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Current project

Personal perspectives are often left out of official accounts of Australia's migration history; as former migrants age and retire, these memories could be lost forever if not properly recorded. Through this project migrants' experiences of their times at Scheyville are being recorded.

Scheyville National Park, about an hour north-west of Sydney, was an agricultural training farm for English child migrants in the early 20th century and also a site for post-Second World War government-run migrant accommodation.

The cultural landscape of the farm survives and some original migrant accommodation buildings still remain, including the administration unit which is currently in use by National Park staff.

The Dreadnought Scheme was a government initiative in which boys from England were trained at Scheyville to become labourers on Australian farms. The scheme ran from 1910-1940 when Scheyville was a military training school.

A survey of available literature and other materials relating to the Dreadnought Scheme and the establishment of the Dreadnought Farm has been completed. Interviews with former Dreadnought boys and staff onsite at Scheyville have also been completed.

Post-Second World War migrants, including 'Displaced Persons' and other assisted immigrants, were processed and temporarily housed in government-run accommodation before moving to their own homes, usually with family and friends. Migrants and their dependents were permitted to remain for up to two years and were given limited training to assist their resettlement. Some assisted migrants were assigned to unskilled work for two years; assignment was not based on overseas skills or qualifications. Included in the many cultural groups that occupied Scheyville migrant reception centre were people from the Netherlands, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Hungary.

Hundreds of former Scheyville migrants attended a special Return to Scheyville reunion at the national park on Sunday 17 April 2005. It gave former residents from 1949-1964, and their families, a chance to revisit one of their first homes on Australian soil and hear first-hand experiences of migrating to Australia and settling in New South Wales. Former residents of the migrant reception centre brought hundreds of migration photographs which were indexed by the staff and volunteers of Scheyville National Park on the day. A number of video histories were completed at the Scheyville reunion and some memories and special family items were recorded as part of the NSW Migration Heritage Centre's Belongings online exhibition.

The conservation management plan of the historical uses of Scheyville National Park has informed an illustrated visitors' booklet and photographic display interpreting the Dreadnought Farm and Migrant Reception Centre phases. The booklet entitled 'Fields Of Memories: The Scheyville Training Farm And Migrant Accommodation Centre 1911-1964' is available for sale at Scheyville National Park. An online version is positioning Scheyville National Park as a place associated with two major chapters in Australia's migration history. A final stage of this project will produce new on site interpretation panels.

The Dreadnought Boys and Migrant Reception Centre at Scheyville is a NSW Migration Heritage Centre partnership project with the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW). The historical survey and interviews were contracted to researchers Sue Andersen and Mary Ann Hamilton.

PROJECT CONTACT:
Jonathon Sanders, Area Manager

Address:
Cumberland North Area, Scheyville National Park
NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service
Scheyville Street, Scheyville, NSW 2756

Tel: 02 4572 3100