Features Of Settlement In Australia By Macedonians From The Aegean Region

By Michael Radin

Printable Version

An earlier version of this paper was presented by the author at the Bicentenary Symposium, Australian National University, July 20 to 22, 1988 and published in Migracijske Teme, Year 6, No 1, 1990, Zagreb.

Summary

Using as standard time periods the period before World War I, the interwar period and the postwar period, the author treats certain significant aspects of the emigration of<%19> <%0>Macedonians from the Aegean region of Macedonia to Australia. In this context the Macedonian emigrants from that part of Greece are divided into the categories of economic migration (pechalbari) and refugees. The latter category was the result of national suppression of Macedonians during the Turkish domination, and also of the occupation of this region and a similar attitude by the Greek regime, especially after the civil war in that country. Furthermore, the author gives special attention to the problems of settlement, the reasons and modes of association (confessional and other groups), and to the perspectives of the Macedonian ethnic community in Australia, composed of immigrants and their descendants from the Republic of Macedonia, Aegean and Pirin Macedonia.

Introduction

Due to the continued controversy at a polemical level over what is known broadly as the "Macedonian question" it is desirable at the outset of this paper to precisely define the terminology that will be commonly featured in it.

"Macedonia" refers to an area that today occupies the central region of the Balkan peninsula in Europe (1). The term today incorporates both an ethnic and a geo-political description. Ethnic Macedonia describes an area that from medieval times through the period of Ottoman occupation to 1912 was the homeland of its largest ethnic group, the Macedonians. This territory, although never politically self-determining, existed as a natural social, economic and administrative unit throughout the currency of the Ottoman occupation in what was generally known as European Turkey. The borders of ethnic Macedonia are today still defined by the Shar Mountains in the north, the Rhodope Mountains and the River Mesta (Nestos) in the eastern districts, the Aegean Sea and Mount Olympus in the south, whilst in the west, ethnic Macedonia is bordered by modern Albania and the Lakes Ohrid and Prespa. The total region covers some 67,700 square kilometres, making Macedonia approximate in size to Greece proper. Conversely, in a modern political context, the territory of Macedonia falls predominantly within the boundaries of the three neighbouring Balkan States, Greece, Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia, with a small strip of Macedonian territory between Lakes Ohrid and Prespa lying within modern Albania. This partition of Macedonia following the First Balkan War in 1912 succeeded in driving the Ottoman presence from Europe. The partition was subsequently ratified at the Bucharest Peace Conference in 1913 which followed the conclusion of hostilities in the Second Balkan War of that year (2:163).

Today, approximately 50 per cent of Macedonian territory lies within the borders of modern Greece as its northernmost province, whereas almost 40 per cent now forms the Republic of Macedonia. A shade over 10 per cent now comprises the small Pirin District in the southwestern corner of Bulgaria.

Perhaps the most vexed and volatile issue debated within the parameters of the Macedonian question is the ethnicity component. On the basis of both objective historical factors and subjective self-identification criteria, it is offered that a Macedonian in an ethnic sense refers to a person emanating from any of the four parts of homeland or ethnic Macedonia who is of Macedonian speaking descent. A confusing factor is injected into the issue today by the oblique reference to other groups having been resident in the area of ethnic Macedonia calling themselves "Macedonians". However, this label is merely a geographic description in this sense and not an indicator of ethnicity.

Following the aforementioned partition of Macedonian territory, the progressive resistance movement coined names for the respective portions - the Serbian occupied territory was referred to as Vardar Macedonia (later known as the Socialist Republic of Macedonia with the status of self-government within Federal Yugoslavia); the Bulgarian occupied territory was known as Pirin Macedonia, whilst the region in northern Greece has been referred to as Aegean Macedonia (2:166). Thus, Macedonians from the Aegean region of Macedonia who have settled in Australia have emanated within the modern political borders of Greece.

The Macedonian question then is the polemical manifestation of the debate over Macedonia which remains a source of tension and rivalry between all of the antagonists to the dispute - Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia and Serbia and their emigrant communities and representatives in Australia.

Finally there remains the similarly ambiguous question of the status and derivation of the so called "Yugoslav Communities". Given the set academic milieu within which this paper is prepared, this description will refer to the ethnic and national groups of Yugoslavia, Serbs, Croats, Slovenians, Montenegrins, Muslims (Bosnians) and Macedonians, leaving aside the issue of those persons from Yugoslavia who, notwithstanding their ethnic origin, refer to themselves as "Yugoslavs". In a strict sense, therefore, Macedonians from the Aegean region, having no actual historical connection with Yugoslavia, cannot be considered as a Yugoslav community group, though this description has often been used colloquially by the uninformed. However, it should be pointed out that imprecise labels of this nature exacerbate the specific historical impediments that have manifested themselves in a crisis of identity for Macedonians from the Aegean region.

