Josanne Cassar in Sydney

With 22,000 first generation migrants, Sydney, like Melbourne, has a large, ageing Maltese population. In the suburbs of Blacktown, the Maltese are the second largest ethnic group after the Philippines.

Considering these statistics, however, only a handful showed up at the Pendle Hill monument dedicated to the Sette Giugno victims, where the Prime Minister laid a wreath. Predictably, and despite it being a Saturday morning, the crowd was mostly made up of the indefatigably patriotic members of the older generation. What they lacked in numbers, however, was made up by their enthusiasm and genuine delight at meeting us.

PBS journalist and newscaster Kevin Papagiorcopulo was a particular hit, as he is recognised everywhere we go.

An unexpected encounter was with Andrew Sultana (formerly an employee with Where’s Everybody?) who showed up to say hello, driving up in a van with the phrase “Tal-Qara” written on it. After travelling all over Australia he has now settled down in Sydney, where he directs TV commercials. Two days ago he was granted a business temporary stay visa for four years.

At the Maltese language school in Seven Hills, four teachers with around 100 students ranging from kindergarten age to adults are valiantly trying to keep the language. One of the young teachers, Anna Chetcuti, has just returned from a four-month scholarship at the University of Malta to study Maltese language, literature and folklore, which she now hopes to share with her students.

Answering questions about his trip during his final press conference, Dr Gonzi expressed his pleasure in finding such a strong Maltese cultural identity and a community that participates so actively at all levels of Australian society. A recurring complaint by Maltese-Australians is that they receive news from Malta 10 days late (PBS sends a half-hour news round-up on cassette by courier, which is transmitted on the Australian SBS channel on Sunday mornings.)

Because of the considerable demand for up-to-the-minute news by the large Maltese population in Australia, The Malta Independent asked whether it would not make more sense to introduce a satellite transmission direct from Malta. “A satellite transmission is a bit more complicated and expensive but it is a possibility we could explore, if it is feasible,” replied Dr Gonzi. “However, I still feel we aren’t making enough use of the Internet. With the technology we have today, we can send a file with the news which is uploaded on the website and then downloaded by SBS, making it only a few days late. However, for us to do this, SBS needs to upgrade its broadband access. At the moment we are testing this method by outsourcing it to another company, which then converts it into a tape for SBS. And, of course, people can always access various Maltese websites and follow direct radio and TV broadcasts themselves.”

When it was pointed out that the elderly population, so eager to keep in touch with Malta, is not exactly Internet literate, Dr Gonzi begged to differ, and used the High Commissioner Francis Tabone’s father (President Emeritus Prof. Censu Tabone) as an example. “He is 94 and he uses Skype!”

Of course, what was left unsaid was that most of the elderly Maltese Australians are from a different socio-economic background to Prof. Tabone.

When asked about the “incident” in Perth where Dr Gonzi was frisked by airport security, the Prime Minister was quick to point out that he is constantly stopped every time he goes through Brussels, “because I always forget to remove my mobile from my pocket”.

Shrugging off the incident and turning it into a joke, Dr Gonzi said that the guards couldn’t understand why he kept setting off the security beeper. “I told them it must be my passionate Maltese blood! My final comment on this is that Australians should be happy about what happened because it proves their security system works.”

Our final day in Australia also gave us the chance to meet the new generation of Maltese migrants, young doctors who have come here to specialise.

Marie Micallef from Attard is a pharmacist by profession but wanted a change of career and has now taken up her passion, photography. “My fiancé has been here for three-and-a-half years – he came to study anaesthesia and I joined him 18 months ago. Getting a visa is not so easy but anaesthesia happens to be on their essential list. Of course, it’s easier for us than it was for the first migrants because now we can communicate by e-mail, and language is not a problem.

The hardest thing to adjust to is being apart from our family and friends, but I’ve been back twice for a few months, so I’m lucky. I think we’ll stay here for another couple of years, obtain our citizenship and then we’ll see.”

Simon Reginiano, her fiancé, said that adjusting gets easier as time goes by. “After finishing my studies, I’m only experiencing the real world working as a consultant now. We are keeping our options open, there’s always the long distance from our families, which is tough. You have to build up new friendships from scratch, and we have no relatives here, so it’s hard. On a positive note, we can travel easily around the Pacific Islands and Asia. I don’t know whether we will end up living here all our lives – you never know.”

