The Story of Emigration To Australia
As a sailor nation, the Maltese began to travel many centuries ago. Many Maltese found work in the navy of the Order of St. John. Pre-dating this, the Maltese people were known as good sailors in the Mediterranean region. However, modern forms of transportation and sudden economic changes prompted mass emigration from Malta.
In 1882 Australia welcomed the first official group of immigrants from Malta, 8 immigrants sent there as part of an experiment conducted by the Maltese Imperial Government. 40 years after that first emigration to Australia, emigration began on a larger scale. Between 1911 and 1939 6,000 Maltese people emigrated to Australia and in the ten years between 1940 and 1949 numbers rose to 8,000. In the twenty years after 1949 Australia welcomed over 61,000 emigrants. 1956 saw 10,300 emigrants from Malta enter Australia. Later numbers of emigrants decreased until, in the early 1970s, the Australian authorities closed the doors for all European emigrants.
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