Background

1. Migration to Australia from the Aegean Region of Macedonia - Historical Overview and Synopsis

Due to the continued existence of an enervating environment in Macedonia for the greater part of the last century, the Macedonian people have sought to escape the political and socio-economic excesses of their occupiers in search of safer harbours. In this respect, the Macedonian experience has differed little from, say, the Irish or Palestinian diaspora. Macedonian migratory movements have come in waves, according to the dictates of necessity or expediency. The travels of the itinerant workers, known as the "pechalbari", are instructive in this respect and date back to the middle of the last century. A number of unfortunate historical episodes complemented the flow, and saw substantial Macedonian emigration from all regions of the country on each such occasion - during the aftermath of the Ilinden Uprising against the Ottoman Turks in 1903 when the country was politically, socially and economically devastated; during and after the decade of the Balkan Wars and the First World War, which witnessed the ratification of the partition of Macedonia.

Following the partition of Macedonia, the focus fell predominantly upon the Aegean region, most notably during the comprehensive population transfer schemes of the 1920s instigated by the governments of Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria; thereafter, there was the fascist Metaxas dictatorship and 10 years of continuous war in Greece between 1940 and 1949. Subsequently, continued expatriation processes by the Greek Government were encouraged right up to the early 1960s.

During the period of total political and cultural anonymity between the two World Wars, Macedonians in all three parts of their country suffered severe repression, violent assimilation and radical measures of proselytization. The Greek governments of the day however used a further strategy most effectively - that of a wholesale population change. Having suffered a defeat by Turkey in the 1922 War, Greece was forced to accept the expulsion of over a million Asiatic Greeks from the regions of Pontus on the Black Sea and Anatolia in Asia Minor. The majority of these refugees were re-settled in Aegean Macedonia at the expense of thousands of Macedonians and Turks, with the former being forced to flee overseas or run the risk of being "repatriated" to Bulgaria. Thus, within 5 years, the ethnic composition of Aegean Macedonia was dramatically altered, with Macedonians becoming an oppressed and uncohesive minority in their own land (2:203). The oppression continued unabated over the following three decades; thousands of Macedonians left Macedonia with Australia by then being the major destination. The United States of America and Canada had previously been destinations, with a continuous flow of Macedonian workers and migrants reaching those shores between the 1880s and 1920s. During the latter decade, however, the economic collapse in both countries forced the imposition of restrictive immigration quotas, and Macedonians subsequently turned their attention upon Australia (3:212).

2. Phases of Settlement in Australia

For the reasons outlined above, immigration of Macedonians to Australia prior to the 1960s was almost exclusively from the Aegean region. The only exceptions to this were the small number of migrants from the Bitola region of Vardar Macedonia, which borders Greece, and a number of families from Ohrid, about 70 kilometres west of Bitola (4:315-16). In their respective works on Macedonians in Australia, both Price and Hill (5) identified distinct phases of Macedonian migration to Australia which they described as waves of chain settlement. The earliest manifestations of this characteristic, the first wave, were tied to a particular phenomenon known by Macedonians as "pechalba" or the "itinerant worker". The male head of the household would leave his town or village in search of work, usually outside of Macedonia in neighbouring Balkan countries, Western Europe and even as far as the United States of America and Canada. He would stay away for perhaps only 12 months, or as long as 3, 5 or more years before returning home cash in hand. Small trickles of Macedonian "pechalbari" made their way to Australia in the early twentieth century, but few of them stayed. After North America had closed its doors in the 1920s, and due to the chaotic climate in Aegean Macedonia with the upheaval and social dislocation resulting from the population schemes, Macedonian pechalbari from this region headed for Australia (6:213).

Over time, the character of this first wave underwent a transformation. As the situation continued to deteriorate in Aegean Macedonia, these pechalbari, joined by increasing numbers of comrades with stories about the misfortune of the old country, decided to remain in Australia, and thus became the first Macedonian immigrants.

These first wave immigrants from Aegean Macedonia were predominantly from a village background, and in view of their limited education and work skills, they found employment either as itinerant workers in rural Australia, or in heavy labouring jobs in the larger towns and cities (5:6-8). Having made the decision to stay either permanently or until conditions improved substantially in Greece, they sought to quickly establish themselves on a more secure footing. As such, during the 1920s and 1930s, these Macedonians made the transition from itinerant and poorly paid rural workers working in such areas as forest and scrub clearing in Western and South Australia, tobacco plantations in Manjimup in Western Australia, fruit picking in Renmark, South Australia, sugar cane cutting in Queensland, and railway hands in Grafton, New South Wales, to urban industrial workers in factories (despite Union opposition) and mines in Newcastle, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Kalgoorlie and Broken Hill. Many took the opportunity to invest their earnings by purchasing land and establishing market gardens and small farms, or businesses such as cafes, restaurants and fish and chip shops.

