What It Means To Be Australian Essay

What is Multiculturalism? Multiculturalism is the presence of distinct cultural or ethnic groups within a society. Multiculturalism plays a big part in teenagers as well as adults life’s. For example the two tv shows The Brady Bunch and Modern Family have different cultural lenses and cultures causing them to view multiculturalism as well as diversity in different perspectives.

‘A Multi-Cultural Society’ is a factual recount in the chronological structure, started with an author’s impression of Australia and concluded with other people’s experiences, with sub-headings. The main theme of this related text is thankful, the author is being thankful to the opportunities herself and her families been given, “My parents just wanted a better life”. Her first impressions of Australia is a contrast to ‘Be Good, Little Migrants’, the author had a favourable experience, she like how Australia is a multi-cultural society with people from different countries. Australian society is diverse compare to India, her mother country. The author came over by an aeroplane with her parents when she was six years of age. She had an extraordinary

What does it mean to be Australian? Is it our multiculturalism, our wicked sense of humour or is it our recognisable accent? We are unique, we have thousands of species of native animals and we are proud of it. Australia has its own slang, which could be counted as a language in itself and we have neighbours of all different races. Australia is multicultural and is extremely accepting of others, no matter the country from which they have immigrated from, it is an Australian value. Furthermore, we respect and accept others religions and cultures into our society.

Mateship. Adventurous. Loyal. Free. Proud. These are the typical words Australians use to describe themselves, to identify themselves as different from the rest of the world. But who is an Australian? Someone that was born in Australia? Only people we choose to call Australian? People with great achievements that we choose to take credit for? Only people that love sport and vegemite? Or maybe only people with ‘Aussie’ accents? The Australian population is a proud one indeed, proud of their nation, their achievements and their own independent way of life, but sometimes us Aussies, forget about the rest of the world and all those other people that make us, who we are.

Earlier this year, thousands of indigenous Australians and activist marched in major cities across Australia, arguing that January 26 shouldn’t be celebrated as its marks a day of mourning for many people.

There are many diverse interpretations of the words “Australian Identity”. The national anthem, as evidenced in Stand Up, is a primarily white interpretation of Australia and the Australian identity, with many of the lines ignoring the Indigenous people of Australia (Perkins et al, 2012). Another form of the “Australian Identity” was one presented by Prime Minister Paul Keating in his Redfern Address in 1992. He proclaimed that “Australia is a first-rate social democracy…truly the land of the fair go and the better chance”. This idea presented represents an egalitarian society, where every single human has an equal opportunity at life. Yet another, shown in the songs Paul Kelly sang, but especially in “this land is mine” is the difference between the identity of Indigenous Australians and non-Indigenous Australians (Kelly et al, 2001). Each of these texts addressed a major issue. Stand Up compared the relative value of tradition and the right to freedom of expression. Keating’s speech expressed the need for justice and recognition of both the stolen generation and the injustices done to the Indigenous people as a whole. Kelly’s songs represent the importance of the land to Indigenous people and why the “returning of the land” is so important. Although they each mentioned a major issue, the texts all gave solutions to these issues, from reiterating the importance of the basic human right of freedom of speech in Stand Up, to explaining the role and qualities of the Aboriginal

Present day Australia is met with the issue of outlining a sense of a nationwide community, after the breakdown of the British race patriot idea in the mid-1960s with the introduction of multiculturalism. The Euro-centric perception of Australia was annulled and it was incapable in playing a significant part in Australian policies and priorities. It triggered a calamity of national identity and meaning. The credence that Australian’s were apart of Britain, united by history, tradition and blood needed to be revised. A people who had recognized themselves so strongly with the British race now had to accede their race awareness and apprehend the notion of being a now multicultural society. The dawn of multiculturalism also provoked a quandary for balancing a respect of the British heritage with the abating relevance of the British connection and to construct a new language of community from the residues of the old British ways.

Today in Australia this cultural diversity means that we are made up of a multitude of different cultures were minority cultures are no longer expected to give away their cultural identity to a dominant Australia culture. Instead these minority cultures influence the dominant culture and modifying it to an extent. Whereas integration expects everyone to adopt the main culture, cultural diversity or multiculturalism focuses on social harmony and accepts that Australia will be a nation of many different cultures and views under one nation.

