Migrants in Australia

After England stopped the sending of convicts to Australia in 1868, there were nothing less than 170,000 of them here. Tired of being ripped off by the convicts, the local government and the crown, decided to bring good pleople to give the example. Farmers and workers were given land and promises of a good life together with Koalas and Kangaroos, beside cheap of free tickets to travel to the fertile Australia. They did their job very well until Gold was found. In a rhythm of a mine per day discovered, or told they were discovered, people from all over the world  took notice that Australia existed in the map and the opportunity was there to become rich.  The Chinese were the first to have $ in their eyes, and more than 50,000 came to try their luck. The discrimination took short to appear, and they became not well welcome by the Australian society and local miners. By 1901, a legislation called  "Immigration Restriction Act" gave a cold shower in the Chinese migration, opening the door to the so called "White Policy". By 1904, the doors became even more open to Europeans, and a large number of Greeks, Italians, Germans, Americans, Canadians, Russians and Scandinavians did the great ocean crossing to be called the new Australians. This time, by 1904, the number of migrants in Australian had reached 2% of the total population, the majority single men, looking for work and fortune.

The Great depression hit hard in 1929. There was no work for almost half of the Australian population, and the migrants were pointed guilty for this misery. In 1934, the rivallity reached the limit and fights were breaking up everywhere between Aussies and Migras. An Australian was killed by an Italian fact that lead to migrants houses being burnt and 3 migrants killed by revenge. To solve the problem, the government decided to simply cut any European migration with exception for the British. When the Second World War started, thousands of Jewish refugees came to live in Australia. Melbourne was the city chosen by most of them and that's the way Melbourne concentrates the second biggest Jewish population outside Israel (the first one is New York). With the end of the war, and with Europe partially destroyed, 170 Thousand refugees mostly children came to live in Australia. They came only with the cloth they were wearing and nothing else.

Local Australians were not happy with this migrant invasion promoted by the government. They started to press the immigration minister Arthur Calwell to began a new policy called "Ten British for Every Foreigner", meaning  that an European could only migrate after 9 British did. Between 1945 and 1975, more than1,5 million British came to live in Australia. They were attracted by receiving from the government free accommodation and food, plus training in a profession needed in Australia. by the time, place electric posts and telegraph wires. Children less than 10 years of age received free transportation to Australia while adults received the "10 Pound Pom" (a financial help almost equal to the passage cost). This immigration campaign was the biggest ever in Australia and became known as "Populate or Perish". Between 1949 and 1974, from 100 thousand workers building dams, hydroelectric plants and infra structure, 70 thousand were migrants. Which such a number of male workers, the lack of equal number of women became a problem in Australia. Of course the solution was to import women too and the policy became known as "Bride Ships". The scheme worked like this...Letters were sent worldwide for ladies in age of marriage with photos of some available gentleman. Once one was chooses by the lady, she could come and get married to stay in Australia. Later in 1978 with the Vietnam war, Asians refugees were also accepted in Australia. More than 80 Thousand came which became known as "The Boat People" because they arrived in small boats not ships. Today Australia is still in need of migrants with the government giving "permanent residency status and later citizenship for skilled people from all countries, who reach the minimum pass mark. the system gives points for skills, English language ability, education, work experience, etc...If the candidate archive the pass mark, he, she and descendants can come to live and work in Australia. (for more details consult an Immigration Agent or the Australian Immigration Department).

It is very difficult today pic up an Australian by the biotype. The variety of races and nationalities present in Australia makes this country one of the most multicultural in the world. Australians can be tall, sort, yellow, white, brown, or black skin, straight or curly hair, black eyes, blue eyes, green eyes, you name it. It is a real fruit salad from cultures from all parts of the world. Racial discrimination in Australia is prohibited and very high fines, including jail terms can be imposed to the offenders. There are still some stupid and hidden racists around, but fortunately they can be counted in the fingers of my hands.

Despite the integration by the part of Migrants, many of them are free to follow they home country traditions and cultural values. You can see that cleary visiting different cities and neighbourhoods of Australia. For example, the Portuguese community concentrates in Petershawn, Sydney, There is a Chinatown in almost every city, Greeks Italians and Indians, can also be found everywhere but the biggest concentration is in Melbourne, and so on... Migrants gave a huge hand to help Australia to achieve the high quality of life it have today, and they are recognized for their efforts, because by the end, we all are migrants in Australia.

Can someone tell me in which language we are going to sing?