20 years

The day before yesterday marked the twentieth anniversary of our arrival in Australia as immigrants. Nervous, worried, we arrived by air in an unknown country, and started a new life.  Australia and Australians welcomed us with open arms.


Oz has been good to us. We have prospered, and been easily accepted by Australians. We're proud to be Ozzies, even though there are some aspects of the Australian culture we dislike. Nearly one third of Australians were born overseas, and we immigrants have helped make Oz's vibrant culture. You cannot walk down a street in our main cities without passing eateries from 20 different countries, or seeing foreign language bookshops, or hearing one of over a hundred different languages spoken. Even though there are some cretinous racists, we get along pretty well, Greeks, Italians, Brits, Turks, Indians, Sri Lankans, South Africans, Yugoslavs, Poles, Russians, Koreans, Chinese, Afghans, Iraqis, and those who were born here. 40% of the children of immigrants marry outside their parents' ethnic group.


Thank you, Australia.