Our Presence

We are all indeed fortunate to be living in this Land, affectionately known as “The Lucky Country’. This famous phrase was coined by a popular Australian Author Donald Horne in 1964.

The period from 1983- 1991 was a very important and a defining chapter in the history of Australia in terms of the nation expanding to look and feel ‘multicultural’. Everywhere we began to see people of many skin tones, ethnicities, with various food cultures, popping up in every food hall in the cities and suburbs. Colourful attires were another strikingly noticeable change. Many places of worship began to appear where ethnic communities were congregating.

The demographics of Australia began to change fast with different languages and religions adding vibrant colours to the nation’s expanding tapestry. As more and more skilled migrants began arriving with their nuclear families from every corner of the world, a ‘family reunion’ programme was added to help migrant families, allowing them to bring their close family members as permanent residents. This policy made possible in uniting parents and adult children, grandparents and grandchildren etc. This also helped ease the child caring duties for young parents while they went to work. With these accelerated migrant programmes, further new policies and strategies were developed, and implemented to address the multifold needs of the new community groups.

As a result of the appearance of ‘visibly’ different people in the streets, shopping centres, work places etc., places of worships such as new Temples, Kovils, Mosques and Churches of different faiths also began to spring. And along with them, the collective Australian mentality also began to change. However, not all such rapid changes were received with open arms. Some people began to feel uneasy seeing ‘different’ people around them.

It could be argued, that with new laws in place to combat racial and religious inequality, racism and prejudice, the Australian society as a whole was forced to realign its moral compass. This meant accepting the fast changing ‘European’ face of the mainstream culture into a multicultural one. The term ‘political correctness’ was invented and with it, the dialogue for and against, which lead up to the levels where the governments of the day introduced laws and enforced them to combat racism. The intentions were to change racist behaviour and to prevent inciting racism.

Large numbers of official, government and non- government institutions and organizations were established to accommodate the many needs of new migrants. Along with the changing Policies up came the new Migrant Centres, Migrant Access Programes/Centres, Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commissions, Translating and Interpreting Services, Anti- Discrimination Boards, Ethnic Music and Cultural Centres, Ethnic Communities Councils etc. to enact them. They were soon established in every State and Territory and funded with public monies. These changes create d new jobs, and new migrants were employed in these organizations to serve the public. Government departments were required to adapt to the new regulations and adopt new practices addressing social cohesion.