In his work, Price indicates that around this time, the early 1920s, there may have been a 100 or so Macedonians in Australia, whereas by the late 1930s these numbers had risen to over 1,000 (4:318). On the basis of the rudimentary statistics available it is believed that 90 per cent of the settlers were from Aegean Macedonia.

Once these first settlers had established themselves in a more secure environment, they then made efforts to bring out their families from Aegean Macedonia. This consolidated the chain pattern of migration, with the workers' wives and families representing the second wave of immigrants from the old country. As numbers increased, small Macedonian "colonies" grew, usually either in the inner or outer city areas of Melbourne (Fitzroy, Collingwood, Preston, Richmond and Werribee), Adelaide (Fulham Gardens, Seaton and Virginia), Perth (North Perth) and Sydney (Rosebery, Richmond and Penrith).

Accustomed to a closely knit village setting in their homeland, these Macedonians sought to reproduce familiar settlement patterns in their new environment (5:7-8).

The third and final wave of migration from Aegean Macedonia occurred following the Second World War. Whereas economic factors had been the prevailing influence upon the first and second wave immigrants, third wave migration was characterized by a substantial proliferation of political refugees. Conditions for the Macedonian minority in Greece had worsened under the Metaxas regime. After the defeat of fascism in Greece in 1944-45, many Macedonians joined the ranks of the Greek Democratic Army which had at its helm the Greek Communist Party. During the ensuing Greek Civil War (1946-49) Macedonians suffered many casualties, and when the progressive forces suffered their ultimate defeat, over 50,000 Macedonians were displaced and disbursed widely throughout Yugoslavia and the eastern bloc countries. From there, many made their way to Australia over the course of the next decade. They, together with those who continued to leave Greece for both economic and political reasons until the 1960s, represented the third wave of settlers from Aegean Macedonia. However, unlike their predecessors, the third wave was distinguished by the fact that it saw a relatively high incidence of family migration, and its members immediately settled in the large urban centres of Australia where there were already small but thriving Macedonian communities.

It is perhaps appropriate to mention that the current fourth wave of Macedonian migration to Australia has its origin almost exclusively in the Republic of Macedonia and traces its flow back to the early to mid 1960s; this source also exhibited a chain character, and so the incidence of both greater family and new migration has remained consistent. Conversely, immigration from Aegean Macedonia has dried up, ostensibly due to a normalization in the political and socio-economic conditions in Greece over the past two decades.

Community sources, which differ radically from the 1986 census, place the number of Macedonians in Australia today, including all generations, at over 150,000, with perhaps 60 per cent or more now having emanated from the Republic of Macedonia. Concentrations of Macedonians from the Aegean region are to be found predominantly in the southern States: in Melbourne, Shepparton, Adelaide, Perth, and Manjimup, with the exceptions in the northern States being Queanbeyan and Richmond in New South Wales.

The Characteristics of Settlement from Aegean Macedonia

1. Social and Family Factors

In Aegean Macedonia, Macedonians traditionally participated little in the national market economy. Their rural practices were ritualistic and geared towards a semi-isolationist village interdependence. These patterns were repeated in Australia, where either the family or the wider Macedonian community network accepted responsibility for meeting the needs of new arrivals with the provision of assistance. As a rule, the newly arrived migrants would live initially in the same house as the relatives or friends that had sponsored them. Daily requisites would be provided until the new arrivals could make their own way. The importance of the role played by the family and wider social network needs to be stressed. It offset to a degree the dislocation and trauma experienced by the new settlers, who suddenly had to become quickly accustomed to a new life in an industrial environment in a large urban centre, very remote from the often tranquil setting of the old village (7:11).

The chain pattern of migration from Aegean Macedonia witnessed in certain cases the complete re-establishment of the village structure in Australia. Indeed, many villages are stronger than in the homeland, and perhaps even more closely knit, given the defensive attitudes that were a reaction to what was perceived to be an essentially alien and unsympathetic social environment (5:9). A substantial number of Macedonians from the Aegean region now living in Adelaide emanate from two small villages in Aegean Macedonia. The two groups, within the ambit of the wider Macedonian community, hold regular gatherings and social functions. One of the villages, in terms of numbers at least, far outstrips the population remaining in the village in Aegean Macedonia today! In his work, Price similarly noted that in earlier times, many of these village societies from Aegean Macedonia owed their first loyalty to the village, rather than to the Macedonian community in toto (4). In many cases, social intercourse was limited entirely to fellow villagers, and in the more extreme situations, limited to members of the greater family only.

