Background
To provide a context for this study, it is necessary to understand Australia’s changing immigration patterns. From its earliest occupation, Australia has attracted immigrants globally, ‘Australia has had a long history of immigration since the first European settlement in the 1700s. People from all parts of the world have brought with them, their cultures, customs and languages’ (Creswell, 2004).
Western Australia is the fastest growing state in Australia and the dynamics of this population change now corroborates that the number of immigrants have excelled the number of natural births. Current census data (Australian Bureau of Statistics) for 2013-2014 shows that even though the net overseas migration for Australia (212,700
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These factors are normally dependent on the circumstances behind the events experienced in their home country and the push factors leading to their immigration, ‘the political and economical turmoil following the transition to deomocracy in 1994 saw an increase in emigration from South Africa’ (Phillip and Ho, 2010). Over the past decade large numbers of the South African population have left South Africa for a variety of reasons following the application of political reforms and the dismantling of apartheid. Many Afrikaans-speaking migrants will acknowledge shared motivations for their departure from their home country such as political insecurity, economical insecurity, educational insecurity and personal insecurity as a result of an increase in crime rates (Barkhuizen, 2006; Barkhuizen & Knoch, 2005; Smith, …show more content…
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WWII had a big impact on the social changes in Australia before and after the war. One of the reasons it had such an impact on Australia was due to the immigration policy, which was made to increase Australia’s population. The immigration policy is a policy on legal migrants. Legal migrants who come to Australia under the migration act are non – Australians who come to the country for work or other reasons without permission or people who overstay their visas. This enforces that those who come in the country without permission may be subject to mandatory immigration detention and may be deported from the country at any time, unless been given permission to stay in Australia. This policy has contributed to the multicultural society of Australia today. To this day, there in an estimated 50 000 people who have overstayed their visas, most of these people come from British nations. Those touching base by boat or different means without official classification as refugees are no longer granted permission outcast status on landing. For example, those from an Asian background are becoming a more familiar part of Australia’s society today. Overseas migrant entries have assumed a vital part in changing the face of Australia. The current variety of migrants born in Australia include areas such as The United Kingdom, New Zealand, Italy, Vietnam, China, Greece, Germany, Philippines and India. Since the change in immigration policy in the late 1960s to one of non-discrimination on race or ethnic background, there has been a significant change in the overseas sources of migrants, with settlers arriving from more diverse regions of the world. To this day, Australia’s overseas born population consists of people who practise over 140 recognized ethnic groups, people who fluently speak over 90 different languages and people who believe in over 80 different religions. This expanding ethnic and social diversity has changed the way Australians view both themselves and other societies of the world. It has
Culture is always changing. Beliefs, behaviours and presentation, religion and language all form part of what is an individual’s or community’s culture. (Bowes, Grace, & Hodge, 2012, p.75 & 77). Due to its intrinsic nature, when people migrate to Australia, they bring their culture with them. As migrants come from all over the world, and not the one place, their
Since World War 2 and the Vietnam War, Australia has become a multicultural country. Before the Vietnam War, though, the Australian government tried their best to keep Australia ‘white’. After the fear of communism from Vietnam, the government thought it would be in the country’s best interest to try and build up the population in Australia, but only allowing ‘white’ Europeans and British people to come. What is included in this report, is to discover how and why the migrants from non-European countries manage to change the face of modern Australia.
After WW2, the Labour Prime Minister, Ben Chifley, launched Australia’s largest immigration program ever. Along with the program, the catchphrase ‘Populate or Perish’ was widely used to imply that more immigrants, preferably white, were necessary to fight of the steady stream of Asian immigration. As part of Immigration policy, these immigrants were expected to assimilate – meaning that they had to give up their preceding culture and embody Australian customs. This was simple for those who come from Britain but was very much a difficult task for those few immigrants who were not of British descent.
Migrants and immigrants are from a whole different world, although many authors in Growing up Asian in Australia were born in Australia and while their customs and traditions are seen as the norm to them they are seen as different by many Australians. These cultural traditions and practices are far from what the majority are used to and so are neither known nor understood. This result usually in people misunderstanding migrant’s individuality and can cause unfair exclusion. Governed was horrified when the school bully accused her of wiping her “butt with her hands” on the terms of her Indian background and as a result had to deal with constant teasing and taunts
Immigration has always been a controversial topic in Australian society; who the government should and should not let into the country. Over the years Australia’s immigration policy has evolved and changed with the changing of attitudes and beliefs in society. The current immigration policy for Australia is a lot less discriminatory than past policies like the “White Australia policy” and the “Populate or Perish policy”. After federation in 1901 the Australian government created the Immigration Restriction Act.
Migration not only leaves an impact on Australian society but also on the families. Migration can cause tensions between family members, for example if the father migrates, the mother or older sibling might have to start making decisions in place of him. This can cause tensions when the family is reunited and power roles are switched which can lead to troubles in building trust again. Another tension caused by migration is the adjustment to a society you don’t know and don’t feel like you belong
The concept of being a ‘nation of immigrants’ is at the center of Australian identity.
Australia “The Lucky Country”; a stepping stone to a better life. The words of social critic Donald Horne stated in 1964 have been used to describe Australia’s wonderful culture, history and lifestyle. For many 20th century migrants this is what they only knew about the country creating an outburst of migrants arriving into Australia with the desire to seek a better life, escape poverty, war or persecution. They brought along with them a mix bag of emotions; fear and worry, happiness and joy alongside the expectations of the typical Australian life hoping to find acceptance, belonging, freedom and a promising future. However, due to the impact of many polices and historical events that have taken place in the past, the migrant experience has
The decision to relocate for many immigrants may be due to many challenging and stressful experiences (Yakushko and Chronister 2005). Even if the move was by choice, relocating takes a great amount of planning and pressure. The move often brings with it a great amount of losses of connections with family and friends from home. The pre-migration stress is very challenging. Stressors continue to be significant after relocating. Immigration challenges are stronger in immigrants than in normal demographics. Demographic variables such as age, gender, marital status,
Australia’s population is culturally and ethnically diverse. As at June 2010, there were 22.3 million residents in Australia, around one-quarter of the population was born overseas and many residents who were born in Australia have a parent who was born in another country. Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders represent 2.3% of the population
Asian Immigrants have gone from having a continuous restriction year to year then to becoming a major part of Australian society. However, since the policy of Integration in 1970 and the abolishment of the dictation test in 1958 Asians has had the opportunity to migrate to Australia. This has been continuous since that major change with more and more arriving every year. The changes in these policies were made as Australia was becoming a more multicultural society and the Asian Migration wave has altered Australia today by making Australia richer and more culturally diverse. Asian immigrants have also contributed to the change in the Australian Political Policies which has allowed Migrants to become more accepted into Australia. Because of this no changes should be made to these political
This report presents an interview with a bilingual called H.D . H.D. is a daughter of a Turkish immigrant family who lived in Australia for 12 years .H.D. gives examples from her personal life about how she became bilingual background , the challenges of second language acquisition , benefits and the role of languages in her life.
Douglas, G. (2010) Social and Cultural Meanings of Tolerance: Immigration, Incorporation and Identity in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Vol. 36, No. 1, pp. 125-148.
This source helps contribute to answering the main research question about how xenophobia effects immigrants to South Africa, by providing the struggles of an immigrant to South Africa and some of the violence they experience due to being foreign.