Life is about struggling to belong in the world. When our cultural identity is minimal, we can feel dislocated and displaced and believe that we do not belong to our culture and country we live in. Some people struggle to belong more than others. A sense of belonging can develop from the connections made with people, places and the larger world. These are shown in Peter Skrzynecki’s Immigrant Chronicle in two of his poems Feliks Skrzynecki and Migrant Hostel and an opinion article called Australia day to bring the nation together by Pino Migliorino through the use of techniques and statements within these texts, the themes and ideas relating to belonging to culture, place and people are examined.
A sense of belonging comes from a sense of identity. In the poem Feliks Skrzynecki, peter Skrzynecki felt excluded from his father because of his father’s friends this shown in stanza 3 ‘his polish friends’ it is an indication of a cultural group that Feliks belongs to, belonging in terms of culture and friendship. He is also excluded from this because he is still young through imagery ‘Always shook hands too violently’ tell us that it was a masculine hand shake, Skrzynecki as a child cannot understand or feel included in this world of men.
In the article by Pino Migliorino told us that the federation of ethnic communities’ council of Australia in Melbourne conducted a survey and ask if they would define themselves as Australia. Most said that they would not, even though the majority were Australian citizens. This suggests that those people don’t feel a sense of belonging to this country but to their culture only.
We search for a place to belong, not knowing that is our perceptions and attitudes not that place let us to belong. The title of the first poem of the composer Peter Skrzynecki is named after his Feliks Skrzynecki. His father feels he can never be an Australian because his identity has been built in the Polish culture. This poem