Multiculturalism can be defined as the promotion of the mixture of different cultural, religious and linguistic group which include the idea of equal respect toward differences and acceptance of the contribution of immigrants to a country (Zanca, 2015). It has been considered as a controversial topic which has been debated from the middle of the 20th century especially in European countries and in Australia. In discussing to what extent should cultural differences be accepted in a multicultural society, many agree that multiculturalism should be accepted if there is acceptance, tolerance of diversity and the new migrants learn to language of the majority and bring economic benefits to their new country. On other hand, it is argued that multiculturalism should not be accepted because of the negative influence that it can bring if there is no immigration control, acceptance of diversity as well as stereotyping of the minorities.

Australia has always been centered around diversity and change, specifically with the vast multiculturalism and migrant culture throughout the nation. The specifics of Identity hold an important role in shaping our identity as students and as a nation. Australians pride themselves on being a land of the free and full of diverse culture. This is specifically referred to in our national Anthem; “For those who've come across the seas, We've boundless plains to share; With courage let us all combine,”(McCormick, 1984). Displaying Australia’s open attitude towards immigrants and contributes to the diversity present within our society today. Even before this, much of Australia’s Identity was associated with caucasian culture (Originating from British Settlers). Which is the dominant perception of Australia through the media with australian representation being present through the stereotypes of Bogans, which was made popular through shows like Kath and Kim (ABC, 2007). Also, represented through the popular depiction of Australian people - the bushman made popular by movies like Crocodile Dundee (Faiman, 1986) and through famous real life bushman; Steve Irwin. An important aspect of Australian identity which is consistently neglected is the culture and representation of the initial owners of the land; the aboriginal people. Throughout history the constant mistreatment and neglect of the indigenous, has lead to a massive gap in privilege between the aboriginal people and our

Australia is a settler nation which is now made up of many ethnic groups who share similar cultural traditions, common language, shared history and a shared identity (ABS, 2016). These groups contribute to what is referred to multiculturalism. Australia has a higher proportion of people born overseas than the US, Canada and the UK, with 49% of Australia’s population (or a parent) being born overseas (Census of Population and Housing, 2016). Compared to other Western nations, Australia has one of the most diverse immigration populations (Collins, 2013, p. 145). The meaning of multiculturalism in Australia has changed significantly over time. Today, Australia is a culturally and ethnically diverse country and therefore is a multicultural society. In terms of public policy, multiculturalism can be defined as policies and practices implemented by the Australian government that aim to manage cultural diversity to benefit the whole of society (Department of Social Services, 2014). Although Australia is a multicultural society, there are criticisms of public policy surrounding multiculturalism.

Australia has always been a multicultural country, the first immigrants that came to Australia were the British in 1788. During this phase of European settlement various policies were created to address cultural diversity. One of the most infamous policies was that of assimilation that forced Australian Aboriginal people and migrants to give up their own culture and heritage and assimilate to colonial Australian culture. Eventually this policy was revised to Multiculturalism. That as a policy in Australia refers to handling the ramifications of diversity, bearing in mind that all Australians have the right to a cultural identity, all citizens must be able to express their cultural inheritance. Whether Multiculturalism is advantageous for Australia or not is a very controversial topic. There is a side that argues that multiculturalism could threaten the lifestyle of many Australians. On the other hand, research demonstrates that from an Australian perspective it has been mostly advantageous. This essay will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of multiculturalism in Australia, with regard to economical, historical and social perspectives.

Australian Aborigines are thought to have the longest continuous cultural history in the world. Yet, within a hundred years, the near extinction of the Aboriginal culture almost occurred. This single event, the invasion of the Australian continent by European settlers, changed the lifestyle, the culture, and the fate of Australian Aborigines. Their entire lives were essentially taken away and they were forced into a white, European world where the lifestyle change could not have been any different. Aborigines in Australia today are struggling to deal with a past in which they lost touch with their culture and now are trying to regain some of that cultural identity.

Throughout history to present day, Australian culture has become the product of a distinct blend of established traditions and new influences. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the country’s original inhabitants, created the foundation for the land’s cultural traditions over 40,000 years ago. In addition, the rest of Australia’s people are migrants or descendants of migrants from various other countries who transported their own customs, beliefs, and value systems to the land. As a result, Australia’s culture has significantly broadened its social and cultural profile over the years, and still continues to evolve today.

Multiculturalism is the occurrence of multiple cultures within one society, fundamentally due to the influx of immigrant societies, or the approval and encouragement of this occurrence. Many people have different views of multiculturalism. The people who have a negative view towards multiculturalism tend to argue against the uniting of a wide range of different cultures, races and faiths, in their points of view multiculturalism would be seen as a “mosaic” form, which tends to occur more likely in the US than in Europe, as it would fundamentally mean that they are putting races, religions and cultures into different groups, however they are not uniting as one society, another word for that would be integration. Whereas, the people that agree