Calling Australia home

Did you know that more than a quarter of UWA staff members were born overseas?

To celebrate Australian Citizenship Day, UWA Forward spoke to staff members who’ve travelled from Argentina, Kenya and the United Kingdom to make Australia their home.

Celeste Rodriguez Louro: I feel responsible for Australia’s future

Image: Dr Celeste Rodriguez Louro.

Celeste Rodriguez Louro, a senior lecturer in linguistics, remembers arriving in Australia on a “freezing cold winter night in June 2005”.

She had moved to Melbourne with her partner to study a PhD in linguistics at The University of Melbourne.

Although well-travelled – she was born in Argentina, and had also lived in Costa Rica, the United States, Austria and Poland – Celeste found living in Australia challenging at first.

“Leaving one’s original country and migrating / settling elsewhere is tough,” she said.

“You will feel out of place often, and you will question your feelings, thoughts and reality. Everything you thought you knew about the way you are and do things in the world will quickly turn upside down.”

There were also practical challenges.

“At first, the trickiest part of living in Australia was figuring out what to buy at the supermarket, and trying not to worry about my house being impeccably clean before visitors arrived (I haven’t figured that one out yet!),” she said.

In 2011 she began working at UWA, and the next year she became an Australian citizen.

“Being Australian means being given the opportunity to freely pursue my dreams,” she said.

“I feel honoured to live on still unceded Whadjuk Nyungar boodja and thank my lucky stars for having moved here.

"This country is as gorgeous as all the people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting along the way.

“Despite the challenge of migrating, the experience helped me grow in ways I never thought possible. Being an Australian citizen makes me feel responsible for the future of Australia and its place in the world. I am driven to make as many positive changes as I can while I’m alive.”

Now, she’s the Director of Language Lab, an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow, Vice-President of the Australian Linguistic Society and an Australian English / Aboriginal English consultant for the Oxford English Dictionary.

She’s also proud to be part of UWA’s multicultural community.

“I am proudly diverse, and I enjoy meeting all sorts of people,” she said.

“I don’t care where people are from, what they believe in, what food they like, or whom they love. I cherish humanity in all its diversity, genius, and – let’s be honest – sometimes silly and nonsensical behaviour.”

Donald Mwathi: Australia has become home away from home

Image: Donald Mwathi.

Donald Mwathi, an administration officer, moved to Australia in 2004 when his wife started her postgraduate studies.

His young family had chosen Perth as their new home several years before after meeting with migration agents in Kenya, who were hunting for skilled workers for Australia.

“Perth was sold to us as a great city for families,” he said. “It also helped that years earlier, my wife had read about its beautiful green open spaces, waterways and proximal ocean.”

Moving to Australia, he gave up his head of department role in one of Kenya’s most prestigious high schools.

“The biggest challenges when we migrated were the distance from friends and family back in Kenya, forging new friendships and networks as well as the usual but unseen immigration hurdles international students and migrating families have to face, whether skilled or not,” he said.

Until migrating, Donald had lived in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi (from the Maasai word meaning ‘place of cool waters’).

“Kenya is geographically and culturally a land of contrasts; it’s cosmopolitan, internationally well-connected and has a vibrant largely young demographic,” he said.

“There are also strong influences from Arabic, Portuguese, English, Indian and more recently American, European and Chinese cultures.

"On top of this, it’s been home to many refugees from surrounding nations.”

In September 2013, Donald and his family became Australian citizens.

“Australia had become home for all of us by then, and particularly for our two kids it was another happy and safe space on this planet with new friends,” he said.

“Being Australian means being blessed with numerous and varied life opportunities and endeavouring to be fair to others.

"It also means continuing with the Kenyan mantra ‘hakuna matata’ and merging it with the almost synonymous Aussie ‘no worries, mate’ approach to life. And of course, not taking oneself too seriously.

“Australia has been very good to our family and I wish the same for others who want to make it their home or find a happier and safer space on Earth.

“UWA is a representative microcosm of what Australia has become and hopefully will keep nurturing: a haven of multicultural, tolerant and welcoming humanness.”

Baljeet Kaur: Australia will always be home to me

Image: Baljeet Kaur.

Baljeet Kaur, a senior internal audit officer, was just 11 years old when she moved to Australia in the 1980s.

“My parents left India in the 1960s to move to the United Kingdom,” she said.

“I was born and grew up in London. When my uncle moved to Australia in the 1970s, my dad wanted to be near his younger brother as he was alone at that time, so we all moved to Perth in the early 1980s.

“Leaving my childhood friends in London and moving to a different country was challenging; however, my siblings and I adjusted quickly – even learning Australian slang, as we had no idea what arvo, dunny, fair dinkum and Woop Woop meant!”

Baljeet still has strong ties to her cultural heritage.

“Punjabi culture is a huge and wonderful part of my life and baked into my DNA,” she said.

“When we first arrived in Perth, there were very few Sikhs to connect with and we didn’t have a Sikh Gurdwara (temple) where we could congregate and meet.

"A few families used to get together on a monthly basis to socialise over shared food.

“I remember there was only one store in Perth where my mum could get her necessary Indian spices (Kakulas Brothers in Northbridge).”

She was still a teenager when she officially became an Australian citizen.

“I became an Australian citizen in 1984 as my family and I were grateful for the wonderful opportunities and beautiful way of life this wonderful country had given and continues to give to us,” she said.

“We’ve been welcomed and accepted so warmly and we wanted to belong and cement our relationship with Australia and to give back. As the saying goes, there’s no place like home, and Australia will always be home to me.”

At UWA, she loves being part of a community that is respectful and inclusive of other cultures.

“I love being part of this diverse multicultural community and learning about different cultures, perspectives and ideas,” she said.

“In Australia, and at UWA, people have such a friendly outlook and always come together to help each other – and to me, that’s the Australian spirit.”