| Community Heritage Project: Wattan Report |
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A signed agreement was made between each person interviewed, Alissar Chidiac, the Project Officer and the Powerhouse Museum. It was agreed that during their lifetime, all requests for permission to publish, exhibit or broadcast from the interview / tape should be referred to the interviewee.
Please Note: there are contract agreements with the interviewees who state that none of their interview can be made public without their permission.
Anne Mellick
Interview Date: Nov. 17, 1999
Place: Double Bay
Length of tapes: Approx. 135 mins.
(Photographs: Yes)
Anne Mellick was born in Townsville, Queensland in 1907. Her father and his two brothers had left their village and gone to the port in Beirut, and as they did not have enough money for three tickets, he had to walk back to the village. Her two uncles went to Rockhampton and Winton. Her father, PJ (Peter John) Mellick, came later to Australia and was hawking in Townsville, Ayr and Winton. His brothers established drapery stores in Townsville and Winton. He returned to Lebanon and married in 1903, and their first daughter Frances was born on the ship on the way to Australia (it was a French ship, hence her name). Anne’s parents established mixed drapery businesses, and her mother also managed her own business. These businesses had relationships with other Syrian-Lebanese hawkers and the warehouses in Redfern in NSW.
Anne grew up in Ayr. She delights in describing two incidents that give a glimpse of the attitudes of the local community towards the Syrian-Lebanese:
Her father kept chooks, as did their neighbours. There was a certain level of mistrust on the part of the neighbour, because when his chooks would stray into the Mellick yard, the neighbour would come out and count them!
One day her brother was absent from school, and the teacher wondered out-loud whether “our dago friend” would be present tomorrow. A short while later, the same teacher visited her father in his shop and requested a loan of some money in order to pay off his motorbike. After that, her brother had told others at school, how the teacher had come asking to “borrow money from a dago”!
Please Note: there are contract agreements with the interviewees who state that none of their interview can be made public without their permission.
Adele Kitt (nee McGuire)
Interview Date: Nov. 24, 1999
Place: Rockdale
Length of tapes: Approx. 130 mins.
(Photographs: Yes)
Adele Clare McGuire was born in 1907 in South Gundagai, NSW. She says that she is 92 years and 5 months old. Her mother, Marie Masad, was born in Damascus, Syria in 1882. Her father, John (Hajje) McGuire, was born near Tripoli, Lebanon, in 1870. At the age of 20 he came to Australia with his two brothers. He changed his name from Hunna Hajje “to make it easier”. Adele’s parents met and married in Cootamundra.
Adele’s grandmother had come to Australia around 1895/96 with the eldest of her three daughters, Marie, after hearing about the “gold on the streets”. Life was not so easy, and after working for three years (sewing etc.), she had saved up enough money to return to Syria to her other children. She had said that she could not afford to take her daughter Marie back with her, and married her off (at the age of 15 and a half) to John McGuire.
John McGuire had been hawking in the area, he was not literate and he wanted to settle down. Marie had been at school and was literate. So at 15 and a half she was married and was left behind by her family, who returned to Syria. John opened a shop in Temora, and Marie worked in the shop, doing the bookkeeping. Within three years Adele’s older sister was born. Then they heard about land available in Gundagai, and they moved to the other side of the river and opened a shop in South Gundagai in 1903.
Adele’s mother had no other relations in Australia, and she never saw any of her family after her mother had left (there had only been a few letters). Adele still thinks that this is sad, and she has “no idea of how she did it” – “what a hard life”, “what a tragedy”, that she had been “left like an orphan”.
Later in the interview, Adele tells stories of how, many years later, her mother would come on an annual holiday to Sydney on her own, and that her father never left Gundagai. Adele sometimes came to Sydney with her mother, sometimes getting supplies from Redfern.
Please Note: there are contract agreements with the interviewees who state that none of their interview can be made public without their permission.
Adel Moriarty (nee Maroon)
Interview Date: Dec. 10, 1999
Place: Wiley Park
Length of tape: 90 mins
(Photographs: Yes)
Adel Ann Maroon Jaja was born in Becharre, Lebanon on February 25, 1928. She was the first born, and came to Australia at the age of nine months with her parents. Her grandparents, on her father’s side, (Becharra Maroon Jaja and Rosie Maroon Jaja) had come out before them in the early to mid 1920s. Both her parents were born in Becharre. Her mother, Nabiha Elias Khalil, was 14 years old when she married Aser Becharra Maroon Jaja, who was ten years older than Nabiha.
