Science writer and broadcaster Dr Karl Kruszelnicki is one of thousands of migrants who called the Bonegilla Migrant Reception and Training Centre their first "Aussie" home.

This month marks 70 years since the largest and longest operating migrant centre in Australia opened.

The site, near Albury Wodonga on the NSW/Victorian border, operated between 1947 and 1971.

In that time, more than 320,000 migrants from over 30 countries were processed there.

The site, originally an army camp, was transformed into a migrant processing centre shortly after World War II.

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At the time, the Australian Government actively sought immigrants from mostly non-English European countries to help increase the nation's population, defence, and economy.

On arrival to Bonegilla, migrants were provided short-term accommodation and the government would help them find work.

The assistance was welcomed but many recall that arriving at Bonegilla was a lonely and confusing time.

It was a culture shock, with many things different, including the environment, food, and language.

Dr Karl's personal story

Now based in Sydney, Dr Karl was about two-years-old when he and his parents arrived from Sweden in the early 1950s.

His mum Rina and dad Ludwik, both Holocaust survivors, were challenged by the new environment.

Rina, Ludwik and a young Karl Kruszelnicki in Sweden in 1950. ( Suppled: Dr Karl Kruszelnicki )

"Apparently, we just got taken off the boat and shoved onto a train and ended up here and then we just got told what to do," Dr Karl said.

He said they were housed in a small room that would fit beds and little else.

"The weird thing was, my father (for back then) was incredibly highly educated; he had a master's degree which was very rare," Dr Karl said.

"For many years here they took no account of any knowledge, education, training, or specific skills that you might have so he started work as a labourer.

"It was a bit of a waste but at least no-one was shooting at them so that was good."

At Bonegilla most migrants found the Australian food a challenge. ( Supplied: Albury Library Museum )

Dr Karl said his family, like many other migrant families, experienced "food-shock".

"You are coming from a bunch of countries in Europe that have got thousands of years of accumulated history in, for example, sliced meats," he said.

"So, hundreds of different types and when they came to Australia, it was devon and that was it."

Strange to be back

Dr Karl, who had visited the site with his mum in the 1980s, said it was a strange feeling to be back in 2017.

"I came back with my mother after my father had died and she got very emotional; I couldn't remember anything, but I was reliving it through her," he said.

Dr Karl Kruszelnicki in one of the former sleeping quarters at Bonegilla. ( ABC Goulburn Murray: Eliza Beck )

He described his recent visit as strangely evocative.

"There is this infantile amnesia that many people have because they can't remember anything under the age of six," he said.

"There is something nibbling away but I don't know if it's because I want it to nibble away or whether it's really there, but it is definitely slightly disquieting."

The Kruszelnickis lived at Bonegilla for a couple of years before settling in Wollongong.

Block 19 of the site has now been heritage-listed by the Commonwealth Government in recognition of its significance in shaping today's multi-cultural Australia.