About Historian Dr Criena Fitzgerald

SS Partizanka, Fremantle wharf, 1947. Courtesy M Grubisa
Three men at the top of the shaft using a windlass to haul up a bag of ore.
Possibly Gwalia or Boulder, circa 1930s. Courtesy George Lithgo.
Expectant crowds gather to gaze up at the Partizanka as it docks
in Fremantle on its way to Sydney. Courtesy K Ursich
Unknown prospectors. Courtesy George Lithgo.
Miner undergoing X-ray examination, Gwalia. Courtesy Dr Alan King.
Mara Markovich with herbs grown to supplement
the monotonous diet. Courtesy Mary Vuleta.

unearthing hidden stories

Dr Criena

Fitzgerald

Historian and Consultant

See more about:

Publications Historical Consulting Oral Histories

Recovering voices and stories from the past

Dr Criena Fitzgerald OAM

I am a published historian specialising and passionate about Western Australian history and unearthing hidden stories from the past. I have a PhD from the The University of Western Australia's Department of History and was recently awarded an OAM for services to community history.

Publications

I have been publishing social history in a range of media since 1992. Details of my most recent books can be found on the Publications page.

Historical Consulting

I have consulted on film and television productions, including Hoover’s Gold (Mago Films 2006), a historical documentary, Dirty Business: How mining made Australia (2011), My Name is Charlie a documentary by Valeria Messina and Daniele Gastoldi (2013) and an episode of Secrets of our Cities, SBS (2018). Details can be found here.

Oral Histories

As an oral historian I have worked for the National Library of Australia and the State Library of Western Australia, interviewing eclectic individuals about their lives. See my Oral History Projects here.

Collaborations and affiliations

with others

I have also worked interviewing for other historians, notably, A James Hammerton and Alistair Thomson’s book Ten Pound Poms: Australia’s Invisible Migrants.

I am a member of the Australian Mining History Association and presented a paper on Camels in the WA Mines Department at the 11th International Mining History Congress, Linares, Spain, September 2016.

I belong to the Australian and New Zealand Society for the History of Medicine and gave the keynote address to the 15th Biennial Conference in Melbourne in July 11–12 2017.

Testimonials and reviews

Dr Criena Fitzgerald has been a successful author in the field of Western Australian History for many years. During this time she has produced several publications of the highest quality. She has a background in Oral History, Occupational Health/Medical history, Migrants and Western Australian Goldfields History. She is a thoughtful and accomplished writer whose books speak for themselves.

She has that rare ability to appeal to both the intellectual and the occasional reader. She is able to tell the stories of everyday people in a way that is compelling and enjoying to read. Her books are a visual delight. They are not just stories and facts but with the combination of photographs, maps, drawing etc her books are works of art in themselves. Whatever subject Dr Fitzgerald undertakes to write about will be interesting, accurate, thoroughly researched and a must have for anyone interested in Western Australian History.

In my involvement in WA history for the last three decades, I have not met anyone more passionate and dedicated to her subject than Criena Fitzgerald and I could not recommend her work more highly. Moya Sharp from Outback Family History
www.outbackfamilyhistory.com.au
www.outbackfamilyhistoryblog.com

Congratulations on your beautiful book – 'For a Better Life'

Hello Criena,
Slavenka Misa is a good friend of mine and she showed me your latest book. I am so impressed, I had to buy one. Your book is beautiful, a treasure, honouring the early Dalmatian Settlers. I love the cover, and the layout is marvellous. Very Best Wishes,
Kaye Dragicevich, Kaitaia, New Zealand.
Author of Pioneer Dalmatian Settlers of the North

My son Paul gave me a copy of your book and after sitting on it for a while I started to read and read and read over the last couple of days.

I find it very interesting since we arrived in Boulder in 1954 from the trans line (my family came from Africa as displaced persons). I know many of the families mentioned by you and went to school with some of the children. Petar Radanovich was the manager of Brennans in Boulder and always managed to give my family a discount when we purchased clothes there. He was a very handsome man.

I delivered papers in the areas that were subject to the riots and even tried to learn music in the Slav club in Moran street (not successfully).

Your book has given me the background knowledge the history and the hardships of the parents of the people that I associated with as a young boy and teenager while growing up in Boulder. Thank You, John Sendziuk, South Australia

Dr Criena Fitzgerald is a highly regarded historian who has made a significant impact on the history of Western Australia, in particular the goldfields and Woodline Yugoslav and Italian communities. In addition, Criena is a public health historian having written the award-winning books 'Kissing can be Dangerous' and 'Turning men into Stone'.

It is through my interest in the goldfields woodlines that I met Criena. Her expertise as an oral historian has preserved the life stories of some 200 people. These rich and factual oral testimonies demonstrate the commitment Criena has to ensuring the hardships endured by migrants and making good in Australia, are not lost.

Criena’s latest book 'For a Better Life. Yugoslavs on the Goldfields of WA 1890–1970' documents the social, economic and political history of migrants from the former Yugoslavia and particularly their experiences on the WA goldfields and woodlines. Criena’s passion in ensuring that the largely overlooked contributions they made to the success of the mining industry are recognised.

This book will become an influential resource, to scholars and the wider community. Phil Bianchi OAM
Author of 'Woodlines of Western Australia'

Review – For a Better Life.

