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Migration generated expansion of European influence and the role of Croatian diaspora

Through continuous migration from Europe and the emergence of its numerous diaspora European influence expanded in the New World countries. These diaspora communities contributed significantly to the social fabrics of newly emerging national and spatial entities that outlasted European territorial expansion. Post-war continental European migration to Australia expanded European cultural and social influence on this continent, described as a British colonial outpost until recently. Several significant continental European diaspora communities existed in Australia before the Second World War, including the Croatian one, whose impact was felt in mining towns and rural urban suburbs. However, these groups were small in comparison to the post-war arrivals whose crucial impact on demographic, social, cultural and urban landscape is still felt. The post-war continental European migrants settled mostly in coastal cities and had a major role in the process of changing the Australian social and urban landscape. European influence, which expanded through diverse communal and private actions is now firmly embedded and very visible in many Australian cities. Communal places were developed by diverse European ethnic collectives to meet their cultural, religious, social, leisure and welfare needs that could not be satisfied by the existing public resources. Many Australian suburbs are defined by communal places built by European migrants embedding various religious, cultural and social practices in social space. Among the best known examples are various Orthodox churches, and football, which caters now for the interests of much wider segments of society than it did only twenty years ago. Smaller and larger continental European communities participated in this process, including the Croatian community whose share in Australia is in disproportion to its size in Europe. This migration generated impact is illustrated with a unique set of data on the development of communal places in Sydney by the Croatian, and other European migrants, over the post-war period effects. The analysis concludes with a discussion on sustainability of outcomes due to generational changes and social dynamics that involves the expansion of European transnational space through grassroots action.

built environment; communal places; Croatian; participation; sustainability

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