The People Who Made Australia Great – PART V Lessons from the Migrant Experience

- This image is courtesy of Pixabay

As we have seen, migration has brought many wonderful people to Australia and greatly enriched both its economy and its culture. While none of it was perfect, there were several reasons why early post war migration was such a success.

1. The economy was booming. There was virtually no unemployment. Even though migrants may have started from a somewhat lower base, everyone could aspire to owning a home and having a good future, migrants and locals alike.
   
   
2.    There was a high degree of equality. Although some may have a had a bigger house and some may have had higher wages, overall the differences were nowhere near as great as today and not as great as among people who came to Australia later,  especially after Australia switched to Business and Skilled Migration. Previously foreign qualifications were not recognised and while first generation migrants remained something of an underclass, there wasn’t much resentment as there was a high degree of social mobility for the next generation which became teachers and lawyers, rather than working on the railways or some other menial task.
   
   
3. Thereafter however, we attracted migrants who were often better educated and wealthier than old and New Australians and could easily out-compete local populations for housing. Purchase of homes and agricultural lands by non – nationals  was also allowed, which meant that some people had two or three homes before local residents could buy one, adding fuel to the fire.
   
   
4. There was a high degree of homogeneity too, even though the differences may have seemed huge at the time. People didn’t look all that different, and generally shared similar religions and values.
   
   Any differences were soon overcome in that nearly all the children whether migrants or Aussies, attended public schools where they quickly absorbed the language, local culture and values and Australian children lost their fear of “the other.”  For adults it was more likely to occur in the workplace or in participating in local activities such as sports, churches or business associations and so on.
   
   
5. This process now takes a lot longer as we have all kinds of private schools, some of which are run by religious or ethnic groups – e.g. Jewish, Islamic, Catholic and so forth, so that this type of mixing doesn’t happen as easily, especially if people remain in communities of like -minded people, who speak the same language and retain their own beliefs. In earlier times some groups did have their own clubs and schools -the Greek community for example had a Saturday morning school to keep their language and culture alive, but it was an extra -curricular event, not the primary form of education.
   
   
6.   In the immediate post war period, most migrants had left behind refugee camps, devastated cities and broken economies and were simply grateful to be alive and safe. They demanded little else. Even if homesick, it was difficult – 6 weeks by ship initially, and hugely expensive to go back until the 1970s, when cheap airfares became available. Migration was more or less forever. 

That commitment was reinforced by the fact that when you became an Australian you gave up all other national allegiances and affiliations. As of 2002, people have been permitted to hold dual citizenships which in my view perhaps weakens the attachment to Australia.

 

The question now is, how do we keep the good bits and avoid the negatives?  

The Way Forward

As we've seen there are often tensions when new people arrive and there is no denying that there are presently some difficulties with mass immigration, but we cannot turn back the clock and we should beware of those who seek to blame immigration for all of society's problems such as the fact that no public housing has been built for decades and we forgot to train our own people to do many of those jobs, which would have been a lot more sensible and cost effective than closing our Trades Schools and throwing whole generations onto the scrap heap.

 

A situation many decades in the making, cannot be remedied overnight, especially in a time of great economic uncertainty. There are however some things we could do to make the transition quicker and smoother. 

• We should avoid bringing in people from opposite sides of a conflict and those who bring their old prejudices with them.

• No group should be privileged over another. We already have anti -discrimination and anti -hate speech laws. We do not need special ones to please this group or that.
  
  
•  Although we have freedom of religion, we are largely a secular society and religion is very much a private matter. No one cares what another believes or doesn’t believe, so long as it does no harm to others and they do not seek to impose their views on anyone else.

• Many people have come to Australia from very different faiths and many to escape from persecution of various kinds. This is why we have strong separation between Church and State and have thus far resisted the imposition of a state religion, despite attempts by the previous government and various segments of the community to do so.  [It is probably not my place to say this, but at a time when anti immigration sentiment is running high, it is perhaps not a good time to be asking for broadcasting of calls to prayers, as this could be seen as an imposition upon established residents].  

• Nor do we generally give a toss what people wear -as evidenced by the fact that so many people in beachside suburbs turned up to vote in their bikinis, unless it’s a health and safety matter. The reason there is anxiety about face coverings, is that in Western countries we rely as much on facial expression and body language for meaning, as on what people are saying. It is not about singling out a particular group.

I liken it to another cultural difference which sometimes comes up. In most Western countries, looking people in the eye is seen as a sign of honesty - a way to establish trust, whereas in Korea for example, it is seen as a sign of disrespect. While neither way is intrinsically better than the other, it calls for some awareness of other cultures in order to avoid misunderstandings. When coming to another country it's probably best to stick with the old adage. “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” 

There are other frictions of this kind - back in the 1950s, people would complain about the smell of garlic coming from salami lunches or Mediterranean cooking, but now we not only don't notice it, but wouldn't be without it. 

The process of acceptance happens more quickly the more we get to know one another. In the case of Australians it might be helpful to know that Buddhists and Hindus will probably not enjoy a barbecue, but you will amazed at their vegetarian food, or that Muslims generally won't want to join you for a beer on religious grounds, not because they want to offend you.

In the case of newcomers, it helps if you participate in activities in your local community such as the local football club, your child's school association, your union at work or the local fire brigade. Who can forget the way the Sikh community jumped in to provide meals during the 2019 bushfires and for housebound residents during Covid, or the way the small country town of Biloela fought tirelessly to prevent the deportation of the little Tamil family which had been in off - shore detention for four years.

 I'm hoping that with the passage of time, our differences will fade into insignificance as they have done with other waves of immigration. What we must guard against, is those who use immigration to pit us against one another for their own ends, because we need to be united in order to deal with the far greater challenges ahead.   

Next Up: Press Freedom Day