Faces from Greta Migrant Camp to feature this Harmony Week

2019 marks the 20th anniversary of Harmony Day and the celebration has now been renamed Harmony Week, recognising diversity and inclusion across the entire week. Harmony Week kicked off today and is running until Friday 23 March.

It’s about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians, regardless of cultural or linguistic background, united by a set of core Australian values.  

Cessnock City Mayor, Councillor Bob Pynsent said this is an opportunity to celebrate multiculturalism and diversity in our community.  

This year Cessnock City Library is focusing on a particular part of our local migration heritage, the Greta Migrant Camp (1949-1960). Tens of thousands of migrants came to Greta from Europe, beginning their lives in Australia at the camp after World War II. During Harmony Week, we will remember them as images of their faces fill the foyer of the Cessnock Library in a kaleidoscope of projected images.     

This year’s Harmony Week theme “Everyone Belongs” reflects some fascinating statistics about Australia’s diversity:   nearly half (49 per cent) of Australians were born overseas or have at least one parent who was we identify with over 300 ancestries since 1945, more than 7.5 million people have migrated to Australia more than 70 Indigenous languages are spoken in Australia  

*Source ABS 2016 Census Data.     

To find out more about the events on at our libraries visit libraries.cessnock.nsw.gov.au.

 3/18/2019