Multiculturism in Melbourne
One of my worries about coming to Australia was whether Mark and I would stick out as a inter-racial couple.
Don't laugh. I'm not being overly sensitive. If you've travelled around the States, Europe... you may find that Toronto is just plain unique in this aspect. And if you're not in an inter-racial couple, then you might not have realized this because you wouldn't have gotten any "stares".
Apparently in Melbourne, an inter-racial couple of chinese girl and white boy is not new. Guess we're not an anomally. One worry down.
Melbourne also seems to host a wide range of ethnic foods which is fabulous. Lots of thai, indian, malay, noodle shops - what was I worried about? If I had just stopped to think about the surrounding geography of Australia, maybe I wouldn't have been so worried. Now, if only we could find a chinese bakery which makes good coconut buns and lo mei chi (glutinous rice ball filled with a mix of sugar, coconut and crushed peanuts).
Don't laugh. I'm not being overly sensitive. If you've travelled around the States, Europe... you may find that Toronto is just plain unique in this aspect. And if you're not in an inter-racial couple, then you might not have realized this because you wouldn't have gotten any "stares".
Apparently in Melbourne, an inter-racial couple of chinese girl and white boy is not new. Guess we're not an anomally. One worry down.
Melbourne also seems to host a wide range of ethnic foods which is fabulous. Lots of thai, indian, malay, noodle shops - what was I worried about? If I had just stopped to think about the surrounding geography of Australia, maybe I wouldn't have been so worried. Now, if only we could find a chinese bakery which makes good coconut buns and lo mei chi (glutinous rice ball filled with a mix of sugar, coconut and crushed peanuts).
posted by lyNN at
8:56 PM
8 Comments:
Lynn, While the multi-culturalism factor is high in Toronto, I don't think it is that much different from large American or European cities likes London, New-York, Sanfrancisco, Paris, etc... It is definitely different than certain places in the U.S. or Europe, but of course there are places in Canada where, rather unfortunately, interracial marriage wouldn't be looked upon so kindly either.
Perhaps overall tolerance is higher in Canada, but I suspect that has to do with the fact that as a country we have a larger percentage of our population in urban centres that Europe or the U.S..
Anyway, aren't there a large number of asians in Australia? I would have thought with its position in south-east asia, and the role of WWII, that there would be quite a large population?
Here is a question for you though: overall, how are the aboriginals in Australia doing as compared to the native americans in Canada? If better (it's hard to imagine they could be worse off), what has the history of their treatment been? Do they have special reserve statuses, and other such related things?
Finally, speaking of the male dominated culture in OZ. I haven't seen the movie that Mark's refering to, but I have to guess that if he had some fake milking device attached to him, then he is liable to end up at the bottom of a scrum in a quickly called Australlian rules football game.
By
Anonymous, at 9:16 AM
I heard one of the strange thing for North Americans in Australia is to hear Asians speaking English with an Australian accent. What do you think?
By
Anonymous, at 7:48 PM
Guess that depends on your definition of LARGE. I would have thought that san diego was large enough but we (a group of yellow, brown, black, white) got some pretty weird looks. But london, uk is cool. NY, san fran - haven't been there but apparently those are the MOST liberal of the states so they are a bit of an anomally, i think. the size of london, on - although prodominantly white, I've never had a problem with. But you are right, there are definitely places even in canada that where it would probably be rare - but good ol' beaverton was friendly not aggressive.
I think I would have to go with Canada having an OVERALL higher tolerance. And let's be honest. chinese food in the states is rarely really chinese food unless you're in some place like LA which has a little chinese community upon itself. probably the whole melting pot theory.
I'll have to get back to you on the aboriginals in Oz.
Yeah... Mark will be asking for trouble if he starts wearing a milking device.
HongKong chinese people sometimes speak english with a british accent - met someone way back and thought it was sooo weird.
By
lyNN, at 10:55 PM
When I stepped off the plane from HK to attend high school here, I had an English accent (hard to fathom, I know). This is what happens when you go to a secondary school in the Hizz Kizz that was designed for ex-pat kids. Trust me, I had such a hard time explaining why I sounded like a Brit...or, as the aussies call them, "POMs" (terrible).
Anyway. I have always assumed that there was a fairly large Chinese community in Melbourne, so Lynnie, maybe you will find your bao bao store soon.
As for the comparison of treatment of Australian Aborigines to those of Canadian Aboriginals, I hear that the treatment is comparable i.e. historically lack of recognition; movement to policies of assimilation; then policies of recognition of "special status". Programs were created by Australian
state governments which targeted various aborigine needs (i.e. job creation programs, welfare provisions). This, in turn, created a dependency on such handouts. Seems pretty similar to Canada, eh?
Institutionally, the place is v. similar to Canada (Jeffrey Simpson of the G&M states this from time and time again). If there is a country where two countries could "policy learn" from each other, these two countries are the best fit for one another.
By
Anonymous, at 2:04 PM
Just a small tidbit I heard on the TV the other night w.r.t. aboriginal Australians (I believe they called them 'indigenous' Australians).
Their life expectancy is a shocking 17 years shorter than the rest of Australia ...
By
Mark Robinson, at 4:07 PM
Based on the pictures of OZ, we know there are no people in OZ save the "indigienous" people (which, based on the research of watching 2 crocodile dundee movies, I am able to say are able to hide perfectly in any setting, so you would never see them in a picture).
In all seriousness though, this sounds like a lot. Do most aboriginies live a modern lifestyle? If not, and they don't use modern medicines this might explain it? (I'm asking) I wonder what the equivalent numbers are in Canada though? Hetti, common you must know....., and we know you don't have anything better to do at work :-)
By
Anonymous, at 5:18 PM
funny that you should ask, Anonymous (aka Steve), Health Canada is responsible for delivering healthcare for on-reserve aboriginals, and from what I remember, their life expectancy is quite a bit lower than the average Canadian (I'm not going to dig around for the actual figure though, you can google it). I don't think it's the lack of access to modern medicines that decrease their life expectancy, but it's probably more likely due to the various socio-economic problems they face (tidbit of information - rates of TB for on-reserve aboriginals are comparable to those of a developing country).
ALSO re: croc dundee - of course you won't see aborigines in that movie...both of them were filmed in Toronto, and they used the old Bay Street subway station for the shootout scene (croc dundee 1)!
By
Anonymous, at 1:06 PM
wait - i totally missed the point wrt croc dundee. durrrh.
By
Anonymous, at 1:26 PM
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