In 2017, former Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, wrote:

“Australia is an immigrant nation. Almost half of our current population was either born overseas or has at least one parent born overseas”

Not to mention that in the context of Australia’s deep past, the vast majority of Australians are descended from recent migrants. First Nations people of course have a particular connection to Australia and of all cultural groups it might be most appropriate to claim that they are not migrants. The reality though is not so simple.

Since 1986 the History Trust’s Migration Museum has celebrated South Australia’s cultural diversity, providing a platform for our newest Australians to share their stories alongside the broader narrative of nearly 200 years of colonisation.

While developing the exhibition ‘Aussies!’ the Trust’s curatorial team debated the merits of the label migrant; who is a migrant and at what point does the label cease to apply? The conversation soon turned to the notion of when do migrants feel like, and when are they accepted, as Aussies?

I don’t have to search far for examples of how migrant identity is intertwined with being an Aussie. My wife has Asian and Anglo heritage: her father migrated from Singapore in the 1960s. Physically, our children do not appear Asian, however they vociferously declare their ‘Asianess’, citing family meals and rituals brought from Singapore and adapted within the new setting.

Meanwhile, my youngest daughter happily practices highland dancing, much to the bemusement of my father, himself a British migrant who seems to have little interest in his mostly Scottish ancestry. Put all of this together and we all (including their migrant grandparents) identify as Australian.

While the term Aussies sometimes conjures up images of bogans and other stereotypes – the ‘Aussies!’ exhibition celebrates difference and belonging, by reclaiming the term for all Australians, regardless of where they are from or what they look like.

Our story is not unique, its relationship to migration, cultural diversity and the palimpsest of modern Australian identities lies at the heart of what it means to be part of a multicultural society.

Dr Adam Paterson
Manager, Curatorial

More information from the 2023 History Festival edition of WeekendPlus: