When Michal Keller arrived in Fremantle, Western Australia in 1949, he did so under the Displaced Persons Scheme. In 1947, whilst Prime Minister Arthur Calwell visited Europe to arrange for British migrants to Australia, he also met with the International Refugee Organisation and "agreed to consider immigration to Australia from the displaced persons camps in Europe".
The initial quota for immigration of these displaced people was 12,000 per year. Potential migrants were interviewed in the German camps and applicants were required to sign two (2) year work contracts as labourers in order to be accepted for immigration.
It is believed that Michal was in a camp at Boeblingen, Germany and it would seem likely that this is what he signed up for.
At the time of Michal's arrival, there was high unemployment in Western Australia, as well as a shortage of post-war housing. This meant that the big new project in the north - Wittenoom's blue asbestos mine - was an attractive prospect. Many workers at Wittenoom were displaced persons and many felt the conditions in the camps were better than what they had endured in Europe.
Between 1947 and 1954 more than 170,000 displaced persons arrived in Australia, which far exceeded the original quota.
