Manuel Bugeja
Manuel Bugeja (1900-1993) Actor, broadcaster and radio personality Manuel was born in Valletta on 6th October 1900. He was a bright boy but did not receive an education even when he got a scholarship at age 14 (1914) because he could not afford to buy the textbooks. He worked as a lad messenger with the British Army Ordinance Store in Valletta for four years and then in 1918 he joined the Navy where he stayed for five years. His love for the theatre showed from an early age. In 1922 he helped establish the Maltese Youth Citizens’ Theatre. From 1925 he was involved with the revival of carnival festivities as we now know them, and of which he was the chief organiser for a number of years. During World War II he served as Sergeant in the KOMR and later on was placed in charge of prisoners-of-war at Ta'Qali It was only later in life, at the age of 55, that Manuel decided to emigrate to Australia, urged no doubt by the experiences of his father-in-law who had spent some years there. His main reasons for emigrating were his family: his five sons and one daughter were keen to emigrate.
Manuel settled in Melbourne and found a job as a clerk with the Motor Registration Branch. Again he immediately began to get involved with the theatre. He helped to start Australia’s first Maltese dramatic company, the Malta Stage Amateurs. This was very popular with Maltese audiences of the 1950s and the Brunswick Town Hall, with a capacity of 1000 people, was packed whenever the Amateurs were performing. During the period 1961-1979, he appeared in several high-rating TV series (including Consider your Verdict and Division Four) in characters requiring a non-Australian accent.
Manuel had other interests, in particular his desire to help his fellow migrants. During the early years (1955-1981) he was considered to be an ‘unofficial social worker’ helping the newly arrived. It was not the first time that he actually helped them financially until they could stand on their own feet. In the 1960s he played a key role in the rejuvenation of the Maltese Community Council in Melbourne. He had also sufficient vision to realise the importance of setting up an Ethnic Communities’ Council in Victoria (ECCV) and in 1974 made an impassioned plea for setting up such a Council. He was also a keen supporter of the Emigrant’s Commission: a soiree held in his honour raised funds and he donated the evening’s proceedings to the Commission. Manuel also played an important role in developing ethnic radio in Melbourne. He was a broadcaster on radio, and helped establish ethnic radio in Melbourne during the 1970s.
In 1981 he suffered a stroke which brought to an end his active participation, but did not stop him from attending several functions where Maltese congregate. He will be remembered as “the grandfather of the Maltese in Australia”. He married Frances Vella in 1927 and they had one daughter and five sons. He died on 11 January, 1993.
Sources: 1. Schiavone, Michael J. & Louis J. Scerri, 1997, Maltese Biographies of the Twentieth Century. 2. The Maltese Herald February 2,1993. 3. Thanks also to Nerissa Murphy for an update on August 31, 2002.