Contributed by Georgia Tabone. This story is part of a collection of stories from the Skola Maltija’s Maltese Migration Projects From Malta to Australia.

Biography of Joseph Tabone written by Georgia Tabone

My nannu lived in Gozo Malta. He lived in a village called Xargha on Bullara street. Nannu worked very hard on a farm with his father, mother, six brothers and three sisters. In Malta, Nannu’s family used to grow all their vegetables and also had some fruit trees. They also had goats for milk to drink and had sheep for wool where they made blankets and clothing. But nannu had a donkey for transport. The donkey was also used to work the ground for the fruits and vegetables. It was a simple and hard life. But they always had food on the table. Nannu Joe has fond memories of his childhood days.

At age 17 Nannu started thinking about leaving Malta and coming to Australia. A lot of people his age were thinking the same as friends older than him had already been there. He heard many nice and wonderful things about this large country. He was told how nice it was in Australia and how there was plenty of everything. He heard that there were plenty of jobs to get paid lots of money and have enough money to buy food and clothes as well send money back to Malta.

So Nannu decided to come to Australia looking to make a better future for himself and eventually start a family.

Nannu came to Australia in 1961 in February at the age of 18. Nannu fell in love the Australia instantly. He came to Australia on an aeroplane called KLM. He lived in Pendle Hill in N.S.W. on a big farm.

My nannu loved Australia more and more each day and he loves the nice weather as it was very similar to Malta. When he started working he liked it more. My nannu worked on a chicken farm and a market garden. He was able to then send some of the money he had earned to his family back in Malta so they could have more things too.
My nannu said that working in Australia is very good as it was not as hard as Malta because in that time, the Maltese were poor and had to do everything by hand. Also in Malta it was very difficult to get a job and here in Australia it was easier. He said to me he can make a better living here in Sydney Australia than Gozo Malta.

My Nannu had a wonderful life in Malta and had a great childhood living there. But he also had a great time since the day he came to Australia at 18. As people say time flies when you’re having fun and my nannu sure had a lot of fun. My nannu still has some happy memories from Gozo Malta and they will always be with him to the end!