Manu grew up on a small island in Tonga, a small nation in itself, in a time where they had no electricity or technologies that we would take for granted today, like TV or cars. Later he would move to the main island to attend high school and start playing rugby, a sport that is dear to the hearts of many Tongans. But his rugby ability would prove to be an asset later, when as a 25-year old he moved to Tasmania and rugby proved an outlet to make friends, build his networks and connect with other...
May 19, 2022•37 min•Ep. 64
Samoa is a small island nation in the South Pacific which may appear to many of us as a tropical island paradise. The truth is, as Loni describes in this episode, that daily life for many islanders is quite tough. Samoa is not a wealthy country and many people live in small communities, living from small-scale agriculture, and the islands power supplies have been hit by cyclones in the past. Many Samoans migrate to New Zealand, and increasingly in the past 20 years, to Australia, where the popul...
Apr 26, 2022•45 min•Ep. 63
Amr was born in Egypt but received his early education in Saudi Arabia before moving to Malaysia, then Queensland and Melbourne, and more recently, Tasmania. However, he still remains rooted in his Egyptian identity and during school times in Saudi Arabia, he would frequently return to family in Egypt in school holidays. As a result of his education and upbringing in a progressive Egyptian family living abroad, Amr sees himself largely as a "global citizen", but it wasn't until he arrived in Tas...
Apr 23, 2022•37 min•Ep. 61
In the Australian census, Hong Kong is listed as a separate "Country of Birth" to the People's Republic of China, acknowledging the different history of the two and the status of Hong Kong as a British colony for some 150 years. As a result Hong Kong and its people have their own distinct culture and outlook. Many have also found their way to Tasmania. In Anthony's case, it was his family's choice to come here, to learn from a Buddhist spiritual leader here who hade made his home in Tasmania in ...
Apr 18, 2022•37 min•Ep. 60
Norway is a country with one of the highest standards of living in the world, with their health care and education systems rated amongst the best in the world as well as living amongst strikingly beautiful landscapes. So, apart, from the cold, what would bring a Norwegian to the other side of the world to live ? In a word, love. That was the case for Anette, who also, and some many find this surprising, finds Tasmania a trifle too warm at times.. But of course, there is more Anette's story than ...
Apr 09, 2022•38 min•Ep. 59
Kenya is probably best known in Australia for its long distance runners and safari parks, and it's not generally been a big source of migrants here, so it's perhaps why our knowledge of its people and culture are limited. Cecilia currently lives in Launceston, working as a project manager in the health sector. As is very common in much of sub-Saharan African, she grew up on a small farm in a rural town amongst vegetable gardens and animals. In common with other Africans I've interviewed, Cecilia...
Apr 07, 2022•32 min•Ep. 58
The Seychelles is a small collection of islands in the Indian Ocean, a nation of a little less than 100,000 inhabitants. It's the home of coral reefs, rocky forested islands, sandy beaches and green turtles, and Anna, who moved to Launceston to be with her partner , Marcus, around 4 years ago. Anna used to work in the tourist industry but Tasmania has helped consolidate a new career path she'd already started moving on, and has given her a bit work-life balance. In this episode, we talk about so...
Apr 03, 2022•41 min•Ep. 57
Sergio moved to Burnie from Northern Queensland several years ago where he works as a child psychologist. He grew up in a remote village in Central Portugal, and describes a style of traditional village living which is increasingly disappearing as young people leave for opportunities in the bigger cities. So listening to his stories of village life as a boy will take you back in time a bit, but also give you an insight into some of Portuguese rural life and traditions.
Apr 02, 2022•37 min•Ep. 56
Adel was born in and grew up in Baghdad to an Iraqi mother and father who was a refugee from Palestine. In this episode Adel talks about his formative experiences growing up in Baghdad and then at school in Birmingham and the things that influenced his later life. Adel studied Agronomy at Baghdad University and after making his way illicitly across the border to Jordan during the first Gulf War, he was eventually able to use this degree to gain a skilled visa to Australia. Starting a new life In...
Mar 20, 2022•50 min•Ep. 55
Somewhat like Croatians, many Slovenians fled the former Yugoslavia to escape conscription and many found their way to Tasmania in the era of mass hydro-industrialisation that occurred in the 50s and 60s. Peter and Rebeka though are a new generation of Slovenians, who, though they spent some of their childhood under Yugoslavia, have mostly lived in independent Slovenia. Before deciding to settle in Tasmania, Peter had been to Australia many times before due to a family connection in Sydney, and ...
