Elsie Lange
The latest census data reveals the growing diversity of Sunbury, with India jumping to the second-leading country of birth outside of Australia and Punjabi the second-most spoken language other than English at home.
Sunbury’s census results showed 671 people living in the town were born in India, or 1.7 per cent of the population, despite the country not factoring in the top five places of origin in the 2016 census.
The top five languages other than English spoken at home in Sunbury paints a new picture of the city: 10 years ago, they were Italian, Greek, Maltese, Croatian and German – now it’s Italian, Punjabi, Mandarin, Hindi and Tagalog.
Sunbury’s Multicultural Resources Hub (MCR Hub) community development advisor Shammi Parekh has lived in the town for more than 20 years and has seen the changing demographics first hand.
“When I first moved here, there was not much diversity here at all, whenever there was programs we would always travel outside Sunbury to attend those programs,” Ms Parekh said.
“I found that there wasn’t many people we could mix with and exchange our cultures, and talk about food and events and programs and stuff like that.”
The MCR Hub is a not-for-profit organisation aimed at helping people come together through connecting migrants to other established communities, and have been doing their vital work for about four years now.
However, Ms Parekh said while there was more diversity in the broader municipality of Hume, Sunbury had “a long way to go”.
“I believe that there should be a multicultural centre … an area where people can come in for information and things in their languages – languages is the biggest barrier I feel,” Ms Parekh said.
“They don’t understand the information given, at election time a lot people did not understand how to vote… there is a very big gap there.”
Hume councillor Joseph Haweil has been campaigning for a dedicated multicultural hub to be established in Hume for some time, with a council feasibility study currently under way.
“As a municipality, we have to be prepared to proactively provide services that are culturally appropriate,” Cr Haweil said.
“One of the key requests from multicultural communities of us as a council is to provide facilities that allow for the celebration of culture and identity, but also important areas like the retention of mother tongue, of language and venues where can provide services in a culturally appropriate way.”
Cr Haweil said Sunbury’s projected exponential growth over the next decades will bring new communities, “and the face of Sunbury will be very different from its historical demographics”.
“I’ve always been very, very supportive providing these venues, they obviously require investment from council and partnership from government, but I think rather than being reactive, council has a responsibility to proactive,” he said.
Ms Parekh said the MCR Hub’s recent Bollywood Dance Programs had made it clear how great local initiatives were for connecting new Indian communities.
“Making new friends, and talking about their experience and how they’re living here, always asking ‘What else is there in this area, what else do you do’,” she said.
“They were very keen to learn about what Sunbury had to offer … I think they are reaching out now and getting the information they need.”