Unlike the example of Macedonians from the Republic of Macedonia, where the diversity of regional settlement is marked, encompassing cultural traits, status, dialects, attitudes and rituals, the majority of Aegean migrants in Australia have emanated from a concentration of villages surrounding the regional towns of Lerin (Florina in Greek) and Kostur (Kastoria), which are found in the northwestern corner of Greece near the frontier with the Republic of Macedonia. As a result, the kinship that has developed between Aegean Macedonians in Australia has been quite pronounced.

As mentioned above, the first level of support for newly arrived migrants from Aegean Macedonia was the extended family, which in traditional Macedonian village society was both the basic social and economic unit. The second tier of support systems were initially provided by small business proprietors such as the cafe and restaurant owners. These operations were especially evident during the first wave settlement, where, in the absence of traditional family structures, the "common" or meeting place was established to take on this primary role. During second and particularly third wave settlement, this function was usurped by the two tier model, with the "meeting places" being upgraded to community halls, club rooms, churches and cultural centres. Nonetheless, during the 1930s and 1940s, the traditional cafe played an instrumental role in enabling Macedonians to meet, exchange information, participate in recreational activities, and even transact business. The first known Macedonian establishment of this nature operated during the mid 1920s in Perth, whereas similar places were open in Melbourne and Adelaide during the late 1930s (5:12).

2. The Development of Macedonian Organizations

The first Macedonian organization of note to be established in Australia was the Macedonian Patriotic Organization, which was an offshoot of the MPO network that had been established a decade earlier in the United States of America (5). This organization, founded in 1936 by a group of Macedonians from the Lerin region of Aegean Macedonia, was based in Melbourne, and over the ensuing period organized meetings and social functions for the Macedonian community.

In 1939, an association known as "Edinstvo" or "Unity" was established in Perth, and its members were responsible for holding the first acknowledged public performance of Macedonian folk dances (5). In 1942 other progressive persons from Aegean Macedonia established an organization known as "Sloboda" or "Freedom", which followed in the footsteps of "Edinstvo". Subsequently, during the war years, similar organizations were established by Aegean Macedonians all over Australia, many for the express purpose of assisting the war effort. Under these circumstances, it was inevitable that a common purpose would be identified across the new homeland, and a common vehicle needed to be created for this purpose. At a watershed national conference held in Perth on 24 and 25 August 1946, Macedonian delegates from all Australian States resolved to establish the Makedonsko-Avstraliski Naroden Soyuz (MANS) or the Macedonian Australian People's League. On the executive were progressive Macedonians from Aegean Macedonia. Branches of the League were established in all States, and regular fund raising functions were held to ensure the organization's longevity.

Many of these funds were channelled into the organization's newspaper, Makedonska Iskra or Macedonian Spark, which was published as the voice of the League for over 10 years, from 1946 to 1957. The paper was printed in a tabloid format, and apart from the title which was written in the standard Cyrillic script, the Latin script was used because it was far more readily comprehensible to Aegean Macedonians who, because of the persecution and oppression going on in their homeland, had never been afforded the opportunity of attending Macedonian schools to learn the Macedonian language.

The paper featured articles written in the dialect spoken in Aegean Macedonia, as it was understood better than the literary Macedonian language then taking root in the new Socialist Republic of Macedonia. Makedonska Iskra was ultimately replaced by similar newspapers in the late 1950s, though none were able to achieve the success of the former which at its peak was circulating some 5,000 copies (8:68).

The arrival of the second wave migrants from Aegean Macedonia swelled numbers considerably and highlighted a pressing need for the establishment of Macedonian halls and churches. The first such establishment was erected in Crabbes Creek in 1947, and was used essentially for church services (5:14).

As mentioned previously, settlers from Aegean Macedonia had settled predominantly in the southern region of the Australian continent. One of the strongest and best organized settlements remains the Macedonian Community of Western Australia, which in 1957 succeeded the original Edinstvo organization. The Macedonian Community Centre in Perth was completed in 1968, and houses a church chapel. Similarly, in Adelaide, the Macedonian Community, set up initially in 1947, established its own hall in 1967. As a complement to the hall, an orthodox church, St Naum of Ohrid, was opened in 1984.

In 1960, the Macedonian Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria, the largest Macedonian community organization in Australia, had its new church consecrated in Fitzroy. This community, comprising predominantly of members from Aegean Macedonia, later established the impressive Macedonian Social Club at Epping, Victoria, in 1980.

Shepparton in Victoria and Richmond and Queanbeyan in New South Wales are also large Aegean Macedonian centres, with only the latter community, however, having its own Orthodox Church.

