My view and thoughts on everything!

I am a migrant.  I have been in Australia for many, many years and call Australia home.  Likewise, as I didn't come to Australia as a youngster I still have a soft spot for my country of origin - England.  Naturally, I am not a refugee, unless you can call the English weather grounds for applying for refugee status! For the benefit of all migrant phobic readers, yes I did steal one of your Aussie jobs.  I have been able to create a life here through sheer hard work, and the fact that Australia offers opportunities to those that grab them.  I went out and grabbed mine with both hands.  Although I haven't reached what I set out to do, I cannot complain as to where I am today.   As a migrant I feel a kinship towards all other migrants whether they are from Zimbabwe,  Bosnia, Iran or Venezuela.  To settle into a new country, even if you can speak the language fluently - which naturally I can, takes a lot of getting used to.  This ca...

Australia is a country, similar to the US, that has been built on migrants. Since the 'White Man' arrived in 1788, and the numerous convict ships that followed, Australia has been home to many migrants from different regions, religions, cultures and traditions.   In the early days Australia definitely had an Anglo Saxon feel as virtually all migrants were from the British Isles. Most were petty thieves who were put on boats heading to Sydney, for stealing things like a loaf of bread.  This migrant flow changed in the nineteenth century when gold was discovered 'in them thar hills' and before long a large number of Chinese prospectors arrived with dreams of 'making it rich' through what to some is the most precious of metals. Fast forward to the twentieth century and Australia said g'day to a number of Greeks, Italians and other Europeans as the country expanded, and the domestic workforce was unable to cope accordingly.  The 1970's onward...