Multiculturalism

A. Assimilation

According to Morrissey et al (1991) written in Burnet (1998), assimilation is the achievement of invisibility by the immigrants’ through their attainment of normal Australian practices. According to Wagley and Harris written in Berndt (1964), assimilation means that a minority group loses its identity as a discreet group and merges with the dominant group. In this case, immigrants become more like local people by adopting the values, norms, foods, and culture from host countries.

From the 1940, the state government in some parts of Australia issued thousands of Certificates of Exemption. Certificates of Exemption is a document of the government’s assimilation policy which enabled the Indigenous people to have the citizenship rights, such as being allowed to vote, attend school, go into hotels, and be exempted from the restrictions of state protection laws. However, the requirements were not easy at all as applicants had to agree to abandon association with the Indigenous community, give up their traditional culture, and to break off contact with their Indigenous kinship, except their closes family. Besides, they had to carry this certificate all the time. Hence, Aboriginal people called it as the “dog tags”. The certificates also can be revoked without any rights of appeal in some states. Applicants also had to demonstrate that they stayed out of troubles, kept their houses clean and in good repair, and many other lists. Many Aboriginal people decided to apply for it, albeit they had to sacrifice many things (National Museum of Australia’s Homepage).

The picture above is the Certificate of Exemption of Mary Terzak’s (nee Woods). She was a member of the Stolen Generations. According to the National Sorry Day Comm...

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..., language, ethnicity, nationality, and race. It assures that everyone can have the same opportunity to realize their potential. There are some examples, such as Daniel Maurice, who became a Diplomat in the Foreign Service, Adrian Vatovec who is a well-known song writer in Adelaide, and Natasha Shelly, who is registered as a migration agent right who provides professional immigration advice for those who wish to relocate to Australia. These people represent that they can get the same and equal opportunity as white people in Australia.

Accommodation facilitates and respects the immigrants. The immigrants will be given some space for them to maintain their traditions and some other differentiated rights. Some of examples are the first Slovene church was built in 1968, many Slovene clubs were organized, and a Slovene language program was aired on the Australian radio.