The Emigration of Swiss Italians to the Australian Gold Rush Volumes 1 & 2 by Giorgio Cheda. Translated by Antonio Pagliaro.

From the preface

In Ticinese history, emigration provides a very precise measure of the exclusion from society of peasants, and of the poor in general. Until now, however, no one has adequately revealed the deaths and sufferings which emigration exacted disproportionately from these classes. No one has ever thought of recounting the history of privations, sufferings, broken family ties, or of the hard-earned savings eaten up by emigration agencies, banks and opportunists who took advantage of those who had to leave their countries to earn a modest living.

I certainly do not wish to attempt a general discussion of Ticinese emigration. My ambition is much more modest and I will simply present an analysis of emigration to Australia: a sudden and massive phenomenon occurring for a few months during 1854 and 1855, while the Canton was undergoing a series economic and political crisis.

Translated by Antonio Pagliaro, Italian Australian Institute, La Trobe University.

Sold as a two volume set.

ISBN: 978-0-9942276-4-5

$90.00

2 in stock