Welcome back to the Journal’s Community Voices, our monthly column celebrating the city’s diverse cultures and lifestyles. This month, Keysborough’s Kalyan Ky — a Chinese-Cambodian writer, social activist and Greater Dandenong young achiever of the year in 2011 — reflects on what it means to be Australian.
BORN in the middle of the forest at the foot of a south-east Asian mountain range with only a checked scarf to cover me, it never occurred to me later in life how much of an Australian I would become and how much Australia Day would mean to me.
Through my work, I’ve heard many stories of people’s journeys to Australia, from sailing on a boat in intrepid waters to running across distances through minefields; and of living in makeshift holes, people’s garages and migrant hostels. But all these stories have one thing in common: that we have finally arrived at our destination, which we call home.
I celebrated Australia Day this year by marrying the love of my life in a small civil ceremony at my nana’s Emerald property, surrounded by close family and friends. We had the Cambodian ceremony two years ago.
My dad aptly compared that in the Cambodian ceremony, the groom walks down the aisle, and in the Australian one, it’s the bride. This illustrates the beauty that Australia is — as a nation we can celebrate these differences and unions.
Last Australia Day, I gave birth to my daughter Sophia, who is a mixture of Cambodian, Chinese, German, Danish, Scottish and English cultures and she couldn’t be more beautiful.
The Australia Day before this, I was at the Dandenong Town Hall to receive an award from the council for my work in promoting multiculturalism and giving young people a voice. Again, this was a surprise to me and such a contrast: as a little girl I grew up in Thai and Malaysian detention camps, and later the western suburbs of New Zealand, but now here I was being honoured for being a good Australian.
And that’s what living in the City of Greater Dandenong espouses — that in one evening we can dine at Cambodian restaurants and the next we are enjoying Italian takeaway. This month we are celebrating the Chinese new year and the next, St Patrick’s Day.
We came to Australia on different routes, but we have brought our identities, cultures and dreams to enrich each other’s lives and create a new identity.
Being Australian is for me embracing our differences and coming together to celebrate them.
This is what I hope the ‘Faith and Culture’ creative encyclopaedia — a project I am working on — will show and encourage all young people to contribute their stories.
What do you think? Post a comment below or via Twitter, @DandyJournal and join in the community conversation.
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