Mar 04, 2022•42 min•Ep. 54
Aws (aka Alusine) is a great example of enterprise and initiative. He came to Hobart just as a traveller when he was on Sydney and quickly realised there was no barber shop serving the growing local African- Australian population. Aws was born in Sierra Leone and grew up there in a difficult time when the country was suffering a long civil war and eventually, like many others, Aws and his family would flee to neighbouring Guinea and eventually would relocate to Sydney.
Mar 02, 2022•30 min•Ep. 53
Bolivia is not a country we hear a lot about it in Tasmania - it's far away, it's landlocked with cities high up in the mountains where the people play panpipes - it's like a fantasy country in the minds of many. The reality is, that like many countries it's quite an unequal society and so people will seek their fortunes in other places. It wouldn't be totally accurate to describe Lucia's journey this way, but she did leave Bolivia after finishing high school to seek a better or different future...
Feb 25, 2022•31 min•Ep. 52
In describing his memories of his childhood in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cedrick explains how he developed a competitive spirit at school, and that spirit would stand him in good stead for the challenges he would face later in life when he came to Tasmania to make a new home. The Democratic Republic of Congo is a resource-rich country at the heart of Africa, and the continent's second largest in area. For much of the last 20 years or so it has been riven by a brutal civil war, that has r...
Feb 20, 2022•42 min•Ep. 51
Helen was born and bred in South Africa to English parents. Though her upbringing was privileged compared to many others, she was aware from a young age of both politics and the social and racial inequality that permeated South African society, and her family was opposed to the apartheid system. She would eventually meet Owen, an Australian man in South Africa after hitch-hiking through Africa and to cut a long story short, they ended up in Launceston, Tasmania, where they have lived for around ...
Feb 19, 2022•35 min•Ep. 50
Mauritius is a nation consisting of a small group of islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean. It's diverse history and geography have made it a melting pot of cultures, religions and languages, with the French culture the most marked influence. Jean-Marie grew up on the densely-populated island of Mauritius, but also spent some of his childhood on a small and idyllic island called Rodrigues, in a time before many modern conveniences had yet arrived and in this episode he talks a little a bit a...
Feb 16, 2022•33 min•Ep. 49
It would be an understatement to say that there aren't many Hondurans in Tasmania. As of latest count, there were 3 Hondurans in Tasmania. Two of them are Diana and her husband . Coming from a country that is heavily influenced by the US, she and her husband wanted to gain experience in a different English-speaking country and have a bit of an adventure. Her husband was also keen to settle in a place with four seasons...though perhaps Tasmania "overdelivered" in this regard ! Although Diana's ba...
Feb 09, 2022•40 min•Ep. 48
Australia is not generally a popular destination for Ecuadorians, but Denisse, a self-confessed contrarian, developed a fascination with Steve Irwin and his show the Crocodile Hunter. At 19 years of age she came to Australia on an exchange to study Hotel Management with the an eye to take of the family business. However, she ended up taking a different path and gravitated towards science, and driven by her passion for animals. Ultimately this would take her back to Ecuador to study sharks in the...
Feb 07, 2022•26 min•Ep. 47
Ethiopians now make up one of Tasmania's largest African communities, and their numbers have grown noticably in recent years. But how much do Tasmanians know about Ethiopia and Ethiopian culture ? My guess is not that much, and yet Ethiopia is not only one of the larger and more significant countries in Africa, it has a complex history and culture, which is reflected in the different peoples of Ethiopian origin settling in Tasmania. Although many Ethiopians have settled here through Australia's ...
Feb 06, 2022•40 min•Ep. 46
Davor is both a passionate Croat and a proud Tasmanian. Shortly after he finished his school in Zadar, then in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia, his family decided to move to Australia, via Italy. Like many young migrants, Davor was able to adjust to the initial culture shock relatively quickly and from a fairly young age became involved in different activities with the local Croatian community, starting with the local Croatian football (soccer) club not just as a player but also helping with a...
Dec 11, 2021•35 min•Ep. 45
Migrants from Poland came to Tasmania in large numbers after World War 2, many coming to work on the large dam construction projects in the 1950s and 60s. Others came here for different reasons, bringing new skills and different customs, and raising families in Tasmania to become one of the state's most successful and prolific migrant groups. Dana, though, could probably not be regarded as a "typical" Polish immigrant to Tasmania. She was drawn here by love you could say, rather than fleeing a w...
