Author talk with Dr Madeleine Regan
Migrant family stories between the wars: An Italian market gardener community in Adelaide’s western suburbs”
Madeleine will speak about a group of market gardeners who arrived in Adelaide in the late 1920s from the Veneto region in Italy. The group developed a strong community and identity in the western suburbs of Adelaide between the wars. She will talk about the collection of 65 oral history interviews recorded over 17 years with family members who are descendants of the first generation of market gardeners.
She will illustrate her presentation with photos and maps and audio clips from oral history interviews that provide an insight into the lives of the families who established their market gardens in the 1930s in the Kidman Park/Flinders Park area. Madeleine will explain the importance of land, family contribution to work, the impact of World War II on the community and changes that occurred as suburban development closed in on the market gardens in the 1960s.
Biographical note
Madeleine Regan has undertaken oral history projects with migrant communities, educational organisations, local governments and family businesses in South Australia. She has deposited more than 120 oral histories in the State Library of SA. She completed a PhD at Flinders University in 2021 and currently holds Academic Status there. In 2025 Madeleine was the recipient of the Excellence in Oral History Award presented by the Historical Council of South Australia and Oral History Australia SA/NT.
Madeleine’s book, ‘I buy this piece of ground here’: An Italian market-gardener community in Adelaide, 1920s-1970s, was published earlier in 2025. Using oral histories with three generations, archival and published sources, the book examines the migration and settlement of a group of Italian families as market gardeners in the western suburbs from the 1930s. The period between the wars is often overlooked in Australian migration history in favour of post-World War II studies of mass migration and multiculturalism.
Free Event.
Bookings are essential.
Migrant family stories between the wars: An Italian market gardener community in Adelaide’s western suburbs”
Madeleine will speak about a group of market gardeners who arrived in Adelaide in the late 1920s from the Veneto region in Italy. The group developed a strong community and identity in the western suburbs of Adelaide between the wars. She will talk about the collection of 65 oral history interviews recorded over 17 years with family members who are descendants of the first generation of market gardeners.
She will illustrate her presentation with photos and maps and audio clips from oral history interviews that provide an insight into the lives of the families who established their market gardens in the 1930s in the Kidman Park/Flinders Park area. Madeleine will explain the importance of land, family contribution to work, the impact of World War II on the community and changes that occurred as suburban development closed in on the market gardens in the 1960s.
Biographical note
Madeleine Regan has undertaken oral history projects with migrant communities, educational organisations, local governments and family businesses in South Australia. She has deposited more than 120 oral histories in the State Library of SA. She completed a PhD at Flinders University in 2021 and currently holds Academic Status there. In 2025 Madeleine was the recipient of the Excellence in Oral History Award presented by the Historical Council of South Australia and Oral History Australia SA/NT.
Madeleine’s book, ‘I buy this piece of ground here’: An Italian market-gardener community in Adelaide, 1920s-1970s, was published earlier in 2025. Using oral histories with three generations, archival and published sources, the book examines the migration and settlement of a group of Italian families as market gardeners in the western suburbs from the 1930s. The period between the wars is often overlooked in Australian migration history in favour of post-World War II studies of mass migration and multiculturalism.
Free Event.
Bookings are essential.
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The City of Charles Sturt would like to acknowledge the land we occupy today is the traditional lands of the Kaurna people and that we respect their spiritual relationship with their country. We also acknowledge the Kaurna people as the custodians of the greater Adelaide region and that their cultural and heritage beliefs are still as important to the living Kaurna people today.
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Highlights
- 1 hour
- In person
Location
Ngutungka West Lakes
9 Charles Street
West Lakes, SA 5021
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