Within the parameters of these community organizations have continued to thrive sectional affiliations, such as sports and soccer clubs, cultural and literature societies, folkloric ensembles, ethnic schools, radio programs, and women's, youth and seniors' committees.

3. Political Dimensions

The mainstream Macedonian community in Australia has always been acutely susceptible to the pressures exerted by the dominant Greek political culture. The driving force behind Greece's foreign policy in its modern era of independence has been its nationalist obsession with the "Megali Idea", the idea of "Greater Greece", with its sovereign claim upon lands and cultures which have some alleged historical lineage with the modern Greek state.

The relative sophistication and success in its instruments of oppression - population exchange, proselytization, forced expatriation - has as its legacy a disoriented and factionalized Macedonian political movement which has often been on the brink of extinction, both within Macedonia and outside of its boundaries.

After decades of denationalization in Greece, the Macedonian resistance ethic has tended to have worn thin and left the Macedonians bereft of an intelligentsia. This situation applied universally until the creation of the Republic of Macedonia in 1944, which reversed the slide into national oblivion and cemented the path towards a national political and cultural renewal.

However, the barrier transplanted amongst Macedonians had its desired effect - it fomented a "partition mentality" within which Macedonians from the Aegean region have struggled, particularly in subsequent generations, to acquire and maintain a sense of identity vis-a-vis the Republic.

Official Greek propaganda holds that there is no distinct Macedonian ethnic group, and that the few "slavonic speaking" persons remaining in Aegean Macedonia are in reality "slavophone Greeks", converted to a slavonic dialect by Bulgarian pressure and intrigue, but all having a strong Greek consciousness. Macedonia and the Macedonians, they claim, have always been Greek, dating back to the era of Phillip and Alexander of Macedon. Another variation in this Greek theme is that the Macedonians are Bulgarians or even Gypsies who have no culture, language or ethnic identity as such. Furthermore, their position on the Republic of Macedonia is that this state is a political fiction, created by Tito, who had grand ambitions for Aegean Macedonia. The inhabitants of the Republic, according to the official Greek position, are either "Yugoslavs", "Serbs" or "Bulgarians", speaking a variety of those languages.

At times when they are forced to concede, such as when multicultural policies in Australia are affirmed, they acknowledge Macedonians from the Republic as "Yugoslav Macedonians", stating that the Greeks of Aegean Macedonia are the "Greek Macedonians".

This has been the consistent historical approach of the Greek state and elements within their emigrant communities in dealing with the Macedonian issue. Concomitant with the presence in this country of Macedonians from Aegean Macedonia has been the existence of acute forms of propaganda and provocative activity aimed at negating the existence of these Macedonians, and Macedonians in general, and their rights in this country.

The response from the Macedonians has been interesting. The mainstream Macedonian community has usually opted for a low key approach, seeking guarantees from the Australian Government that, in a multicultural society, Macedonians will continue to have the same rights as all other groups. This is a tactic that over the years has worked particularly well. Australian Governments have on the whole been somewhat reticent about embracing the issue too intimately. The recognition of the existence of the Republic and its people and culture is unequivocal. Most often however, Government leaders and officials have refused to be drawn on the existence of a Macedonian minority in Greece and its denial of basic human rights for fear of offending the large Greek presence in this country. Nonetheless, on many occasions over the past 40 years, where Macedonians have loudly protested their rights both here and in Aegean Macedonia (through petitions, publications, conferences, delegations and other activities), Australian Governments have responded positively to affirm the right to self-identification and absolute cultural rights within the parameters of Australia's democratic multiculturalism.

Nonetheless, the Greek political pressure has remained constant and stifling. The effects of many years of intimidation and violent assimilation in Aegean Macedonia have produced fear and suspicion and a resultant diminution of national consciousness and identity.

As Price noted in his work (4:317-20), many Macedonians from Aegean Macedonia who had settled here as part of the first wave had strong pro-Bulgarian leanings. During the pre-partition phase and even during the 1920s and 1930s, and before the creation of the Republic, many Macedonians regarded Bulgaria as their natural protector, acknowledging their cultural affinity with their neighbouring nation. However, with the creation of the autonomous Republic, most of these Bulgarophiles joined Macedonian community organizations and consolidated the drift towards the Republic, which was further enhanced by the re-establishment of the autocephalous Macedonian Orthodox Church there in 1967.

