Collection SummaryThis project commenced in 2005 and has enabled the Library to build a working relationship with multicultural and school communities by celebrating their settlement through collecting and preserving photographs, oral histories and publications. Library staff and the community now have on-line access to information on many of its communities. This project has built networks for future collaboration.
Once a year, one of our many migrant communities and one school community is invited to share their culture and history. Some of the communities that we engaged with were: The African Community, The Assyrian Community, The Croatian Community, The Italian Community, The Vietnamese Community.
Collecting, preserving and showcasing these community histories is aimed at celebrating diversity and improving social understanding and inclusion.DescriptionLao people have settled in Australia since 1976. The settlement of Lao people in Australia commenced as a result of the end of the Indo-Chinese conflict and the takeover of Laos by communist forces. Prior to this a small number of Laotians were studying in Australia under the Colombo Plan (intergovernmental scholarship program to strengthen economic and social development of member countries in the Asia-Pacific region) and other aid programs. Many of these students were granted permanent residence status in Australia.
Most of the subsequent arrivals arrived in Australia under either the Family Reunion Program or the Community Refugee Settlement Scheme. They included a number of ethnic groups from Lao, such as ethnic Chinese, ethnic Vietnamese, ethnic Cambodian, Tai Dam, Khmu, and Hmong. The Lao community in Australia increased steadily until the late 1980s when arrivals became more sporadic.
In New South Wales, the Lao community is mainly concentrated in the local government area of Fairfield, followed by Liverpool and Campbelltown.
Source: Excerpts from Jupp, J. (Ed.) the Australian People. (2001) Cambridge University
