Sydney
28 April 2002

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Reflections: A lone voice for our ‘enemy aliens’

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Obituary: Fr Lex was a friend indeed to those in need

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Inspirations: Honour for Viet cardinal’s mother

Reflections: A lone voice for our ‘enemy aliens’

By Antony Cappello

Australia may be a cultural and tolerant society today, but this has not always been the case.

When Italy declared war on the Allies in June 1940, Italian migrants here were declared ‘enemy aliens’.

Not only were they to suffer the stigma of such a label, but any considered a risk to national security were interned, including some who had sons fighting for the Australian army overseas.

Those not interned suffered isolation and discrimination as ‘enemy aliens’.

The Archbishop of Melb ourne, Daniel Mannix, issued a statement that the Italian Catholic community were loyal to the Holy Father and to the Commonwealth and, as such, were not to be treated as enemy aliens by anyone in the Catholic community. His was a lone voice. The statement appeared only in Melbourne’s Catholic paper, The Advocate.

He and Fr Ugo Modotti, chaplain to the Italian community, established the Arch bishop’s Committee of Italian Relief to help the Italian families in the Commonwealth affected by the war, partic ularly those who had been interned. Fr Modotti had only escaped internment himself because the archbishop intervened on his behalf.

He dedicated himself to the work of the committee. He asked internment camp leaders for a detailed list of requirements to enable the committee “to do whatever we can in this matter”.

So the internees, on their first Christmas behind barbed wire, received Christmas hampers which included all those Mediterranean favourites such as spaghetti, cheese, black olives, garlic, toothbrushes and religious books. The religious books reflected the Mannix-Modotti agenda, preaching the Christian faith!

The committee had support, too, from Fr Joseph Ciantar, a Salesian priest of Maltese origin, who organised fund-raiser film nights at the Church of St Ignatius, Richmond - twopence for reserved seating, a penny for unreserved and half price for children. Those attending were asked to arrive half an hour before the film for a religious briefing.

In time, most internment camps had a library, cafe, canteen, a recreational hut and a workshop. But they were isolated, like the camp at Hay, NSW, with its a triple fence of barbed wire and watchtowers guarded by soldiers with machine guns. Families had only restricted access.

Many of the families were new arrivals, so the committee members themselves visited and supported themselves, at least in Melbourne.

After Italy surrendered to the Allies in September 1943, the sufferings of the people in Italy, who were experiencing a civil war, became apparent. A fund was established and money sent via Archbishop Mannix to the Pope for relief in Italy. In 1946 the Pope wrote to thank the committee, particularly Fr Modotti and Archbishop Mannix.

The committee continued its work long after the war, sponsoring Italians migrating to Australia and assisting arrivals once in Australia.

Its good works - it was later assimilated into the Catholic Migrant Service - would not have been possible without the vision and courage of Dr Mannix, who died at 99, still in office, in 1963.

This is adapted from an article by Anthony Cappello, a research assistant at the Thomas More Centre.