Before coming to Australia, Adel's grandparents had gone back and forwards between Lebanon and France, and Lebanon and America. Adel's mother had said that it took eight days to get to America by boat from Lebanon. Her father had been born during one period of time in America. His siblings were born in either Lebanon, France or America. Adel's grandparents had been hawkers in both France and America, so this also became their work in Australia.
Adel never saw her mother’s parents, but she would write to them in Lebanon. Her grandfather had worked in Africa and her grandmother stayed in the village, caring for the children, who were born after his intermittent visits back to the village. There were seven girls and one boy (who was born last).
Adele lived in Redfern with her parents and grandparents, in a house in Great Buckingham Street. Her parents and grandparents were all hawking around the suburbs of Sydney. They bought their goods from the Lebanese warehouses in Redfern e.g. the Khourys and Stanton Mellick.
She has lived in a number of houses in that street until only five years ago, when she moved to Wiley Park. Redfern Park is also significant for her, as she played there as a child, then took her own children there, and then even later took her grandchildren there.
Please Note: there are contract agreements with the interviewees who state that none of their interview can be made public without their permission.
Deab Joseph
Interview Dates: Jan. 13 and Jan. 17, 2000
Place: Redfern
Length of tapes: Approx. 80 mins. and 90 mins.
Deab Solomon Joseph was born on April 25, 1908 in Bterram, Al Koura, Lebanon. His parents, Sleiman Youssef and Mariana Wehbe were farmers on their village land. He was the fourth child, and being the first boy he was “spoilt”. He came to Australia in 1925 with a friend from a neighbouring village, Bishmezzine. He says he was a small fellow at 16, on an adventure, and found that things were difficult here – he had been used to doing what he wanted, and he was shocked that even onions were too expensive to eat with em’juddara.
His maternal grandfather, Jirjius Wehbe and uncle, Saleem Wehbe, were here long before him, hawking around Crookwell and Braidwood. After all that he’d heard about them, he found that they were just “human too”. His grandfather was married to Sirya, the sister of Stanton Mellick, one of the Redfern warehouse owners.
After Deab arrived in Redfern, he was sent off hawking around Cessnock and Crookwell. He didn’t like walking with bags, dogs barking at him. He was happier to work with a cousin, Najib Wehbe, who had a motor car, and they hawked all over NSW, selling clothes of all kinds.
He tells a story of being a young man in Redfern, going to the billiards room for the first time (in Elizabeth Street, opposite the park). When a fight broke out between the boys there, he was hit (by other Lebanese) and called “a bloody Mellick” – as “Mellick was a high name”.
Deab spent his working years in different parts of NSW - hawking, drapery stores, factories and even gold panning. He says that though he was good at making money, he wasn’t always wise with it.
There are also some interesting insights into the experience of local Lebanese Australians during World War Two. There are stories of the threat of internment and having to report to police stations, especially if travelling around as a hawker. Deab tells a story of being called up to a military office for questioning, and being let off by an Australian officer who had just returned from the war in Lebanon.
Raise awareness and develop community participation in the cultural heritage of the Lebanese and Arab Australian communities.
Awareness needs to be raised by highlighting the serious “gaps” in the participation and representation of Arab Australians in Australian cultural institutions, by challenging entrenched attitudes and misconceptions, as well as by developing creative programmes and providing information. While it was not within the scope of this project to conduct a survey of institutions, it is clear that there is a significant absence of a major element of Australian community, i.e. the Lebanese and Arab Australian communities. Within Australian cultural institutions, there are few Arab Australian representations, collections, public programmes, exhibitions etc. – nor are there Arabic speaking staff, community partnerships and corporate associations.
This overall aim of raising awareness was met through the following objectives (2 to 15). Community participation was encouraged through networking, consultation, re-activating the project Focus Group, organising a successful public event in Redfern, distributing a questionnaire, conducting meetings, taping interviews and developing organisational partnerships.
Therefore by reactivating the project and its profile on a number of levels, awareness is being raised within various networks: Lebanese and Arab Australian communities, Redfern and the South Sydney Local Government Area, the Powerhouse Museum, the NSW Government, academic research networks in NSW, Victoria and Queensland, and within other cultural institutions e.g. NSW State Library and the National Library in Canberra.
