. Evatt. As early as 1945, Evatt had linked Australia’s immigration policy to Malta’s heroism during the War. He said, ‘Australia would welcome migrants from Malta of sound health and good character, as it is such people the Australian government wishes to encourage to come to Australia’. Evatt’s words were published in the Times of Malta in April 1945.

Australia had come a long way from the days when a senior immigration officer could state, in 1934, in a policy memo, that ‘Although the Maltese are British subjects…. they are of an alien type so far as race is concerned’.

The decision to welcome, rather than restrict, Maltese migrants was made by a subcommittee of the Australian government’s Interdepartmental Committee on Migration on 22 March 1944. Reading the Minutes of the meeting I was astonished by some of the ignorance expressed. The observer from the Australian Security Service, R. Finzel, spoke against Captain Curmi’s written request that the Maltese be placed on the same footing as other ‘white British subjects’ in immigration policy. Finzel argued that the Maltese had been pro-Italian during the War! This was in 1944, two years after Malta had been awarded the George Cross by King George V1 for civilian gallantry in the struggle against Nazism and Fascism.

However, the Department of Labour’s representative on the subcommittee wasted no time in pointing out that there had been no greater number of pro-Italians in Malta during the War than there had been pro-Germans in England. W. Keays, representing the Department of Repatriation, reminded the subcommittee that the Maltese had ‘purchased with blood their right to recognition as the equal of other British subjects’. The subcommittee not only approved Curmi’s request but also raised the idea, in principle, of assisted passages for Maltese migrants after the War.

The past was becoming a foreign country, as the saying goes.

The Malta-born population peaked in Australia in 1981 when the Census counted 57,001, mostly in Melbourne and Sydney. Maltese interest in emigration has declined significantly since the 1970s and there was a return rate back to Malta during that decade. The need for assisted passages thus also declined.

According to the 2021 Census, there are 35,413 Malta-born persons in Australia and 198,989 persons of Maltese descent. The latter figure needs scrutiny, though, as these people can have other ancestries too.

John Cole described as ‘heroes’ those among the first thousands who made the decision to emigrate after the War. His logic was that they were alleviating the socio-economic problems of Malta and making life better for those who remained. To this I would add that, in general, those who migrated to Australia did not regret the move and were quiet achievers in their adopted homeland. The Australia-Malta Assisted Passage Agreement laid the basis for a win-win situation which is not to suggest that it was easy.

Dr Barry York PhD is of Maltese descent on his father’s side. He is an historian specializing in Australian immigration and has been published widely. His notable books are The Maltese in Australia (1987), Empire and Race: the Maltese in Australia 1881 1949 (1990) and Maltese in Australia: Wanderings through the Maltese Australian story from convict times to the present (1998). In 2005, he was awarded the Order of Australia. Copyright in the article is retained by him.

Overleaf. The funeral cortege of seven victims of the Ħondoq ir-Rummien tragedy moving along Palm Street in Victoria, from the Gozo hospital mortuary (then in St Francis Square) to the Cathedral.

Several initiatives were undertaken to assist the families of the Ħondoq ir-Rummien tragedy victims. Here, the La Valette Band Club of Valletta is requesting authorisation to hold two fund-raising tombolas (NAM/OPM/1998/1948).

One hundred years ago, on 7 March 1923, Ġużeppi Scicluna was born to Pawlu Xikluna Tal‑Ingliża and Marija Portelli Ta’ Menzju in Victoria, Gozo.

Seventy‑five years ago, on 30 October 1948, Ġużeppi’s life was cut short in a tragic end at sea.

This tragedy in the Gozo–Malta channel is a fitting epitome of the suffering that many Gozitans have to go through to earn a living.

Ġużeppi, whose birth registration at the Gozo Registry is erroneously recorded as 8 March, was baptized two days later at the Gozo Cathedral. He spent his childhood between his parents’ home in Strada Assunta, just off the church of Ta’ Savina in the medieval core of Victoria and his father’s grocery in Strada Nuova, now Triq De Soldanis, where it joins Strada Palma.

