“LITTLE MALTA”

Hokitika Guardian, 20 May 1929, Page 8

“LITTLE MALTA”

I’D. .A-' I’JC SYDNEY SETTLEMENT. NO ENGLISH IS BROKEN. SYDNEY, Alay 2. Dm the outskirts of Sydney, close to Earn matt a, there has sprung into being during the last lour years a settlement ili.it is known as “Litt.o Malta from the fact that its inhabitants are ail .Maltese -British, but they do not spoaa a word of English, it is a romantid lutlo place liljied u'itl' swatliy men barefooted and unshaven, certainly, hut all all of them are extremely joliy. And the women aie oval-laced, with flashing brown eyes, uiibuhbed locks, and they, too, aie barefooted. Besides the men and the women and the children there are acres of lettuce, beet, cauliflower, and cabbage. This little settlement has ali .lie appearance of an Italian viliage. immoderate gusts of laughter, .snatches of grand opera, foreign folk songs and dances and a foreign language—these are the tilings that greet the visitor, all within 25 miles of the great metropolis. Tim Maltese have found ‘Mattie Malta” a kind of promised land. As market gardeners they are making big money, anil their intense tlirilt enables them to save nearly all of it. Three years ago there were less than ten Maltese in the district. To-day there are over 8!) and the number is increasing with new arrivals Irom Alalia and the little islands surrounding it. They ire taking the place of the Chinese market gardeners, who, as a result ol .tusiralias immigration laws are becoming fewer and fewer. Alosfc of the .Maltese when they arrive in Sydney are in their twenties. Few ol them speak English, and it is natural thereiore that they should seek employment with their fellow-countrymen ,vi:« are already settled here. Jn a ,i'W months the newcomer learns to be an expert market gardener, anil as lie works from twelve iu sixteen hours daily, including Sundays, and has bin. l wu day’s holiday annually, lie soon accumulates sufficient money to enable him to pay a deposit oil a piece ol land. His compatriots loan him the necessary implements, and it is no. long before the new garden is producing wealth. There have been numerous marriages at file settlement, but very little ceremony ittends these. Aftttr tin tvedu.iig Marie—lor il seems Unit an .Maltese girls are called Alarie —and her husband are entertained by their friends, to a feast of spliagetti, poultry and quaint sweets. There arc singing, much laughter and dance;*, that are unknown to Australians. There lias ,eeii only one “Little ALalta” honeymoon, and that was when a curlyheaded, handsome little Maltese gallant eloped with a short, fat Alarie, three days alter site had arrived at lho sett lenient, after travelling all the way from Malta to marry another man. They spent two days in Sydney and then returned to their market garden. “Little .Malta” provides an excellent field for the political organiser, '(he Ainlicse, being British subjects, are entitled to vote as soon as they can be enrolled. At the recent Parramatta by-election an organiser interviewed a couple of tin.' ejiiel men, and persuaded them to vote for bis candidate, with the result that that candidate received about 80 votes in a hunch. The whale of tin. 1 Alrrito.se bad voted for the one man.