Sixty years ago, back in 1951, I was granted a free passage to Melbourne, Australia, through the Giovanni Pappaffy Emigration Fund.

After all those years I recently visited Malta and headed to the Maglio Gardens in Floriana to pay my respects at the Giovanni Pappaffy monument.

Through this fund hundreds of Maltese men were assisted to emigrate to a country of their choice to start a new life.

Those who were selected had their passage paid in full and were given a passport and £20 on the day they left Malta.

In 1951 myself and 14 other men qualified for assistance; I travelled to Australia while the others chose to go to Britain.

I would like to know when the Pappaffy scheme began and when it ended. I can be contacted on williamcoxhead@hotmail.com.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.