When she arrived in Australia she was 15 and 3/4, Lella Cariddi remembers with a laugh. She came with her mother to join her father, who had migrated after WW2. Her family settled in Bendigo, but in 1962, already married, Lella moved to Melbourne.
Melbourne was very different then: Lella remembers a sleepy city, where shops closed early an people tended to drink too much. She had two little children by then, and life was busy.
Her passion for migration stories was born much later, and grew organically. When she finally started working on the What Happened at the Pier project she had completed a masters in curatorship.
Her collection of personal migration stories grew year after year, including people who have come to Australia from all over the world. Lella Cariddi credits her Order of Australia medal to all the people who over they years have shared their stories with her, contributing to an often overlooked part of recent Australian history.
