Once upon a time, way back in the 1950s, many of the people who migrated to Australia were ‘screened’ in the countries from which they originated by Australian immigration department officials. Often, only the male breadwinner was judged fluent enough in English to go straight to work.
Literally tens of thousands of women and young children were obliged to attend compulsory English classes funded by Arthur Caldwell’s immigration department and delivered by the hundreds of community houses and Association of Neighbourhood Houses and Learning Centres (ANHLC) that were set up in every state.
At one of the last national conferences of the ANHLC, held in Adelaide, a ‘Greek chorus’ of women from each and every individual state chanted a ‘litany’ of the statistics of their state: the number of courses run, the number of staff, the number of volunteers and the astonishingly large number of women and children who had participated.
It is astonishing to see how many of today’s social and political ‘movers and shakers’ are a product of those courses or of the people who delivered them.
Changes of government at both the federal and state levels brought about the demise of the community and neighbourhood house movement and it has not yet been replaced with anything of comparable value. If ever it needed replacing, now is the time.
Are we going to help?
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told us last month that in the recent past, Australia had received more than 500,000 immigrants from numerous sources. That’s 500,000 new Australians!
Are we going to try to help them become Australians – at least in part? Or are we going to let them bring their historic conflicts and prejudices with them?
We ‘old Aussies’ have a pretty shameful history of racial, religious, colour and political prejudices. We really do not need to import and encourage the development of any more.
Our very own national anthem contains words, unequalled by any other anthem in this world: I am, you are, we are Australian.
Let each of us and all of us mean and respect those words – at least while we live in and off this country.
Do you agree with Peter’s sentiments? Do you remember those community language classes? Share your memories in the comments sections below.
Read more: Migration changes flagged as housing crisis bites
