Illuminating the experiences of immigrants to Australia in the late twentieth century this
book uses oral history to explore how identity and belonging are shaped through migration.
Between the 1950s and the 1970s many inhabitants from the small Greek island of Limnos
travelled to Australia to flee post-war devastation and economic disaster. With an emphasis on
the lived experiences and memories of Limnians the book sheds light on the emotional pain and
trauma they felt as they were separated from their families and homeland. Moving away from more
traditional outlooks on migration studies this book emphasises the significance of
ethno-regional identity and analyses how it can bring strength and longevity to a constructed
community. Both the roles of men and women within the Greek diaspora are examined in the way
that they made the difficult decision to leave their homeland and subsequently how they came
to nurture and build families within a new evolving community. Looking beyond first-generation
migration the author analyses the pattern of return visits to Limnos by the descendants of
migrants. Acting as a form of identity consolidation for second-generation migrants this
journey to the ancestral homeland highlights the fluidity of what it means to belong somewhere
and redefines the notion of ¿home¿. The author provides an alternative perspective to
traditional migration studies and reaffirms the importance of transnational identity. A unique
and important addition to research this book combines memory studies and oral narrative to
analyse how identity and belonging can be shaped across borders rather than within them.