A diligent pupil at the Victoria Primary School, Ġużeppi gained excellent results. He was one of the Paġġi or pageboys of the Blessed Sacrament at Ta’ Savina church and, as such, he knelt in adoration half an hour every week in front of the Blessed Sacrament and attended weekly spiritual meetings at the same church. His third interest was the Leone Band Club, where his father Pawlu was an active member and Salvu, his eldest brother, was a renowned trombone player. Since 1897, the Club was entrusted by Bishop Giovanni-Maria Camilleri with the organisation of the annual external festivities of Santa Marija held at the Gozo Cathedral.

In September 1934, at the age of eleven, he secured one of the twenty-five placements available every year at the Lyceum of Gozo. Barely four months later, on 30 January 1935, Ġużeppi lost his father.

Following his father’s death, his mother Marija had to struggle to take care of her two sons and five daughters. By then, her eldest son Salvu had emigrated to Detroit in the United States. Pawla, her eldest daughter, helped at home and was a second mother to her siblings, especially to Ġorġina, the youngest. The dire financial situation took a good turn when three of her daughters Mananni, Ġużeppa and Ċikka, became teachers in quick succession.

On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland and three days later Great Britain and France declared war on Germany. The following June, Ġużeppi sat for the Matriculation Examinations and passed with flying colours. That same month Italy – a mere 79 kilometres to the north-west of Gozo – aligned itself with Germany and declared war on Great Britain. The following morning, Malta experienced the first air-raid.

Ġużeppi turned eighteen on 7 March 1941. He was inclined to follow on the footsteps of his three sisters and become a teacher, but circumstances dictated otherwise. On 30 December of that year, Government Notification 586 extended conscription to all men who had attained the age of eighteen. Before long he was enlisted into the armed forces forming part of the “C” Coy Tenth Battalion, KOMR, stationed at St Elmo, Valletta.

His life was in jeopardy a number of times during the air-raids but he survived unscathed. For several months, he was in charge of the German prisoners-of-war held in Malta. His kind-heartedness led him to share a cigarette with the prisoners. One of them repaid him with a photo frame sculpted in local stone. Early in 1945, he was discharged from the army.

Soon Ġużeppi started to seek new pastures. He communicated with his brother Salvu in Detroit and started preparations to join him. In December 1947, he applied for a passport. Salvu was very happy to host him. He had just rented property in the vicinity of Tiger Stadium, in the Corktown neighbourhood, where he planned to open a restaurant serving Maltese food.

In the meantime, Ġużeppi was engaged as a postman. As all young Gozitans in Government service, he commenced his job in Malta. He travelled to Malta early Monday morning and returned home to his family and his fiancée, Annie Camilleri from Victoria, on Saturday afternoon.

A Gozitan working in Malta had to face and overcome other hurdles. One had to rent a tiny room in a Valletta kerrejja, a common tenement house very often lacking the basic hygienic and other health comforts. Back in the room every evening, one had to prepare food.

To top it all, ferry service between the Islands was unreliable.

During the immediate post-war years, the Gozo-Malta ferry service was simply appalling. Then, the winter time-table (1 November to 28 February) was made up of solely three daily round-trips between Mġarr (Gozo) and Marfa, the nearest landfall in Malta. The ferry departed from Mġarr at 6.15am, 1.00pm and 4.00pm, leaving Marfa towards Gozo at 7.45am, 1.45pm, and 4.30pm. During the rest of the year another trip was added, leavoing Gozo at 9.00am and returning from Marfa at 10.15am.

The Mġarr–Marfa ferry service was awarded following a public call for tenders and the company had to carry the mail between Malta and Gozo. Bids were assessed not only on the vessels but also on the amount of subsidy requested. An annual subsidy from the Government was provided and the successful contractor was guaranteed a monopoly on the service for ten years.

Between 1937 and 1947, the Gozo-Malta passenger service was provided by the Gozo Mail Company Limited, a partnership of some fifteen shareholders managed by Gatt & Grech, Ta’ Gelluxa. The shareholders included Gozitan entrepreneurs who were conscious of the needs of the Island and its inhabitants. At the time, the service was considered satisfactory.

