With the courtesy of www.bayanihannews.com.au

In the 1971 statistics of the Federal government, the number of Philippine born in the Australia rose to 2,550, more than double the figure recorded in 1966 which was only 984 Filipinos officially listed as migrants. The White Australia policy just been dismantled and Filipinos and other Asians from Asia started to come as migrants. From that year on until 1988 the highest number of Filipino migrants arrived and settled Down Under.

At that early, the problems of unifying various Filipino groups, like the trouble and recently experienced and felt in Australia among Filipino migrants, also started to surface among the early organisations of Filipinos in NSW.
 
In Sydney where the concentration of the biggest number of Filipino migrants resided, the early Filipino migrants had their own groups, The early associations in Australia were the Australian Eurasian Association (AEA), Club Filipino, Mabuhay Club, Philippine Australian Friendship Association (PAFA), Philippine Folk Arts Group (PhilFAG), and the Sandigan Club.


 
The AEA was not exclusively a Filipino association. It was founded in 1969 to help family of mixed marriages of Asian and Australian and help them adjust to the Australian situation, and achieve cross cultural contacts with migrants in similar situations, and with the aim in view of generating appreciation of Asian culture among the younger generations. However, their main concern was for the welfare of the Eurasian, although few Filipino migrants who were also included and represented in the AEA.
 
Another early association was the Philippine Tradesmen’s Association which was formed as more Filipino tradesmen were being recruited in the Philippines to work in Australia. The Whitlam government recruited more tradesmen from the Philippines. Most of the early arrivals were billeted in migrant hostels located in Endeavour, Villawood, and other areas.
 
Some of the trade migrants move out of the government supported accommodation. It was while out in the mainstream Australian community that Filipino tradesmen decided to form their organistion purposely ‘to keep track of their development and integration.’ Their president in 1971 was a certain E. Rivadello.
 
Another group was the Club Filipino and represented in the community by Chique T. Aldeguer and some of its known members were Mendy Purugganan, Winnie Genciana, and Philip Aldequer. Most of the members of this club belong the Spanish-Filipino migrants from Manila.
 
Another Filipino group was the Philippine Folk Arts Group (PhilFAG) which was created through the initiative of the Philippine Consulate General’s cultural officer, Lulu Rosales, with the help of early Filipino leaders of the community such as Linda Jenkins, Lucy Jumawan, a Filipina choreographer, and movie actor Henry Feist, known in Philippine cinema as Henry Duval.
 
The PhilFAG was the most active and visible among the groups because of the nature of its activities and specific goal to promote Filipino dances and music or to show Australia what the Philippines is all about. The group first performed at the St. Leonard Park, North Sydney early in 1974, then followed by other performances in Westfield, Blacktown during the Festival of Nations held in April.
 
The activity of PhilFAG included their performance during the Independence Day celebration of that year in Canberra and before the end of June 1974, PhilFAG had a major show at the Chatswood Town Hall. It was a very busy year for PhilFAG. It was even invited to performed at the newly opened Sydney Opera House.
 
After the initial success, PhilFAG decided to reorganise and adopt a policy that would benefit its members as its main concern. The members agreed that PhilFAG would work to provide its members an opportunity for their own devevelopment and to show Philippine artistry. It had an advantage compared with other Filipino groups. The Philippine Consulate General along Wentworth Avenue provided a space during their regular meetings and rehearsals.
 
It was also at this juncture towards the end of the year that an idea was formed to organize a federation of Filipino clubs comprising the six groups, although there were other few Filipino groups which were not linking their activities with the six identified groups. The idea for a federation was to assume various activities of the Filipino community which fall within each single club. The first meeting was held at the Jenkins residence and it was agreed that Tony Dedal would chair the newly organised group to be known as Federation of Filipino Clubs (FFC).
 
The second meeting of the FFC was held in November 24 at the Dedal residence and where they approved the policy and goals of the federation. It was regarded as the foundation date of the FFC whose first official meeting was held in December 8, 1974. It issued a mouthpiece of the federation called Kawayan which maiden issue was dated Novembeer 1975.
 
It was at this period that the first schism among Filipino associations first experienced. Although part of the first six identified groups which represented during the original meeting of FFC, the PAFA and Sandigan Club refused to commit their support to the newly organised umbrella organisation.
 
At that time PAFA was more identified with Salve Martinez-Gil and her husband, Dr Manuel Martinez-Gil, a Spanish-Filipino couple who were prominent in Sydney social scene. The couple also spearheaded the organisation of the Sydney chapter of the Knights of Rizal in Australia. PAFA wound its operation sometime in 1975 and transferred whatever records it accumulated during its short life to the NSW State Library. Dr. Manuel Martinez-Gil, however, decided to re-activate a new Filipino group called Australian-Philippine Association (APA) and introduced a newsletter called Mabuhay. Its president was Peter Long, an Australian married to a Filipina, Mari-lu Long. He was replaced by Salvi Martinez-Gil of Castle Cove, NSW.
 
   At that early, this situation in the Filipino community then and now reflected the observation of Salve Martinez-Gil who said ‘unity can not be achieved if one group seeks to be the dominant force or if an individual just wants to lead, never realizing that we also need good followers.’

 

 

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