Bride Flights, The (ATOM Study Guide)

In the early 1960s, some 700 Spanish women arrived in Australia, supported by an informal agreement between Francisco Franco’s regime (1939-1975) and the Australian government of the time, supported by the Catholic Church. This agreement became known as The Martha Plan or Operation Martha. The women participating in this plan arrived in Australia with the idea of ​​working as domestic workers when the true intention of the Martha Plan was to balance the gender difference in the Spanish community. Australia’s Immigration Department initially encouraged male Spanish migrants to nominate their unmarried sisters of marriageable age to come to Australia. In Spain, the plan was promoted in churches and religious publications since they were mainly looking for young, single, Catholic women.

The women were asked to sign a paper indicating that they would be working as domestic workers for two years, but the document had no legal validity.

The Bride Flights contains some of the stories of these women as well as documentation and archive material.

Curriculum Links:

The Bride Flights can be linked to the following subject areas in the Australian Curriculum:

• Civics and Citizenship
• Health and Physical Education
• History
• English
• Ethical Understanding
• Personal and Social Capability

The Bride Flights is also recommended as a supplementary text for students studying the following Senior School subjects:

• Ethics
• Health and Human Development
• History
• Psychology

In Tertiary Education The Bride Flights is recommended in:

• Migration studies
• Gender Studies
• Spanish Studies
• Intercultural Studies
• History