According to the austhor, this thesis written in 1978 was a 'leader' in the field of both oral history and ethnic family studies in Australia. It was written at a time when there was no Institute of Family Studies in Australia and neither was there an Oral History Association in existence. These organizations did not come into being in Australia until many years later. Therefore the oral history methodology used had to be developed primarily by the author. The only user guidelines available for Oral history were from folklorists. Furthermore understanding and documenting family life was in its infancy in Australia. Monographs existed but not many.