Catalan Footprint in Australia. Exhibition .
The Consulate General of Spain collaborates with the cultural association, Myrïades, and the Casal Català de Victòria in the on-line exhibition about Catalan people who first came to Australia. The exhibition aims to present the Spanish culture through the voices of the migrant community in Australia and facilitate their integration amongst the wider society. The project aims to preserve oral history and its cultural heritage and make it accessible to everyone - in 3 different languages - through the new technologies.
On-line exhibition “The Catalan footprint in Australia”
Did you know that Catalan people where the first ones to grow tomatoes in Australia? Did you know that the famous Australian meat pie was a French-Catalan invention? The connection of the Catalan community with Victoria was central to the development of Melbourne in the beginning of the 20thC. Indeed, one can still recognise the influence of those Catalan pioneers in Victoria. Walking along Melbourne you can discover Morell Bridge, Barcelona Terrace, Canals Fish shop… Did you know that Melbourne had a Lord Mayor of Catalan descent? One of the most famous Australian war photographers had Catalan blood. A well-known magician, the first aviator to fly from London to Australia, a senator for Queensland, and many other glorious characters that left their Catalan imprint in the Australian society.
The on-line exhibition celebrates the 100 anniversary of the Villa family in Melbourne. In cooperation with the Casal Català de Victoria, Myriades aims to present the Spanish culture through the voices of the migrant community in Australia and facilitate their integration amongst the wider society. The project aims to preserve oral history and its cultural heritage and make it accessible to everyone - in 3 different languages - through the new technologies.
Exhibition organized by Myriades Cultural Association, with the support of Casal Català de Victoria (Catalan Club in Victoria). Opening: 11th September 2011.
www. museumvictoria.com.au/immigrationmuseum
www.catalanfootprintinaustralia.net
Special thanks: Josephine Canals, Peter Gerrand, Dalmau family, Parer family, Andinyach family, Galimany family, Codina family, Clota family, Xipell family, Power family, Senserrick family, Canals family, and to all of you who have opened the doors to their family secrets.
10 Answers
The new home: Australia // Catalan Melbourne Catalan Melbourne Parer´s hotels list Walking through Melbourne you can discover many Catalan places. Shall we go for a walk?
From the arrival of Peter Gras-y-Fort and through the connection of Esteban Parer, many Spaniards arrived in Victoria. They settled around Melbourne and integrated into the Australian society. Most of them worked in the hotel business, tomato markets, the fishing industry or cork importing. They got involved in sports events, politics and the public sphere. Little by little, their presence in Melbourne was significant, a footprint that is still visible nowadays.
Do you want to go for a walk along the streets of Melbourne and see what we find? Do you recognise any of these places? Melbourne has changed lots during the last century... Is there still any Catalan imprint in these places?
Take a camera and find out! Show us the Catalan Melbourne nowadays! Send your photos to info@catalanfootprintinaustralia.net. Show us the Catalan Melbourne now and then!
1
Rubira’s Cafe
305-307 Bourke Street, Melbourne
2
Albion Hotel?
292 Bourke Street, Melbourne
3
Royal Mail Hotel?
Corner of Swanston Street and Bourke Street, Melbourne
4
Duke de la Victoria
212 Bourke Street, Melbourne
5
Parer’s Crystal Cafe and Hotel?
200 Bourke Street, Melbourne
It was a common for Catalans arriving in Melbourne between 1860s-1920s to work in one of the Parer Family’s many hotels or restaurants
6
John Bull Tavern?
Little Collins Street, Melbourne
7
London Tavern Hotel?
99 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne
8
Exchange Hotel?
255 Little Collins Street, Melbourne
9
Hosies Hotel & Café
1 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne
10
Casal Catala de Victoria?
247-251 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
Established in 1986, the Casal Catala has been based at Ross House in Central Melbourne since 1988.
11
Keilor Market Gardens?
Mercedes Street, Barcelona Street and Girona Street
Catalan families (Borrell, Senserrick, Vert and Quertero) ran market gardens in Keilor from the 1920s.
12
Canals Seafood
703 Nicholson Street, North Carlton
Michael Canals moved his fish shopf rom Johnson Street to this site in Calton in 1931. His grandsons still operate the business.
13
Restaurant at the Royal Exhibition Building
9 Nicholson Street, Carlton
14
Barcelona Terrace
31 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy
Built by the Parer Family in 1881
15
Former site of the Mercy Hospital for Women
Clarendon Street, East Melbourne
Dr Inez Parer (1896-1982), daughter of John Parer, helped establish the Mercy Hospital for Women.
