DateBetween 29th January 2026 and 29th January 2025Date KnownExactDescriptionI visited Emine Kara’s home on a sunny afternoon, where women from three generations had gathered in the lead-up to one of her granddaughters’ weddings that weekend. Emine moved to Cabramatta in 1974 at just 21, from Türkiye via Austria after two years of work there, with her husband and a nine-month-old baby, pregnant again and knowing no English. “It was hard,” she told me. “I had no family here.” She learned English in the shared kitchen of the Villawood Migrant Hostel (now alarmingly known as the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre), a welcoming place for new migrant families to get settled, alongside women from Yugoslavian, Spanish, and French backgrounds. She took on whatever work she could, sewing in factories as a machinist, farm work, cleaning at Cabramatta West Preschool and sewing in her home studio which she still does today.
Together, Emine and her husband raised six children, five born in Australia, building a life shaped by labour, faith, and community. Today she is surrounded by 13 grandchildren, with her family choosing to stay close, a couple of her children living on the same street and more just around the corner. She spoke about Fairfield as a place defined by people living alongside one another with respect, where mosques, churches, and temples share the same street. Her family attends the Bonnyrigg Mosque, home to a thriving Turkish Australian community, where women’s groups, youth programs, and cultural festivals bring everyone together. “This is my home now,” she said. “When I go back to Türkiye, I feel like a stranger.” Watching the women gather around her in the lead-up to the celebration, it was a joy to see Emine in her element, proudly showing off the mangoes and corn growing in her carefully tended garden and offering handmade gifts from her sewing studio. With her oldest daughter and youngest granddaughter by her side, her legacy of courage, generosity, and movement across worlds is carried forward through the women she has raised and nurtured.
- Chloë Nour, February 2026PhotographerChloë NourNotesThese photographs are part of the 2025 City Photographer project.
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Image ColourColourTypeDigitalCopyrightPartial restriction. Please contact Fairfield City Heritage Services for image use.AcknowledgementChloë Nour 2025 Fairfield City Photographer. Image courtesy of Fairfield City Heritage Collection.
Emine Kara (Between 29th January 2026 and 29th January 2025). Fairfield City Heritage Collection, accessed 26/06/2026, https://heritagecollection.fairfieldcity.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/7198