As from 1 November 1947, the ferry service monopoly was managed by a company based in Malta, owned by Joseph Gasan and in which no Gozitans were involved. It purchased a twin-screw motor yacht, the Migrante, to adapt it for the channel crossings. After a botched-up modification, the company was compelled to withdraw it from service as it failed to meet contract specifications.

As a substitute, during the following twelve months, the company chartered and employed a total of six vessels. It first used the motor launch Cygnet followed by the converted motor minesweeper Nanridi and Lord Strickland, another converted minesweeper. There was the steam ferry Emily P and a larger steamer, named Supply, was used for several months. Between May and October 1948 was the turn of still another converted minesweeper, the Calypso G. This was perhaps the best of the six. However, before long, the Company negotiated an advantageous bargain for its sale to Thomas Loel Guinness, a British MP, a business magnate and a philanthropist. Guinness had financed its purchase to lease it for a symbolic franc a year to Jacques-Yves Cousteau, the famous oceanic explorer.

For twelve months, the Gozitans suffered an erratic service by mostly inadequate sea craft. The Police Okkurrenzi (log books), deposited at the Gozo Archive within the National Archives of Malta, are replete with reports of trip cancellations. The service also came under fire from the Government Commission, instituted on 15 October 1948, “to inquire into and report on the requirements of the island of Gozo and to offer suggestions to solve the inherent problems.” Gozitans frequently lamented the poor service in the correspondence columns of the Times of Malta and Il-Berqa, its Maltese counterpart. The contractor was heavily criticized as he was failing the people of Gozo and causing them unnecessary hardships.

On Wednesday, 20 October 1948, the Migrante, re-named Banċinu – but, as a matter of fact, still registered at Lloyds under its previous name – started operating on the Mġarr–Marfa route. Its conversion at the Malta Naval Drydocks had taken much longer than anticipated and it was still not concluded, but with the sale of the Calypso, the Company had no substitute. Just seven days in the service, in mid-morning of 27 October, the Banċinu ran into shallow water at Mġarr harbour and remained struck for some twenty-five minutes.

On Saturday, 30 October 1948, the Gozitans who worked in Malta were more eager than usual to travel home. It was going to be a long weekend as Monday 1 November was a public holiday, the feast of All Saints.

Everyone was eager to return to Gozo. They all had a family eagerly awaiting them. Some wanted to embrace their wives and children after a six-day absence. More than one had their fiancées on tenterhooks. Another had to stand as witness in the wedding of his sister the following morning and a Żurrieq resident was traveling to the Gozo Seminary to visit an orphaned seminarian whom he was supporting.

They met at Castille Square, Valletta, to catch the Gozo bus at 3.15pm, the last one that day. Notwithstanding an unfavourable forecast – the sea was to develop a moderate swell from the south west, according to the forecast in the Times of Malta – they hoped to make it home safe and sound.

When the Gozo bus reached Mellieħa, it was usual for the driver to stop at the police-station to enquire about the ferry service. The policeman informed him that the last trip had been cancelled. On that fateful Saturday, the captain, aware that the conversion of the vessel was not yet been finalized and that the damage of the previous Wednesday had only been partly seen to, decided that the sea was too choppy for the crossing.

No one, other than a Gozitan, can understand the disappointment and frustration at the news of the cancellation of the last trip. The bus driver decided to return to Valletta. However, the passengers wanted to proceed to Marfa; they had paid the fare to Marfa. However, the driver did not give in before the passengers offered him a tip to concede to their request. Others had reached Marfa before them.

There were twenty-five in all.

Arriving at Marfa there was no shelter whatsoever. The twenty-five huddled together by a rubble wall to shield themselves from sea spray. They still hoped to make it to Gozo. As had happened on countless times during that year when the last ferry trip was cancelled, they hoped that a Gozo boat would come to their rescue.

