Bonegilla, near Albury in Victoria, was the largest and longest operating migrant reception and training centre of the post-war era. Altogether over 300,000 people, mainly from Europe, came through Bonegilla between 1947 and 1971.
Bonegilla is very important as a place which demonstrates a defining change in Australia’s immigration policy. Previously, immigration was subject to the White Australia Policy, and most migrants had come from Great Britain. After the Second World War, though, driven by the requirements of defence and labour essential to Australia’s expansion, the government embarked on ambitious expansion combined with an extensive immigration programme. Australia showed great potential for growth and could offer people from war-torn Europe an optimistic future. Perceptions of threats to Australia in World War Two and the need for a much larger population to defend itself led to the popular expression ‘Populate or Perish’. More than half of these new European migrants were sent to Bonegilla where they were given courses in English and the Australian way of life.

Displaced Persons and other non-British migrants were subject to tighter labour arrangements and different controlling activities. Voluntary and refugee migrants were offered a two year directed-labour contract in return for their passage to Australia. Under this contract there were two classes of worker — men were ‘labourers’ and women were ‘domestics’, who were to be assigned to work in ‘critical areas of the economy’.
The settlement in Australia of post-war immigrants has had a major impact on the nation’s economy, society and culture and is regarded as an important factor in shaping the nation. Post-war immigration transformed the composition and size of the Australian population and is responsible for the second largest demographic change in the nation’s history (the largest being the gold rush migration of 1851–1860).