Sometimes we are proud to be Australian. We cheer on our cricket teams, we carry high hopes for our tennis players, cheer on the Matildas and their home-grown stars.
But what really defines us as a nation?
We are essentially a nation of immigrants, even those who can trace their lineage to the First Fleet, whether as convict or guard, can only claim about ten generations as Australian. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, First Nations people represent 3.8% of the population at 30 June, 2021. The rest, 96.2% are either immigrant or descendants of immigrants coming from over 190 different countries.
With the exception of students arriving after 1950 from Asian and Pacific nations, immigration from the time of Federation until 1973 was ‘white’, essentially European. People deemed to be ‘non-white’ were subjected to a language test and in the first 8 years after Federation only 52 people passed the test from 1359 tests, after 1909 no one passed the tests. Immigrants did arrive from number of European countries, but the ideal immigrant was of Anglo-Celtic origin.
After World War II immigration was open to non-British Europeans as many left war-ravaged Europe to settle in the ‘New World’. That Australia was a large land mass with a very small population that was threatened by Japan during the way, the cry was ‘Populate or perish’ and incentives were introduced to attract immigrants, the ten-pound pom, but the ten-pound price for coming here was offered to many more than just the British.
The Whitlam government passed the Racial Discrimination Act in 1973, ending the White Australia Policy and opening the door to all comers, leading to the diversity of ethnicity we have in 21st Century Australia. Today the proportion of Australia’s population born overseas is 29.5% (ABS).
Leaving a homeland is difficult. To leave behind the family and ethnic connections, even though the homeland may have been war ravaged, leaving is not an easy decision, understanding that there may not be a chance to return. And so, the ties to whatever cultural roots that can be brought to the new land are important, sporting clubs to encourage the playing of sports such as soccer, sorry real football, national clubs, a meeting place for fellow expatriates, churches and so forth, vestiges of home to keep cultures alive, albeit as remembered from the time of leaving.
The idea of a nation implies a common cultural identity, yet Australia, as an immigrant nation is culturally one of the most diverse nations on earth, so perhaps that cultural diversity is what draws us together as a nation, perhaps that we claim our citizenship without needing to shrug off the other bits of our identities makes us uniquely Australian. That by and large we accept difference in our midst, we accept that people are of different origins, dress differently, believe differently, that we have Muslims, Sikhs, Hindu, Buddhist, Judaism and all branches of Christianity living largely in peaceful coexistence is in part what makes us who we are, a largely tolerant community where despite our differences we call ourselves Australian.
And yet we see the elements of fear, the differences which divide, especially when faced with new arrivals who try to come in through the back door so to speak, people who are leaving countries where their lives are threatened for whatever reason, be it leaving war torn Syria where cities have been razed to the ground, or Afghanistan where the Taliban is making life difficult for those who do not comply with the orthodoxy which is strictly enforced, or from Somali where warlords fight for control over a country already in the grips of severe drought, worsening the plight of a starving population, and so it goes, these people are not welcome because they do not arrive through the formal channels, probably because they could not access Australian embassy officials to make formal application requiring proof of identity which is buried somewhere in a bombed out city or burned along with the rest of their belongings.
(We are not alone in not wanting to accept refugees. The film Human Tide by Ai WeiWei documents the plight of refugees vividly. At the time the film was made, 2017, there were almost 70 million refugees searching for somewhere safe to live. The problem has got worse since then.)
This Australia Day, as we pull out the flags and thongs we bought last year, and head out to enjoy the fireworks and homegrown Aussie music, we could probably think about our origins, what brought us here, us or our parents or grandparents, or for some, remembering those who came as convicts, banished from Britain because their forebear stole a rabbit from the King’s forest so he could feed his starving family.
Or for some, who look at the immigrants and see what they have lost, and yet are Australians too, remember that despite the best efforts of the immigrants that culture which dates back over 60,000 years survives still, and makes up another chapter in what it means to be Australian.
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