Alerted to the cancellation, Karmnu Grima ta’ Ħanini, a thirty-six-year-old from Qala and his assistant Salvu Refalo ta’ Ħarbat, sixty years old from Għajnsielem, sailed out of Mġarr upon fishing motor-boat Number 248 to pick up the stranded passengers at Marfa. The boat was a luzzu, a sturdy carvel-built boat with a double-ended hull. Originally, equipped with oars and sails, it had been motorised by that time. The passage from Mġarr to Marfa proved uneventful. Trouble cropped up upon arrival.

Twenty-five passengers and a crew of two were too many for the boat. Karmnu insisted that he could not carry them all. He offered to take half of them and return for the other half immediately afterwards. However, the majority disagreed as they were not willing to wait for another hour or two in the cold. Their pleas finally led Karmnu to unwillingly acquiesce to their request.

Some time after six in the evening and in pitch darkness, the moorings were loosed for Mġarr. There was no shelter whatsoever on the boat. After waiting for almost two hours in the cold, drenched to the skin with the salty sea spray, hungry, exhausted and shivering, the passengers huddled together hoping for the best. Leli Camilleri, a member of the Society of Christian Doctrine from Żurrieq, the only Maltese resident on the boat, began reciting the Rosary and beseeching a safe passage to the Blessed Virgin Mary of Ta’ Pinu.

The captain decided to head towards Comino and turn around the Island to shield the boat from the wind. The first part of the passage proved uneventful, but as they sailed past Comino, the wind started whipping up waves and the boat started to take water.

Karmnu became visibly anxious. He was afraid that he would not make it to Mġarr with such a load. So he wanted to disembark them in the nearby inlet of Ħondoq ir-Rummien.

Once more, there was disagreement. Some argued that it was not possible to reach home in pitch darkness from Ħondoq at the far end of the village of il-Qala. Karmnu, once again, gave in to their wish and decided to take up the gauntlet.

As they were sailing in a patch known as Taċ-Ċawl, the boat took more and more water. The passengers panicked. The boat started going down. The shoreline was less than fifty metres away. The good swimmers tried to reach land. Those who did not know to swim clutched at others. A tragedy was in the making.

Ġużeppi was confident that he would swim to land. He was a strong swimmer, winning the traditional summer swimming competitions from il-Banju tal-Isqof to il-Menqa and back in the bay of Marsalforn. With the October salary well-tucked in his pocket, he jumped into the sea and started swimming.

Karmnu Attard Ta’ Żajjar from Qala, an orphaned sixteen-year-old and the youngest on board, knew the coastline very well and he was the first to reach land. He sped up the steep hill from Ħondoq to Qala, rushed inside the police station, and raised the alarm.

It was eight at night.

His report is recorded in the Police Okkurrenzi at the Gozo Archive:

“Together with twenty-four other passengers, he was coming from Marfa to Mġarr, Gozo. On arriving in a place so called Taċ-Ċawl, limits of Qala, the said boat accidentally overturned with its occupants.”....

“Superintendent J.E. De Piro and a strong Police Party proceeded to the place of accident and were posted all along the coast suspected to be harbouring survivors of the capsized boat.”

Yet the Gozo police were neither skilled nor equipped for a calamity. It is not recorded that they went out of Mġarr harbour to comb the disaster area. They simply lacked the means. Superintendent J.E. De Piro immediately sought the assistance of the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force in Malta. The destroyer Cheviot, a torpedo recovery boat, and an RAF launch were sent to the spot. However, they reached the site of the tragedy in the early morning, some ten hours after the incident.

Canon Joseph Zammit Tal-Kusi of Xagħra with his brother Karistu were more audacious. Having been alerted about the disaster, and aware that their twenty-three-year-old brother Pawlu was due in Gozo that evening, drove to Mġarr and immediately went out on a hired boat to the place of the incident. With the help of a torch, they succeeded to locate their brother perched on Taċ-Ċawl rocks. The police records state that “after strenuous efforts made by the Police with the assistance of some civilians [they] succeeded in bringing him safe ashore.”

