This paper takes a closer look at two pieces of Australian migration literature that narrate the story of living in exile. It aims to analyse the migration process from separation to integration as portrayed in Hiam by Eva Sallis and Stella’s Place by Jim Sakkas. It more specifically examines reciprocal cultural translation as a means to bridge cultural contrasts, complete the migration process, and achieve a sense of arrival.

Migration literature involves various levels of encounters that occur when the characters shift geographical regions; above all, the encounter with a “new” cultural environment, a target culture. The migration process is, in my view, a three-step process that parallels Arnold van Gennep’s rites of passage (developed by Victor Turner) which encompasse separation, transition and incorporation. I see the migration process as a territorial rite of passage that consists of these three phases.