However, during this era, many new arrivals from Aegean Macedonia opted to join Greek organizations. In a democratic and open society, the question of identity and allegiance became at once both alluring and confusing, given that they then had a choice. Many were genuinely ignorant, others rallied to the Greek cause out of fear and concern for relatives and property remaining in Aegean Macedonia. As such, it was not surprising to see many villages and even families split as a result of this contentious and very real issue. Price placed weight on the fear factor stating that many Macedonians spoken to who were unashamed about their pro-Macedonian loyalties had no relative or ties remaining in Greece (4). Other observations made by that writer were that Macedonians who had defected to the Greek cause were not themselves comfortably thought of and accepted as Greeks by Greeks. This convoluted issue was further complicated by the fact that the incidence of inter-marriage was prevalent and created genuine "Greek-Macedonian" families.

The legacy of the "crisis of identity" has been more pronounced in the second generation Aegean Macedonians in Australia. Trends have indicated an ongoing and deepening rejection of the culture in its traditional elements (9). Caught between the competing propagandas, the questions: do we exist and what are we, have been less mandatory for a generation with the skills, educational qualifications and language to enable them to opt for a passive Anglo conformity.

Aegean Macedonians in Australia - The Future

1. The Cultural Dynamics of a Peasant Society in Transition

The tendency towards cultural disintegration identified above that appears to be manifest at present amongst Macedonians from Aegean Macedonia has its roots in the simple dynamics of the culture of these Macedonians in their country of origin, and particularly in the presence of an occupier or oppressor. All of the first wave and the great majority of the second wave of migrants from Aegean Macedonia have been of a peasant background.

In general, what are the cultural dynamics of a peasant society? In terms of identifying what we might call core values or traditions, it must first be readily appreciated that there is a singular lack of uniformity exhibited in peasant societies, notwithstanding the commonality of the relevant socio-economic relations in feudal, semi-feudal and early capitalist settings. To some degree, therefore, even a peasant culture is often indistinguishable from the normal patterns exhibited in any small rural community. However, perhaps the most marked point of departure is identified when considering the mode of transmission of all facets of the culture from one generation to the next. In a peasant or village community, access to more sophisticated instruments of cultural transmission has historically always been limited. Here, of course, reference can be made to transmission by way of print, by image or by apparatus, modes which are all taken for granted in late Western capitalist society. In a peasant society, the total cultural heritage that is often called simply tradition, historically is transmitted orally, that is by direct human expression and contact, rather than by the more sophisticated forms that were mentioned above. In the main, such culture has remained conservative, displaying a propensity rooted in maintenance of an existing social order and a well tried and tested acknowledgment of previous life experiences and their successes, thus providing a suitable and largely self-determining role model for normative or core cognitive and behavioural patterns.

It is the general rule that where the peasant culture is essentially quiescent and reliant upon oral transmission by direct human demonstration that it remains conservative, disrupted only by coercive external stimuli such as physical or environmental changes due to technical innovations, fundamental changes in the socio-economic relations of the state, or perhaps even higher literacy rates.

These dynamics then are exceedingly simplistic, with the reality of a peasant society being reflected in small, semi-isolated but economically self-sufficient villages with little or no market orientation. The social model is simple, the organization of work and use of work technology rudimentary. Occupation of the land in the absence of coercive external forces is virtually permanent. In almost all cases, the relative lack of social and even spatial mobility is exacerbated by a very low literacy level. Other features are just as easily recognizable. The family relations are patriarchal, with an exaggerated dependence upon the head, and a generally submissive psychology apparent in the offspring. The extended peasant family, so familiar in many European cultures, and the close co-operation between the different generations therein, also acts as a vehicle preserving the conservative peasant culture.

Macedonians from Aegean Macedonia of peasant background have tended to fit perfectly the aforementioned stereotype. This explains in part the success achieved in maintaining the traditional culture even in the face of centuries of political oppression and proselytization. However, it also alerts one to the major problem of an oral culture. Such a culture, by definition, limits severely the possibility of a wholesale cultural transmission from one generation to the next, and in turn restricts the very quality and durability of those facets of cultural life that are successfully transmitted. This analysis is borne out by an observation of the subsequent dissolution of a traditional peasant culture with the advent of a more advanced, progressive and sophisticated culture in a new physical and intellectual environment. It is in such an environment, for example in Australia, where a peasant culture is more susceptible. Able to survive in its traditional elements for centuries in the old country, even in the presence of an occupier, the new physical and cultural milieu severs the nexus between the land and the peasants' social and spatial immobility, and renders the old values, practices and usages redundant, consigned to social oblivion where they are sometimes irrevocably lost. They are replaced by cultural traits inherited or transmitted both directly and subtly from the new dominant cultural ethos, producing inevitably an entirely different persona, a product of assimilation.

As mentioned above, this is a trend that many young Macedonians with parents and ancestors from Aegean Macedonia are now inadvertently consolidating. It seems paradoxical that this pattern is developing in a multicultural community within which is an implicit encouragement and acceptance of the expression, evolution and consolidation of living minority cultures as an integral part of the daily life of the nation.