The truth is different. I know this from Canon Zammit (1908-1977) himself, my teacher at the Lyceum (1962-1963). He told me that it was he and his brother who succeeded to haul Pawlu to safety with a rope and a lifebelt. Many times, he would tell me with anguish, that the Police did preciously nothing that night.

Two other passengers, Mikiel Buttigieg ta’ Perempin, a twenty-two-year-old from Nadur and Ċikku Gauci tas-Saraċ, a twenty-four-year-old from Ta’ Kerċem, also succeeded to swim to safety.

Ġużeppi did not make it. A female passenger unable to swim – as witnessed by Pawlu Zammit – gripped him and dragged him to the bottom.

Twenty-three, including the captain and his assistant drowned that night.

Duminku Attard, Karmnu Azzopardi, Mikiel Azzopardi, Rita Buttigieg, Salvu Buttigieg, Manwel Camilleri, Ġorġ Curmi, Ġużeppi Dingli, Ġużeppi Gatt, Ġorġ Galea, Karmnu Grima, Ġanni Mercieca, Wistin Magro, Grezzju Magro, Ċikku Portelli, Salvu Refalo, Baskal Sammut, Karmnu Spiteri, Manwel Sultana, Manwel Vella, Pawlu Vella, Ġużeppi Scicluna and Manwel Zammit celebrated All Saints Day in the world beyond.

Sunday, 31 October 1948, seventy-five years ago. It was a rather chilly morning.

Marija, Ġużeppi’s mother, had been on her feet since four o’clock in the morning, when the chimes of il-Paternoster from the parish church of St George invited her to the five o’clock mass.

After mass, Marija tucked the wicker basket under her għonnella and hurried to the butcher’s shop to buy a ratal of beef (800 grams) for the special Sunday dinner. At a time when there were no domestic refrigerators, meat was bought just before cooking it. Ċanga bil‑patata l‑forn, roast beef with potatoes, was her favourite when all the family dined together on Sunday.

The butcher, Ġanni Zammit known as Ġanni ta’ Qorru, looked rather worried that morning, a stark difference from his usual jolly self. News that a Gozo luzzu had capsized the previous evening taking a load of passengers to the bottom was penetrating and devastating every Gozitan household.

As the Ċittadella clock struck six it crossed Marija’s mind that her son Ġużeppi had promised her to be home for the long weekend, and he had not yet arrived.

She started trembling with horror and sped home upset. She broke the news of the tragedy to her five daughters: “Who knows if our dear Ġużeppi was also there?” Two of them, Ġużeppa and Ċikka, sped to the police station, from where they were unceremoniously sent to the morgue of the Victoria Hospital to find out for for themselves. All her life, Ċikka carried the anguish of the reception that she and her sister received at the Victoria Police Station on that Sunday morning.

By ten in the morning, nanna Marija knew through the survivor Pawlu Zammit that Ġużeppi was indeed on the boat and that he drowned.

Maria, my maternal grandmother told me this tragic story of the death of her son, and my uncle, Ġużeppi.

Few months later, Ġorġina, Maria’s youngest daughter, who by that time had established herself as a seamstress, married Anton Bezzina. They had a son and they named him Joseph, for uncle Ġużeppi.

This tragedy gave me my Christian name.

Joseph Bezzina, born in Victoria, Gozo, is a graduate of the University of Malta and the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, obtaining a first‑class honours doctorate in Church History. He served Head of Department of Church History at the University of Malta for seventeen years. In 1989, he set up the Gozo Archive within the of the National Archives of Malta; between 2005 and his retirement in 2020 he was Assistant National Archivist. He is the author of close to eighty books and many studies published in English, Maltese, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese.

Statement of the prizes awarded to the winners of the Victory Day Regatta held 200 years ago (8 September 1822). One may note that the prizes were awarded to the first three places in four races, namely fishing boat with 4 oars, tal-pass with four oars, tal-pass with 2 oars and caique with four oars. Evidently the oarsmen were illiterate. This record forms part of the Audit Office Collection at the National Archives. NAM/AUD/10/7/25/817