The aim of the project is the production of a retrospective bibliography of newspapers, journals and books published by Croats in Australia and New Zealand. The first phase of the project involves newspapers and journals and the second phase involves books published, edited and/or written by Croats in Australia and New Zealand.
The methodology includes (1) searching catalogues of national libraries in Croatia, Australia and New Zealand, (2) content analysis of other relevant sources and (3) collaboration with Croatian organizations, associations and individuals in Australia and New Zealand.
The software used for the bibliography is open source software Koha, an open source software that is used by the Library of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.
In the second phase of the project, we aim to produce a bibliography of all books written, published and/or edited by Croats in Australia and New Zealand.
The project is co-funded by the University of Zagreb funds for financing scientific activities (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences) for years 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. In 2019 the project was co-funded by the Central State Office for Croats Abroad.
In 2021, book Ni s kućom ni bez kuće that is based on the research made within the project, was co-funded by the Foundation of Croatian Academy of Science and Arts and by the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia.
In 2023, an extended English edition of the book was published with the title Their faraway home: the story of Croatians through publications. It was co-funded by the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia.
The project Croatian Emigrant Press: Australia and New Zealand in its first phase aims to produce bibliographies of all serial publications and books that have ever been published by Croats or Croatian organizations and associations in Australia and New Zealand.
The project is being conducted at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department for Information and Communication Sciences, in collaboration with scientists from other Croatian, Australian and New Zealand institutions.
Since 2022, the Croatian Emigrant Press Repository has been part of the project. In the repository all publications digitized within the project, as well as publications digitized in other institutions and/or projects with which cooperation has been achieved, are available in open access.
By December 31, 2018 all new records were added to both bibliographies. After the first phase of the research (searching catalogues of national libraries), there were 52 records in the bibliography of Australian newspapers. In the bibliography of New Zealand newspapers there were 13 records. Therefore, in the first phase of the research, until November 2018, 65 publications were found and recorded.
The second phase of the research included additional content analysis of secondary sources as well as research in libraries and archives in Australia and New Zealand. The second phase also included meetings with Croats in Australia and New Zealand that work (or worked) in the publishing sector. After the research and meetings, 41 more titles were found for Australia and three more for New Zealand. All the new records were added to the bibliographies. By the end of the year 2018, the bibliography of Australian newspapers had 93 records, and the bibliography of New Zealand newspapers had 16 records.
The two bibliographies have been created using library software Koha that supports international universal bibliographic standards. The total number of records at the end of 2018 was 112.
In January and February 2019 the records will be edited and unified. If new titles are discovered, new records will be added.
Serials – Australia (after the first phase, until November 2018)
Serials – Australia (after the second phase, until the end of 2018)
Serials – New Zealand (after the first phase, until November 2018)
Serials – New Zealand (after the second phase, until the end of 2018)
During research in Australia and New Zealand, through researching bibliographies, catalogues and literature, data about 36 more titles from Australia and 3 more from New Zealand were discovered. The copies are mostly held in private collections or in archives of Croatian associations. Some of the records were made based on copies and some based on secondary literature or interviews.
Some of the monographs that were used as secondary literature are:
Holjevac, Većeslav. Hrvati izvan domovine. 2. ed. Zagreb : Matica hrvatska, 1968.
Hrvatska – Australija i Novi Zeland : povijesni i kulturni odnosi = Croatia – Australia & New Zealand : historical and cultural relations / osmislila i priredila = conceived and compiled by Tuga Tarle ; uredio = edited by Ivo Žanić. Zagreb : The Croatian Writer’s Association, 2000.
Lovoković, Fabijan. Hrvatske zajednice u Australiji : nastojanja i postignuća. Kingsgrove : Središnji odbor hrvatskih društava Australije = Central Council of Croatian Associations in Australia, 2010. ISBN 9780646530536.
Marković, Luka. Pod australskim nebom. Zagreb : Jugoslavenska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti, 1973.
Tkalčević, Mato. Hrvati u Australiji. Zagreb : Nakladni zavod Matice hrvatske, 1992. ISBN 864010199X
Tkalčević, Mato. Povijest Hrvata u Australiji. Melbourne : Hrvatski svjetski kongres u Australiji, 1999. ISBN 0646371584
Working version of a new record
In the Newsletter of the Dalmatian Cultural Society in Auckland, within which the Genealogical and Historical Society acts, a short notice about the visit to their archive, library and museum has been published.
An interview with the project manager was broadcasted on the SBS Croatian radio programme. A short notice was published on the portal Domovina (Homeland) as well as in the printed edition (in the newspaper Domovina) about the visit to the Croatian Archive of Australia in Sydney.
SBS Croatian
Domovina
In the Auckland War Memorial Museum Library some copies of Zora (The Dawn) published from 1913 to 1916 are stored, in print and on microfilm.
The Central City Library in Auckland is home to some copies of Napredak (Progress), 1906-1909.
The copies are available in the Research Centre in print and on microfilm.
The Dalmatian Cultural Society in Auckland has a museum, an archive and a library. Some copies (or photocopies) of newspapers published by Croats in New Zealand are available at the Society. One of the titles is Zora (The Dawn), a newspaper that had been published in Croatian, in the period 1913-1917. The legacy of S. Jelicich, that include unique copies of some newspapers, is also available.
Figure 1. Title page of Zora, no. 15 from 1914
Figure 2. Karen Dobrić, Albin Dobrić, Linda Tolich, Ivana Hebrang Grgić, Sylvia Sokolich and Slavko Žarnić
The newspaper Brotherly Unity (Bratska sloga) is a newspaper that was published in only four issues in 1899. All the four issues can be found in Alexandar Turnbull Library that is a part of National Library of New Zealand in Wellington. In the same library some issues of The United Front (1942-1943) are available.
