Harmony Week at City of Geraldton
Harmony Week is all about celebrating our nation’s rich cultural diversity. It’s a time to celebrate the vibrancy of Australia’s multiculturalism and the prosperity it has brought us to continue to be one of the greatest places to live. From the oldest continuous culture of our first Australians to the rich cultural and religious traditions we’ve gained from migrants to Australia, we are all united through our spirit of inclusiveness, respect and sense of belonging.
These are some fascinating statistics about Australia’s diversity – and these are sourced from the 2016 Australian Bureau of Statistics Census:
- nearly half (49 per cent) of Australians were born overseas or have at least one parent who was.
- we identify with over 300 ancestries.
- since 1945, more than 7.5 million people have migrated to Australia.
- 85 per cent of Australians agree multiculturalism has been good for Australia.
- apart from English, the most common languages spoken in Australia are Mandarin, Arabic, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Italian, Greek, Tagalog/Filipino, Hindi, Spanish and Punjabi.
- more than 70 Indigenous languages are spoken in Australia.
What a truly rich nation we are.
This year’s Harmony Week theme, “Everyone Belongs”, resonates with Auspire’s encouragement of inclusiveness and community participation. In conjunction with the City of Greater Geraldton, and the Midwest Multicultural Association, Auspire was proud to appoint one of our Ambassadors Jenny Lam to share her personal story and message to inspire the Midwest community with a message to celebrate our diversity.
Jenny made the most of her trip by generously sharing her entrepreneurial stories to a group in Geraldton called ‘Pollinators’ who nurture entrepreneurs and micro start-ups. They were also treated with an authentic Vietnamese cook-up session and multiple tastings of home cooked Vietnamese food and a book signing of her latest cookbook at the end.
“I’d like to say THANK YOU once again to Auspire for the opportunity to travel and be one of the privileged ambassadors to spread a positive message of unity and community. The Geraldton trip and Harmony Day festival was amazing and uplifting, the Mid-west Multicultural Association were so welcoming and are doing a good thing up there!” – Jenny Lam
Tom Mwangi, President Midwest Multicultural Association expressed his thanks for Jenny on behalf of the Geraldton Community: “It was just a great pleasure and delight to listen to Jenny give her story and her inspirational message to all. I enjoyed the cooking demonstration with members of the Geraldton Community. She was a delight to have around and I definitely speak for many saying we shall ask her back to Geraldton soon.”
As we gather for Harmony Week with our friends, family and community, we reflect and celebrate our nation’s place in the world – a proud, ancient, multicultural nation built on shared values that allow us to enjoy the freedoms and opportunities that other nations aspire to.