Zoe Moffatt
Macedon Ranges council celebrated cultural diversity last week, with a morning tea in Woodend.
The morning tea was held on Thursday, March 23, to honour the value cultural diversity brings to the Macedon Ranges community.
Council community director Maria Weiss said the council is proud to support the week and theme of; celebrating and reflecting on the contributions of Victoria’s multicultural communities.
“We are fortunate to live in a country that embraces cultural diversity and has such a vibrant multicultural population,” Ms Weiss said.
“You only need to look at our citizenship ceremonies or recent Census data to get a sense of the diversity in the Macedon Ranges.
“For example, more than 1200 households reported using a non-English language at home in the 2021 census.”
Victorian 2022 nominee for Senior Australian of year, Sister Brigid Arthur was also a guest speaker at the event.
Ms Arthur, a staunch advocate and fighter for the rights, has been engaged in education and social justice in Victoria since 1886, Australian of the Year Awards said.
At the morning tea, Ms Arthur spoke about the Brigidine Asylum Seeker Project and the contribution that migrants, refugees and asylum seekers make to the community.
According to data from the 2021 Census 27.6 per cent of the population were born overseas, with the top five languages spoken at home, other than English was; Mandarin, Arabic, Vietnamese, Cantonese and Punjabi.
Celebrations for cultural diversity continued to take place throughout the state, with a Victorian Multicultural Gala Dinner held on Saturday, March 18.
The dinner showcased Victoria’s vibrant multicultural communities with food, dance and music.
