Croatian Language and Culture in the Australian Context from 1945 to the 1990s

The period from 1945 (the end of the Second World War) to 1990 (the establishment of the modern Croatian state, Republic of Croatia), encompasses the time when the official Croatian community emerged on the Australian continent. Croats had already been present on Australian soil since the mid-19th century, but over time they were lost as a specific ethnic group, recorded under another, foreign, name. Only the establishment of the first Croatian club or association in Adelaide, South Australia, in 1950 followed by Sydney, Melbourne in 1951 and Perth in 1952, marked the beginning of the Croatian community with a Croatian name. All these institutions were founded by newly arrived Croats, refugees from war-torn Europe, from the short-lived Croatian state. Although the state was broken, the Croatian nation-building spirit was not and after the war, it moved to the distant continent of Australia and there planted its seed. This was followed by the struggle for the recognition of Croatian identity, language, and culture. The language was specifically important because there was an attempt to impose the so-called Serbo-Croatian which suited the then Yugoslav narrative of one nation one people. Earlier settlers of Croatian origin in Australia succumbed to this narrative and instead of identifying as Croats and speaking Croatian, they identified themselves as Yugoslavs and called their language “naški”, in the sense of our people, our customs, and thus “our” language. Unlike them, the newly arrived Croats instinctively and declaratively identified themselves as Croats and referred to their language as Croatian, which caused confusion, uncertainty, and even resistance from the local Croatian people who saw these newcomers as a threat to their efforts to assimilate into Australian society as quickly as possible. Through their public appearances, Croats were forerunners of the future Australian multiculturalism which only began to crystallize in the Australian landscape in the 1970s. By defending their rights and their identity, Croats were in fact defending the rights of other ethnic communities in Australia. On the contrary, they were called extremists, terrorists, fascists by Yugoslavia. Local politics—the situation the Croatian people found themselves in after the Second World War in the then communist Yugoslavia was transferred to Australia. Thus, the struggle for Croatian identity, language, and culture also included the fight for the Croatian state.

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