Dec 05, 2021•33 min•Ep. 44
Piera was born in Libya to parents of Italian and Maltese extraction just after the Second World War. Although her family had lived there for two generations, there was a growing hostility towards people of fairer, more European appearance, so Piera's father decided to move the family to Australia, where they had relatives living in Melbourne. Piera was only 9 when the family arrived in Melbourne with barely a word of English when she started school. Of course, once the family left Libya, they c...
Nov 03, 2021•23 min•Ep. 43
Indonesia is Australia's biggest neighbour, though it's not one of our bigger sources of migrants. For such a populous and significant neighbour, Indonesian culture and perspectives are perhaps less familiar to Australians/Tasmanians than they should be. I went to the third city in Tasmania, Devonport to talk with Ranti about her experience of settling there after spending most of her life in the giant and busy metropolis of Jakarta. Despite the lack of shopping malls in small city that was so m...
Nov 01, 2021•36 min•Ep. 42
One of the hardest things for many during the Covid pandemic has been the enforced separation from family. But imagine being separated from your wife and child for nine years as you tried to support them and forge a better future for your family in Australia, which is what Reza did until his wife and boy joined him in Tasmania two years ago. Reza is a Hazara, one of the ethnic minorities in Afghanistan subject to harsh persecution from the infamous Taliban. Reza has spent most of his life in Ira...
Sep 11, 2021•34 min•Ep. 41
Can you imagine being 15 years old and being put on a boat by your father going to the other side of the world to a place where you didn't speak a word of the language ? Many of us can barely conceive of this, but this is what happened to Nick when he arrived in Australia on a long journey from his birthplace on the island of Lesbos, Greece. At the time there was fighting on Lesbos between rival political factions, and many young Greeks were sent away or fled to find a better future in America, ...
Sep 09, 2021•34 min•Ep. 40
One could say that Elena's colourful personality and career match the country and culture she comes from - Mexico. When she was a young woman in Mexico, Elena decided she wanted to study "aestheticologie", which equates roughly to what we might call beauty therapy here. Elena had a successful career in Mexico working TV and other fields. Through her work she would meet her Tasmanian husband and they would eventually come to Launceston with their two Mexican-born children. Things did not good to ...
Aug 16, 2021•40 min•Ep. 39
Nancy was 11 when the democratically elected government of Chile was overthrown in a military coup, and even at such a young age she and those in the poor neighbourhood she lived in Santiago felt the negative impact of the change. The regime of General Pinochet was one marked by human rights abuses and heavy political repression leading thousands of Chileans to flee to other countries.Chileans first came to Tasmania in significant numbers in the late 1980s, and Nancy and her family were among th...
Aug 05, 2021•36 min•Ep. 38
Jeff was born in Toronto and came to settle in Launceston via Western Australia and Hobart, for a combination of lifestyle and work reasons. He met his Australian wife on a flight from Vancouver to Mexico when he was still a medical intern and she was doing a ski season in British Columbia. They would later marry and he moved with her to her hometown of Perth. Jeff's a skin cancer specialist, a field he was drawn due to a family history of melanomas. As it turns out Launces has the second highes...
Jul 14, 2021•36 min•Ep. 37
Carole grew up in Brussels in a cosmopolitan neighbourhood in a country in which the two major cultural and linguistic groups have lived side-by-side for a long time. Growing up in this environment, Carole speaks of having to be open to differences in others and this can be seen no better than in her advocacy for her son Lio, born just before the Covid lockdown in Tasmania and diagnosed with Down's Syndrome. Like many migrants, she has faced the tough situation of not being able to introduce her...
Jul 11, 2021•34 min•Ep. 36
Anna's story highlights how complicated defining "nationality" can be sometimes, and though I'm trying to use a standard based on the Australian Census's "Country of Birth", there is a category "Eastern Europe, not fully defined", showing that many people in Eastern Europe throughout the 20th century were displaced or found themselves within changed borders. Anna was born in the 1920s in what was then Yugoslavia ( today it is Croatia), but only a few years before it had been part of the Hungaria...
May 26, 2021•37 min•Ep. 35
Jenny or Yenni was born into a Hungarian family in the eastern part of Slovakia, then part of the Republic of Czechoslovakia. Jenny was a child when Soviet tanks occupied her home town of Kosice, and then grew up as part of the first generation of "socialist youth" in post-war Czechoslovakia. Things were going well until the "Prague Spring", initiated by the Slovak President of Czechoslovakia, Alexander Dubcek, an exciting period of unprecedented freedom and possibility for the people of Czechos...
May 18, 2021•44 min•Ep. 34