16
Morell Bridge
Crosses the Yarra River at Anderson Street
Sir Stephen Morell, Lord Mayor of Melbourne 1926-1928
17
St Kilda Pier Pavilion
Jacka Boulevarde, St Kilda
Original pavilion built by Frances Parer (1860-1925) in 1904. The original pavilion was destroyed by fire in 2003 and rebuilt/restored in 2006.
18
Gras y Fort Family Home
142 Mont Albert Road, Canterbury
19
Parer Family Estate
Around Clota Avenue, Box Hill
This land was owned by the Parer Family and used as market gardens. The land was subdivided and sold for housing in 1923.
The Portrait: Parer Family In 1856, Joseph and Francis arrived in Australia looking for gold. Little did they know that they would become the anchor of the Catalan family in Victoria and end up running more than 30 hotels in Melbourne in less than 50 years. Do you want to know them?
The new home: Australia // The portrait: The Parer family The portrait: The Parer family < > Click here to download the Parer family tree Joseph Parer Family, the hoteliers Francis Parer, the vegetable marketer Estevan Parer's family, catalan hosts John Parer's family, the benjamin Antonio Parer's family, the heir Michael Parer's family, the globetrotters John Arthur's family, the adventurer Stephen Parer's family, the bohemian Clota - Sans families Cabus - Codina family Parer family closeness + info Parer´s hotels list [Banyuls in a map of South France] [Parer family reunion in Parerville Box Hill] [Parer family tree] [Painting of Parer family home at Alella]
The Parer family from Alella became the anchor of the Catalan community in Australia.
The Parer family origins in Banyuls, in the Rosselló area, South France. Legend has it that a General Parer was held hostage by the Spanish during their invasion of France during the French Revolution. He is said to have been released and married a Catalan girl.
Anton Parer had a flour mill in Santa Perpètua de Moguda in the 18th Century and his son with Josefa Arenas, Pau (Pablo) Parer, also had a flour mill in Alella, called Casa Sors, which is still very well known in the area. Pablo married Eulalia Bosch in 1822 and they had five children: Rosa, Josefa, Antonio, Josep and Eulalia. Later on, Pau remarried with Ignasia Xicola from Vall Romanas, with whom he had nine children: Francisco, Teresa, Esteve, Felip, Jaume, Joan, Eulalia, Josefa and Joana.
According to the Spanish traditions of inheritance, the eldest son, Antonio, took over the flour mill and stayed in Alella. Two of the 13 children died young, a situation quite common at the time. The first brother to leave Spain was Josep, who decided to migrate to South America in 1851, following his sense of adventure and eye for business. He left Montevideo (Uruguay) on board of the ‘Alabama’ and landed in Australia in 1855. A year later, his half-brother Francisco joined him and they started a poultry breeding industry in Petersham near Sydney, but the business was not successful. They decided to move to Bendigo looking for gold and finally settled on the banks of the Yarra river, a tent town to cope with the rapid expansion of Melbourne during the gold rush. It was their entrepreneurial character and perseverance, and also a spark of luck which triggered the start of the Parer Empire in Melbourne. Did you know that in less than 40 years they invested in more than 30 hotels and restaurants? Did you know that they are believed to be the first ones to commercialise meat pies in Australia?
Josep and Francisco were the pioneers of the Parer dynasty in Australia! Seven of their brothers and sisters, their nephews and friends of the family joined them... And this is where the family tree gets complicated!!! Shall we have a more detailed look? Click on the links above to discover every family.
How intrepid were these wonderful people? To leave all that you held dear and move (amost literally) to the (other) end of the earth - and pretty much - start all over again. Risky stuff indeed.
And I guess a "trip home" would have been out of the question for most ordinary folk. It would have been far too expensive - not to mention the time it would have taken.
No wonder Melbourne is so cosmopolitan 
Spanish chorizo now available to consumers in Australia
09 May 2011
Australian may now enjoy authentic chorizo
Catalan entrepreneur obtains approval for entry of spicy pork sausage
When Catalan food marketer Juan Jose Sagnier tried to bring chorizo (spicy pork sausage) to markets Down Under, he was denied. Spanish authorities wouldn’t even let him take it out of country and the inspection services in Australia weren’t expected to take kindly to its entry either.
