Refugee Week will be celebrated from Sunday, 19 June to Saturday, 25 June, 2016. In observance of Refugee Week, the Shepparton Interfaith Network in collaboration with GOTAFE Multicultural Education Centre will present a seminar and discussion on Australia’s Migration and Australia’s Welcome at the Harder Auditorium on Tuesday 21 June, 2016.
Refugee Week, coordinated by the Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA), is Australia’s peak annual activity to raise awareness about the issues affecting refugees and to celebrate the positive contributions that they make to Australian society.
This year, Refugee Week will be celebrated from Sunday, 19 June to Saturday, 25 June, which includes World Refugee Day on June 20. The theme is “With courage let us all combine”, which is taken from the second verse of the national anthem and celebrates the courage of refugees and of people who speak out against persecution and injustice. It serves as a call for unity and positive action, encouraging Australians to improve our nation’s welcome for refugees and acknowledging the skills and energy that refugees bring to their new home.
Australia’s Migration
Since 1945, more than 7 million people have come to Australia as new settlers. The trigger for a large-scale immigration program was the end of World War II. Agreements were reached with Britain, some European countries and with the International Refugee Organisation to encourage immigration, including people displaced by the war in Europe. The highest number of settlers to arrive in any one year since World War II was 185,099 in 1969–70. The lowest number in any one year was 52,752 in 1975–76. Approximately 1.6 million migrants arrived between October 1945 and 30 June 1960, about 1.3 million in the 1960s, about 960,000 in the 1970s, about 1.1 million in the 1980s, over 900,000 in the 1990s, about 1.8 million in the 2000s, and nearly 1 million since the year 2010.
Event Details
Program: Australia’s Migration and Australia’s Welcome: Speakers, Q & A
Date: Tuesday, 21 June 2016
Time: Time: 9:30 – 10:30
Location: Harder Auditorium, Fryer Street, Shepparton
More information Chris Parnell Phone: 5821 3483