Viva il Duce: The Influence of Fascism on Italians in South Australia in the 1920s and 1930s

Abstract

The first big increase of the size of the Italian community in Australia occurred after World War I, due mainly to the tightening up by the USA of its immigration laws, including the application of a quota system, and also to the introduction by the Italian shipping line Lloyd Sabaudo of a direct link between Italy and Australia. As a result, the number of Italians in Australia more than tripled in the 1920s and 1930s, growing from 8000 in 1921 to 30000 in the period before the Second World War. In South Australia the increase was six-fold: from an official census figure of just 344 in 1921 to about 2000 by 1940. With the rise to power of Mussolini in 1922 the Fascist government started organising Fascist Party branches abroad with the aim of 'fascistising' throughout the world Italian migrants and their activities.