When the rush to populate this great, empty land got under way after the end of the second world war the aim was to assimilate the new arrivals as quickly as possible. They were urged to learn English and the oath of allegiance required them to virtually disown their previous nationality.
Somewhere down the track that changed. " Multi-culturism " became the buzz word. We now encourage newcomers to retain their national customs, style of dress - and language, and to broaden this policy we have SBS giving overseas news in foreign languages - and a host of national language newspapers to serve national groups.
The most visible signs of ethnicity relate to women. Muslim men appear little different in the streetscape mix - but Muslim women wear a distinctive headscarf. The sari remains popular with women of Indian descent - and anywhere a suburb contains a majority of a particular ethnic group - items particular to that grouping start to appear.
Unfortunately, this policy is likely to reinforce the " Balkanization " of Australia. One of the problems of Europe is enclaves that retain ethnicity - and nurture old hatreds. Becoming an Australian was supposed to be a new start - a new life in a new country - with those old shiboleths left behind dockside !
Perhaps the biggest mistake was to abandon the requirement for new settlers to adopt English as a common language. Understanding a common tongue was the great leveller. Looking back at history we see that those who came here in the 1950's are the most integrated - and very proud to be called " Australian ".
Differences of appearance are minor matters - but a common language is the glue that holds a community together !
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