In this age, where transnational movements are increasing around the globe, not only of goods, but also of people, through, among other things, migration, exile of political and religious refugees, and tourism, migration is a research area that concerns many disciplines, such as geography, history, anthropology, linguistics as well as cultural- and literary studies, where this study is primarily based. Migration literature involves various levels of meetings, or encounters; above all, the encounter with a “new” cultural environment. Migration writers illustrate this encounter – how to survive both the migration and the encounter. As part of my thesis on cultural displacement and translation in Australian immigration literature, I intend, in this presentation, to use the relatively new theoretical field of Translation Studies as a way to make this encounter visible. My aim is to focus on how first and second encounters with the “new” culture, Australia, are presented in terms of cultural translation in Eva Sallis’ Hiam and Jim Sakkas’ Stella’s Place.

In the two migratory texts analysed for this presentation, there is a first and, following a crisis, a second encounter with the new culture, Australia, for the main characters, Hiam and Stella. I intend to discuss how these two encounters vary in terms of cultural translation. The first encounter is the migrant’s first experience of Australia and Australians, where cultural translation mainly occurs in one direction, i e Australia is translated to the migrants – a translation that is either willingly or unwillingly received, a necessity, or resisted.

In these two particular texts, there is also what I refer to as a second encounter. This second encounter follows a crisis, a period of “madness,” which could be self experienced, or perceived by others, a mental illness, or a psychological trauma. The second encounter with Australia and Australians produces a changed approach to this new cultural environment, which allows for a dialogic, rather than a one-directed, cultural translation.

I will also analyse the situation of “1.5,” or second generation immigrants, who, after a very quick first encounter, almost immediately find themselves in a situation similar to that of the second encounter. This position is at the centre for translation, “the contact zone,” in-between cultures and languages, which is why I will discuss issues of hybridity and multiple cultural belongings in this presentation on: “The First and Second Encounter with Australia: Exploring the Interface of Cultural Translation in Two Migratory Texts.”