177 Nations of Tasmania

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...

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 f...

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...

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 sur...

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...

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 to coral reefs, rocky forested islands, sandy beaches and green turtles, and Anna, who moved to Launceston to be with her partner , Marcus, in 2018.  Anna used to work in the tourist industry but Tasmania has helped consolidate a new career path she'd alrea...

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...

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 th...

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...

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...

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 describ...

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 larg...

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 an...

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...

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...

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 dri...

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...

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...

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 "typ...

Piera was born in Tripoli 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 Mel...

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...

One of the hardest things for many during the Covid pandemic was 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 in 2019. Reza is a Hazara, one of the ethnic minorities in Afghanistan subje...

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 r...

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 in TV and other fields.  Through her work she would meet her Tasm...

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 f...