Given such a universal and ongoing commitment to multiculturalism in this country, one would expect then that the incidence of cultural retention amongst the younger generations of Macedonians would be high. However, the results of post-graduate research done in the 1970s by Betty Kris at the University of Adelaide are as illuminating as they are contradictory (9).

Part of the survey focused upon second generation Macedonians under the age of 30 years, and given the period of the survey and the composition of the community at that time, the background of the specific target group here was exclusively from Aegean Macedonia. Ninety six per cent of these respondents were from a peasant or village background. The gender quota was approximately equivalent. Forty five per cent were involved in white collar work, a further thirty two per cent had done or were doing tertiary studies, whilst only six per cent were engaged in professional work.

In answer to the question, (i) "Should Macedonia be an independent state?", of the 26 per cent that were ambivalent in their response, almost 85 per cent were in the under 30 category.

Other interesting and relevant questions and responses were:

(ii) Should a Macedonian Church be built in Adelaide?
- Of the 35 per cent answering in the negative, 75 per cent were aged between 15 and 30 years, with most claiming that they saw the Macedonian religion as irrelevant.

(iii) Who would you prefer to marry?
- Thirty per cent responded, "A person of Macedonian origin."

(iv) Who would your parents prefer you to marry?
- Eighty four per cent responded "A Macedonian."

(v) Should Macedonians marry Macedonians?
- Ninety two per cent of young respondents again expressed ambivalence.

(vi) Is there a generation gap in your family?
- Eighty nine per cent of young respondents replied in the affirmative, citing the following reasons:
(a) Clash of cultures.
(b) Unable to communicate properly.
(c) Rejection of parents' experiences.

When parents were asked to respond to the same question, they identified the most common areas of disagreement as being:
(a) Mode of behaviour.
(b) Choice of spouse.
(c) Choice of occupation.

(vii) What is the solution to this generation gap?
- The most common answers here were:
(a) A complete break from the family unit.
(b) A complete break from the community.

(viii) Is the Macedonian way of life up-to-date with the Australian?
- Ninety six per cent answered "No".

(ix) Is your parents' degree of discipline over you adequate?
- Seventy one per cent stated that is was excessive.

(x) Do you feel that you belong to the Macedonian community?
- Fifty eight per cent of respondents said "No", stating that their participation in the community automatically meant a restriction upon their life chances in the wider community.

(xi) What do you think your parents would like you to grow up as?
- Sixty six per cent said "Macedonian".

(xii) Do you belong to any non-Macedonian organizations?
- Forty three per cent of young respondents said "Yes".

(xiii) Do you prefer to engage in Australian or Macedonian social or cultural activities?
- Sixty seven per cent said "Australian".

(xiv) Have you adopted "Australian customs"?
- Seventy nine per cent said "Yes".

(xv) What language do you speak at home?
- Ninety one per cent of young respondents spoke English amongst themselves, and 56 per cent spoke Macedonian with parents and relatives. Almost 30 per cent spoke almost no Macedonian at all.

The decided and ongoing rejection of the Macedonian culture in almost all of its facets by second generation Australians of Aegean Macedonian background is borne out empirically by a critical absence of participation in the traditional mass structures in Australia, the communities, which were established by first, second and third wave migrants from Aegean Macedonia. For example, the number of second generation Macedonians in Adelaide from Aegean Macedonia is five times that of those from the Republic of Macedonia. Yet the active participation rate in cultural activities, both within the community and outside of it in other forms of traditional, ritualistic practice, lies in favour of those from the Republic by perhaps thirty to one.

The answer to the dilemma lies in the peculiar historical and sociological phenomena which have manifested themselves in a more visible form with the second generation. The aforementioned partition mentality that tends to afflict all Macedonian communities has been described as a crisis of identity. As mentioned also, its effect is exaggerated in the case of the Macedonians from Aegean Macedonia for historical reasons. Psychologically, many first generation Macedonians in Australia from Aegean Macedonia perceive themselves as being stateless, and often, in search of a secure identity, they have drifted into opposing camps. Simply, this is as a result of their misconception of the status of the Republic of Macedonia and its modern form culture.

By comparison, Aegean Macedonia, their portion of the mother country, remains tethered. In effect, the barrier planted between Aegean Macedonia and the Republic in 1912 created a cultural gulf that widened further after emancipation and establishment of the Republic in 1944. In Aegean Macedonia, the culture remained frozen in its traditional form, as it was way back in 1912, unrepentant even in the stifling presence of the Greek. The mode of transmission remained oral and very unsophisticated, due ostensibly to the harsh denationalization measures adopted by the Greek state. This was an appropriate formula for survival and cultural retention in Aegean Macedonia, but in the post migration and settlement phase, it left these Macedonians acutely ill equipped to be able to appropriately transmit an oral culture in the new physical and intellectual milieu that was Australia. Low literacy rates coupled with a lack of skills exacerbated the dissolution of the traditional culture notwithstanding the steadfast determination to re-create the past and the heady conservatism that this produced in its wake.

