Plan Martha
Plan Martha, or el Plan Marta (also known as Martha's Plan, and as Operación Marta) was an informal agreement, signed in 1957, between the Spanish and Australian Governments, designed to bring single, Spanish, Catholic women to Australia as part of Australia's numerous post-World War II immigration initiatives. The Plan. It was an "informal" agreement due to the fact that there were no formal diplomatic relationship between the two countries. The agreement was facilitated by Monsignor George Crennan the National Director of the Federal Catholic Immigration Committee. Altogether, the "Plan Martha" groups "brought about 800 single  women to Australia, from 1960 to the end of the scheme [in 1963]". The groups. The first "Plan Martha" group, of 18 young Spanish women, arrived in Melbourne, Victoria, at Melbourne Airport on 10 March 1960. Seven of the groups arrived in Australia at Melbourne Airport): Fake news. The Sydney "Sun Herald". On Sunday, 3 March 1963, the Sydney "Sun-Herald", published an (unattributed "fake news") article, entitled "Nude Girls Picking Grapes" — allegedly sourced from Mildura, Victoria on the previous day — that reported that "five young Spanish women have been working in the nude at a vineyard near here to  beat the heat". According to García (2002, p. 71), "there were heated discussions about [the article] after Spanish chaplain Father Benigno Martin gave mass in Albion St., Sydney". Section::::"The Canberra Times". Although not reported in the Victorian press, the article was repeated, with some (very minor) stylistic variations, the next day in "The Canberra Times", the newspaper of the nation's capital city (full text at right). Molnar's Cartoon. The Merbein matter was the subject of one of Molnar's page two editorial cartoons in the "Sydney Morning Herald" of 6 March 1963. Spanish Consul-General. Noting his concern  for "the good name of the women of Spain", the "Sydney Morning Herald" of 5 March 1963 reported that the Consul-General for Spain in Australia, Mr. José Luis Díaz, had flown to Mildura. In the company of two Merbein policemen, inspected a number of vineyards in the district, Mr. Díaz had found that all of the women involved "had worn plenty of clothes in the traditional Spanish manner" at the time in question, and that he was entirely "convinced [that] the report about the nude Spanish women was not true".