28/05/2026
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For many children, Bonegilla was part of a big adventure. Life at the centre offered them the freedom to roam without supervision, form friendships across cultures and explore a place so different from anything they had known before ๐ณ.
โOf all the migrants Australia desired, the best were children who could be moulded to the Australian way of life,โ explained Alexander Downer, Minister for Immigration, 1958
With Lake Hume nearby, Bonegilla often felt like a vast holiday camp, filled with swimming, wandering and discovery ๐.
โ Oh I loved itโฆ I saw a calf being born in a paddock. I named every field and looked at every tree. Hearing the kookaburras and magpies in the morning was Australia to me, it still is. We saw snakes and went fishing in the lake. It was wonderful.โ Doina (Himan) Eilter aged 10, Romania 1949. Border Morning Mail, June 27, 1979.
Children were impressed with the unlimited supplies of milk, fruit, bread, butter and jam, and with new treats like whole peaches, pineapples, cocoa and Milo ๐ฅ๐ซ.
For families with infants, a specially equipped accommodation block was set up with heated rooms, bassinettes and a hot plate.
Among the changes and challenges of life in a new land, children continued to learn, play and adapt.
๐ท Four children sit on a log behind the laundry at Block 19, c.1970, ARM 21.807.016
๐ท Two children on a swing at Bonegilla, 1956, ARM 17.950.28
๐ท Children play next to a sailing boat at Lake Hume, ARM 98.454
๐ท Bonegilla seen in the distance while children play in the grass, 1958, ARM 96.755
๐ท New playground equipment on Block 17, ARM 19.100