Thus, Macedonians from Aegean Macedonia have always exhibited a strong tendency towards isolationism, even within the multicultural community, and the insistence upon a strict reproduction of their peasant traditions and values without an effective and sophisticated mode of transmission has produced considerable stress and misunderstanding within families.

The upshot has been a significant rejection of the culture by the second generation, and a general opting out in favour of a superficial but more accessible cultural acceptance within the parameters of mainstream Anglo conformity. As such, if the modern form of Macedonian culture as embodied today in the Republic is somewhat unfamiliar to the first generation Macedonians from Aegean Macedonia, then this has undoubtedly had a multiplier effect in the case of subsequent generations in Australia. Here then is the classic product of assimilation with a new persona, illustrating well the total and complete dissolution of an oral peasant culture within a dominant and pervasive, though nominally pluralistic, culture.

2. Settlement from the Republic of Macedonia - A Comparative Comment

In relation to this delicate dilemma, theories about the comparative case of Macedonians of peasant origin from the Republic of Macedonia remain speculative, particularly in the absence of definitive research. Certainly, some factors are undeniable. Their settlement in Australia has been more recent, and perhaps the majority of the first generation now in this country can only ever recall total political freedom and a flourishing culture. Many have had a good degree of formal education, relative to their first generation Aegean counterparts, and are seen as more culturally aware and sophisticated. Modern modes of cultural transmission have been accepted and embraced and adapted within the new environment, without an over emphasis on the cultural rigidity displayed by Macedonians from the Aegean region. This has enable a more relevant and palatable cultural retention of what are seen as positive cultural attributes by the subsequent generations. This also explains perhaps the higher incidence of participation in cultural rituals and activities as evidenced in the Adelaide example and elsewhere in Australia, without any compromise on manoeuvrability within the mainstream community.

Conclusion

The Imperative for Survival

Without overstating the case, it can be readily seen that Macedonians from the Aegean region of Macedonia have, since the partition in 1912, continued to lead a very tormented existence. This of course was a position common to all Macedonians, notwithstanding which part of the country they may have come from, prior to 1944.

The immense contribution made by the first wave pechalbari to this country, where they faced discrimination and loneliness, has been complemented by the second and third wave settlers, amongst whom were a substantial component of political refugees who had no choice about leaving their country. What they have subsequently established for themselves, their families, and their community has been built with toil and endeavour. Its impact upon the Australian community and its institutional and community life has been profound, as in the case of the many other migrants who have come to these shores.

The standard lament however must be that the many thousands of young Australian-born Macedonians of Aegean background now face being permanently and irrevocably lost because of the ongoing identity crisis, which, when coupled with the imminent passing of the patriarchal generation in Aegean Macedonia and the first generation settlers in this country, may perhaps mean the disappearance of an entire facet of Macedonian historical and cultural heritage. This remains a delicate dilemma, perhaps more psychological than it is historical, geographical or even ideological. Macedonians of the Aegean region must therefore be enabled an opportunity to come to terms with the modern cultural forms exhibited in the Republic of Macedonia and, in so doing, nurture a relevant and contemporary retention on an ongoing and evolutionary basis. This must be done without in any way making any concession to the ongoing deprivation being suffered by Macedonians in Aegean Macedonia.

References

1. Pribichevich S, Macedonia: Its People and History, Chapter 1, Penn State University Press, 1982.

2. Radin AM, IMRO and the Macedonian Question 1893-1934, Kultura, Skopje, 1993.

3. "Migration Schemes from 1912 to 1971 and the Repercussions with Respect to the Ethnic Composition of the Population in Aegean Macedonia", in The Characteristics of Yugoslav Emigration, Zagreb, 1979.

4. Price CA, Southern Europeans in Australia, Oxford University Press, 1963.

5. Hill P, "Macedonians", in Encyclopedia of the Australian People, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1988.

6. Andonov V, "Emigration from Macedonia, Macedonian Migrants in Overseas Countries and Their Organized Association", in The Characteristics of Yugoslav Emigration, Zagreb, 1979.

7. Tkalcevic M, Macedonians in the Australian Society, Community Services Centre, Department of the Premier, Melbourne, 1980.

8. Andonov V, Macedonians in Australia, Misla, Skopje, 1973.

9. Kris B, A Survey of a Sample of the Macedonian Community of Adelaide, South Australia, University of Adelaide, 1971.

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Macedonian Agenda

Copyright: 1995

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