Another engaged couple, both doctors, are Mark Fiorentino, 28, from Luqa, who is specialising in surgery and Lisa Psaila, 25, from Mosta, who has specialised in pathology.

“We were lucky to both find a job in the same city,” said Mark. “Within two months we had arranged everything, obtained our visas and arrived here in April of this year. It’s a long road to specialise, about six years, and we had to do our undergraduate exams all over again, but the opportunities are here. Specialisation is a matter of acquiring experience and skills, so while we work at the hospital, we are continuously supervised and assessed on the job. On a personal level, the hardest part is being away from family and friends. We really miss Malta’s lifestyle, the beach and the sea, and the fact that you can get everywhere so quickly. Having said that, we plan to stay here for good.”

Lisa added: “We took this as an adventure. Unless you leave Malta you don’t know that there is another world out there. We could have gone to Europe, which would have been easier, but we wanted to see the world.”

They meet elderly Maltese in the course of their work, who are obviously happy to meet them, and the young couple often act as interpreters. “One woman, who is not strictly my patient, always asks for me when she wants to say something to the doctors, ‘Gibuli l-Malti’ (get me the Maltese doctor). My father lived here for eight years so when I told him about my plans he told me, ‘pack everything and go for it’. My mother took it a bit harder,” said Mark.

Lisa added, “Thank God for Skype! Obviously it’s difficult for our families, but they know it’s important for our future.”

Interestingly enough, these young Maltese are also banding together as a community, much like those first migrants did 50 years ago. “This year, seven of us doctors came here so we stick together, and help each other with paperwork and contacts, because the more you are the better. The Australians have been very friendly and welcoming however.”

Lisa and Mark wanted to take this opportunity to send their greetings to their other doctor colleagues who have emigrated to the UK, Ireland and Norway.

We met other young professionals here of course, most notably those in the diplomatic corps. Throughout our Australian trip we have been very well taken care of by the hardworking Consul Generals and their staff in the states we visited. Dr Anthony Sciberras in Perth, Mr Frank Scicluna in Adelaide, Mrs Angele Azzopardi in Melbourne, Deputy High Commissioner Charles Sultana in Canberra and here in Sydney, Ms Joanna Pisani. The role of a Consul General is to liaise with the Maltese community in matters concerning pensions, citizenship and other queries. They are also instrumental when it comes to the organisation of official visits such as this one.

They have all gone out of their way to make us feel welcome, patiently answered all our questions and have been a mine of information about what it’s really like to live in Australia.

Angele Azzopardi, who has been Consul General for Melbourne for the last 18 months, came to Australia with her husband and two young children. Her life sounds like that of any other working mother: rushing around between work, domestic chores, ferrying the children to their activities and helping them with their homework. The difference is that the distances are longer. She will eventually return to Malta at the end of her term and wonders how her children will fit in. “My son especially has become very Australian; very into sports.” The most difficult adjustment for her has been not having her extended family around her, and despite getting used to the lifestyle, there is something missing here. “It doesn’t feel like home,” she admits.

Ms Pisani, who will soon end her four-year term in Sydney, will be returning to Malta for good in September to continue working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where she has worked for 18 years. “This has been an experience and a half because you don’t really know what you’re going in for. The biggest culture shock were the long distances – when you say an hour away it’s relatively close – so you need to adapt to that. My staff consists of just my secretary and me so we have been very, very busy, not only with this visit, but also since joining the EU. We have had many requests for Maltese passports and now with the new legislation regarding citizenship, our phone hasn’t stopped ringing. The main reason there has been such an overwhelming interest is that EU membership will give them more freedom to move around Europe and means they won’t need visas any more either. I think what I’ve missed most since I’ve been here is swimming in the Mediterranean sea. Although we’re near the harbour it’s not the same – I don’t dare swim because of the sharks.”

So ends our glimpse of the Maltese community in Australia.

Perhaps one of the most telling comments I’ve heard was put in a nutshell by Lawrence Dimech, a correspondent for the Union Press and The Times, who has lived here for 52 years. “Ultimately, what we need is to be part of the Maltese system, so whatever they do in Malta, we will be an extension of it here, and not for us to be treated as an afterthought. It’s the ‘greater Malta’ concept. Malta does not end where her shores end – wherever there are Maltese, there is Malta. If you think of it that way, you will look at us a bit differently.”

The Prime Minister and Mrs Gonzi together with the rest of the Maltese delegation leave Sydney this evening and are expected back in Malta tomorrow afternoon.