The book – For a Better Life - is a most enlightening book and is indeed a factual account of the Yugoslavs and the life they encountered on the Goldfields of Western Australia. The book also delves into the heart wrenching grief and hostilities shown towards human beings, not only in Western Australia but Australia, caused by the outbreak of both World Wars in Europe. The period between the World Wars, researched and written by Dr Criena Fitzgerald, places in perspective the life and tribulations faced by many of the Yugoslav immigrants.

The photographs and anecdotal stories are in line with the newspaper accounts of life for the people who lived on the Goldfields. Dr Fitzgerald has written a no holds barred account, including the riots of Kalgoorlie, and about the pre-world war 2 political and militant behaviour of the unions on the Goldfields. She has successfully conveyed the factual account of the difficulties associated with many Yugoslav families and their experiences in what could only be described as a hostile country for many foreigners wishing to be Australians. Dr Criena Fitzgerald through her experience as a Historian and Writer, has managed to write this book without prejudice thus enabling her readers to grasp the full extent of life for many people working and living in mining towns in Western Australia.

As a young boy I remember my Grandfather, David Henry Powell, telling my brother and I many stories about life on the Goldfields, including the riots. Dr Criena Fitzgerald has been able to substantiate these stories through her exception research ability and writing skills to allow the reader to visualize the written content, substantiated by the pictorial aspect of the book. The book is a credit to her quality and ability in portraying a vivid image of the Yugoslav families of the Goldfields of Western Australia. Dave Spain

Review – For a Better Life.

Criena Fitzgerald has produced a terrific, moving memorial to the Yugoslav men and women who powered the mining industry of Western Australia in the first half of the twentieth century. Well illustrated with photographs and documents from personal collections, 'For A Better Life' reveals the untold story of an immigrant group who made a huge contribution to the wealth of W.A. and Australia. The details and the migrants in this history grab attention through the words of the people themselves, telling their personal experiences. The author clearly places them in historical context, showing us their significance.

Men and then young women from the shores of the Adriatic arrived in the Outback unprepared for the isolated, arid expanse with no glimpse of water. They endured heat, flies, flimsy shelters, and arduous work. It was a dangerous place, easy to become lost and die simply trying to deliver lunch to a working husband.

The goldmines were a grim work environment, involving hard labour, yet mining jobs were coveted. The other option, work on the wood lines, was worse. Felling and delivering the timber, needed to prop the mines and power the ore processing machinery, was hellish toil in the harsh environment. It is astounding that the wives of these men raised families in the nomadic wood line camps.

Unfortunately, the climate and the work were not the only adversaries that the Yugoslav settlers faced. British Australians could be cruelly xenophobic. One of the distressing results of racial prejudice heightened by the Great Depression were the Boulder Riots in January of 1934 which resulted in the death of at least one Yugoslav man and the burning of the homes and businesses of hundreds of Yugoslavs. Their homes were razed by men who they worked with and knew. The author unveils this little known event in careful detail with respect for the people who suffered the consequences and had to pick themselves up and begin again.

The years of WW1 and WW2 provided more ordeals for the men, their wives and families. Internment camps, unemployment and heartless treatment by bureaucrats were common experiences.

Immigration is a universal theme. All over the world people have left home searching for a better life. It is still happening. Everyone should read this book. It is news, it is shocking, it is sensational and it gives hope because, eventually, the families did achieve a better life. Slavenka Misa – Secretary, Dalmatian Archive and Museum, Dalmatian Cultural Society, Auckland, New Zealand

Turning men into stone, winner of

Margaret Medcalf Award 2017 for Excellence in Research and Referencing using the State Achives Collection.

Publications list

Full list of publications

2021 For A Better Life: Yugoslavs on the Goldfields of Western Australia 1890–1970.

2018 Shattered Lives and Fractured Identities: Yugoslavia and back 1948–1955.

2016 Turning Men into Stone: A social and Medical History of Silicosis in Western Australia Hesperian Press, 2016, Awarded the Margaret Medcalf award for research excellence 2017.

2012 110 Degrees in the waterbag: A history of Leonora Gwalia. Short Listed for the WA Premier’s Award for WA history 2013

2009 Labor History Conference, Perth, Western Australia, July 2009. ‘Women and Mine ‘Damned Whores and God’s Police’: Widows on the Mine Workers’ Relief Fund, 1915–1925, Workers’ Relief 1915–1933’.

2007 Kissing can be Dangerous, The Public Health Campaign to Prevent and Control Tuberculosis in Western Australia, 1900–1980, UWAP, Perth, 2007.

2007 Fitzgerald, Criena, Compensating the Tubercular Miner: An Occupational Health Solution to a Public Health Problem, C Fox (ed.), Studies in Western Australian History: Social Policy in Western Australia, 2007, 25:148–165.

2004 Fitzgerald, Criena, A Press in Isolation, UWAP, Perth, 2004.

1996 Fitzgerald, Criena, ‘An extended tour of duty: Returned service personnel and tuberculosis’, in Jenny Gregory (ed.), On the homefront: Western Australia and World War II, UWAP, Perth. 1996.

1992 Jamrozik K, Jamieson R, Fitzgerald C. ‘An oral history of changes in the Australian diet.’ Med J Aust 1992;157:759–761.

Presentations

Conferences and talks

As a member of the Australian Mining History Association, I presented a paper on Camels in the WA Mines Department at the 11th International Mining History Congress, Linares, Spain–September 2016.