Sagnier called the experience “surreal” and compared it to “something from an Almodóvar film. The representative from the Spanish Department of Agriculture wouldn't sign the papers because he said they'd been trying to export chorizo to Australia for 30 years and they didn't believe it was possible.” But alas, nothing is impossible, and Sagnier was determined to make it happen. Two years later, Australia (and Brisbane in particular) is enjoying the Spanish delicacy. Stockists include Casa Ibérica, Big Vic Deli, Queen Victoria Market, Emerald Hill Deli, South Mel-bourne, Delicatess, Prahran Mar-ket, Psarakos IGA, and Bundoora.
Sagnier used to own restaurants in Menorca, part of the Balearic Islands. When he moved to Australia with his wife Lisa, they decided to import Spanish food products not available there. It took a lot of effort and “lateral thinking”, but eventually they found chorizo they could import in tins, with zero-bacteria, traditional flavor, and delicious pimentón (a type of Spanish paprika). Enjoy Australia!
Thanks for sharing all of this information Ray. These were things I definitely wasn't aware of!
I have learned so much through my friends on this site. I am so thankful to you and others who have expanded my knowledge of the world around me. Even if it is the other side of the world!!
If you are shopping for Spanish or South American ingredients in Melbourne, then your first stop is likely to be the Casa Iberica.
There you will find cochayuyo, jamon, varieties of chorizo, pilancillo, panela, varieties of canned and dried seafood, alino, miel del palma, Spanish oregano, smoked paprika, arroz bomba plus all the usual suspects for making your blockbuster paella including of course calasparra.
If your tastes run to the South American variants on Spanish food, you may also be able to find masa lista, arepas, Mayan paprika (or the Spanish version - pimenton), harina tostada, pupusas and achiote.
Spanish Food Safari
The final episode of Food Safari ends with the fire and passion of Spanish cooking – you can smell the heady scents of saffron, paprika and garlic as host Maeve O’Meara investigates the key ingredients needed to create a Spanish pantry and visits chefs and home-cooks to gather some really easy recipes.
Learn about the art of Spanish tapas and then join young drama student Penelope Lopez who grew up in her father’s acclaimed restaurant in the Basque country – she whips up garlic prawns in the twinkling of an eye then a simple refreshing gazpacho which is a hit with all her Aussie friends.
Economist Paula Horta takes her Spanish omelette to barbecues and says everyone always wants the recipe – she shows how easy it is to create a creamy, delicious result. Carlos Lopez is one of the masters of the no-fuss paella which he makes on the small balcony of his apartment and has all the neighbours salivating. Chef Frank Camorra from Melbourne’s hip Movida tapas bar gives a rundown of the key ingredients from Spanish paprika to Olive oil to saffron then whips up his favourite Sunday lunch dish using Spain’s favourite meat – pork.
Veteran deli owner Ramon Regueiro shows us why Spanish jamon is so prized and how to slice it and serve it. Finally, grandmother of five Rosalia Ugarte whips up rice pudding using her mother’s secret ingredient – condensed milk! It's divine. Featured Businesses
Torres Cellars & Delicatessen (paella pans and gas rings, groceries, Spanish wines, and jamon) Liverpool St Sydney NSW 2000 (02) 9264 6862
Casa Iberica (Spanish groceries, deli items, paella pans and gas rings, cooking pots, spices) 25 Johnston St Fitzroy VIC 3065 (03) 9419 4420
Café Hernandez 60 Kings Cross Rd Potts Point NSW 2011 (02) 9331 2343
Movida Bar De Tapas Y Vino 1 Hosier Lane Melbourne VIC 3000 (0
From one migrant family leaving Spain to make a better life came a successful family dynasty , which resulted into making the ideals and images that are todays Australians, without these brave migrants we would not be who we are today.
I salute their memory and give thanks to their sacrifices which gave me the great country I am privileged to live in .
Another famous son of the Catalan Parers was the famous war photographer whom I have been aware of since I was a boy watching his films of the Fighting men in New Guinea , but i was never aware until now that the family came from Spain , in the old days one did not publicise those things , more is the pity.
Damien Peter Parer (1 August 1912 – 17 September 1944) was an Australian war photographer. He became famous for his war photography of the Second World War, and was killed by Japanese machinegun fire at Peleliu, Palau. He married Elizabeth Marie Cotter on 23 March 1944, and his son, producer Damien Parer, was born after his father had died. He was also the uncle of Australian politician Warwick Parer and film-maker David Parer. He was cinematographer for Australia's first Oscar winning film, Kokoda Front Line, an edition of the weekly newsreel, Cinesound Review which was produced by Ken Hall.
One of Damien Parars most famous shots.