Develop and implement an oral history project with a focus on the Redfern area, as a site of early Lebanese and Arab settlement in NSW.
The project drew on previous groundwork (1998) and developed new networks within the Redfern area. The aim was to build up a profile on a number of levels and to generate community participation, and this would lead to elderly people to interview, as well as creating an “action research” context for the work.
Develop effective community partnerships.
Partnerships and relationships developed on a range of levels, exploring the interests of both parties, as well as creating new directions for both.
Re-activate community committees.
The Focus Group, which had developed in 1998, is an important site for the discussion of issues and contradictions, especially as there is no other Arab Australian connection within the PHM.
Key meetings with relevant people.
The project built on the previous groundwork within Arab Australian Communities, by making connections within other relevant sectors.
Community network within the Redfern area, including indigenous community organisations and the Eveleigh Railway project.
The Project found that there are very few community services for Arabic speaking people (outside the religious centres). There is a part-time Arabic speaking worker who operates from two bases in the region. Though the Arabic speaking community is established in the area, there are still “new arrivals”. Some people access services in Marrickville.
South Sydney Council is planning to develop an Aboriginal Heritage Project, so there would be future potential for collaborative work. Communications developed between the Project and several Aboriginal community groups, especially in relation to the public event in Redfern. The Project has a consultative relationship with the Aboriginal Project Officer at the PHM, Steve Miller.
Investigate various technologies for documentation.
The PHM A-V Unit has no digital equipment for oral history documentation. The project was able to borrow a Marantz recorder and a reasonably good microphone. 90-minute audiocassettes were readily available (although the Oral History Association recommends 60-min. tapes).
The A-V Unit has facilities for copying tapes (for the interviewees, as well as for future transcription / logging work).
The Conservation Department Photographer, Nitsa Yioupros, has been available for some visual documentation work, and there are plans to create a photo-essay with the participants of the oral history documentation.
Complete six to ten oral history interviews
Elderly people have been the current focus of the oral history work - this is urgent, as many have already passed away, and stories of early experiences are being lost. The Oral History documentation has great potential to develop further through expanding the Project’s own networks (e.g. “word of mouth” referrals to more elderly people). The Project can also inspire other similar projects, as well as linking with similar projects and research around Australia. This is a slow process, as the current focus on elderly people means there are often obstacles such as health, or waiting for the convenience of other family members to access the interviewee (and to accompany the interviewer).
The recorded material (ten tapes) is currently stored at the Powerhouse Museum, and provides valuable primary source material for future work. After the completion of the interviews, copies of the tapes will be given to the interviewees.
The documentation includes:
Photographic documentation of people, historical sites and material culture.
The Project currently has the following visual documentation, with plans for more in the immediate future.
Identification of possible sites for State Heritage Registration.
These are possibilities for future heritage work:
Develop a centralised directory of Lebanese and Arab Communities Heritage.
The first and second phases of this project have created a reasonable database, which could lead to a directory.
The Project Officer will prepare media releases and arrange interviews to publicise the project. Draft copies must be forwarded to the Director, Migration Heritage Centre.
The first (and only) media release was in November 1999, jointly distributed by the PHM and the MHC. Interviews were recorded and broadcast on SBS Arabic Radio (with the participation of wattan Focus Group member, Ihab Shalbak) and Koori Radio (community radio, with Steve Miller, PHM Aboriginal Projects Officer). The material for a second general media release has been prepared.
The Project Officer will prepare and provide briefing material (including all media releases, media clips, media schedules and community consultation programmes etc.) to keep the Migration Heritage Centre and respective State Ministers fully informed of the project and process in advance of events taking place.
Briefing was consistent from August to November 1999. The press release was copied as an information flyer, and has been used frequently. A flyer was produced by the Project Officer for publicity of the community meeting in Redfern. This was approved by PHM PR and forwarded to MHC for approval. The flyer was used for distribution, including mail and fax.
The Project Officer and the Museum are required to ensure that all materialproduced to record and promote this project carries the logos and advised texts for the Migration Heritage Centre, the New South Wales Government – Ministry for the Arts, in association with the logo for the Museum.
Implemented.
The Museum and the Project officer are required to report briefly every four weeks to the Director, Migration Heritage Centre on the progress of the project and identify variations to this agreement.
Reporting was done verbally at meetings and over the phone. There was one written report, as well as email communication between the Project Officer and Bruce Robinson and Andrea Fernandes.
