Ball gowns, dinner jackets, kaftans, shawls, headdresses, silk saris, sashes, shiny shoes and multi-coloured cultural attire glittered. Friends hugged, danced, and enjoyed a special evening.
The Melbourne Exhibition and Conference Centre came alive with around 1400 guests representing a range of corporate, government and community organisations.
Each one came together for one purpose: to celebrate Victoria’s multicultural story. The theme for this year’s Cultural Diversity Week was “Our Past, Our Future: Celebrating and reflecting on the contributions of Victoria’s multicultural communities”.
The VMC celebrates its 40th year and the Gala marked one of the highlights of Cultural Diversity Week in Victoria. This year the week started on March 11 and ended on March 21, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, a day to remind us of the work still needed.
Wurundjeri man Daniel Ross provided a very moving Welcome to Country and set the tone for the very special evening. He urged guests to preserve their language and culture as they are both integral elements to maintaining a sense of identity and connection to heritage.
Daniel knows the importance of languages and their link to culture. Over 250 Indigenous languages were once spoken in Australia, with around 800 dialect varieties.
Only 150 seem to have survived (ABS, 2021) resulting in a loss of cultural richness and intergenerational relationships.
Victoria’s multiculturalism has introduced many additional languages, and the Gala provided an opportunity to hear many of them. In fact, 290 languages are spoken in the state by people representing 314 ancestries.
The state has both a local and international reputation for embracing and nurturing multiculturalism. Chair of the VMC, Vivienne Nguyen, acknowledged the compassion and strength of the multicultural communities who all came together to keep each other safe and well during the height of the pandemic. She also recognised the fundamental role cross-party political support is in ensuring a thriving and respectful pluricultural society.
The Premier Dan Andrews described Victoria’s multicultural richness as “one of its greatest assets” and paid tribute to how community members both shared their culture and accepted cultural differences.
The tone of his speech changed however, when referring to the neo-Nazi protest earlier that day. He was very clear in his statement: “hate does not represent our state.”
This sentiment was also echoed by Colin Brooks, Minister for Multicultural Affairs. Minister Brooks has his own lived experience as part of the intergenerational migrant story. His maternal great grandfather set sail for Australia from Riposto, Catania in the late 1800’s. His great grandfather and his brother both settled here creating a new life working on boats. As a result of his sangue siciliano (Siclian blood) Minister Brooks feels a particular connection to the Italian community. He has visited his ancestral village and described it as a very moving and memorable experience.
The Gala was the first for Minister Pesutto and, therefore, particularly meaningful. His migration story started with his father leaving behind his family in Calabria. Full of hope for a brighter future than Italy could provide (given the devastation of WWII), his father boarded the ship, the Flaminia, ready for adventure.
Minister Pesutto referred to the common experience of many migrants who came and continue to come to Australia to flee from insecure or even dangerous situations.
“It is our shared story as migrants,” he said.
He reminded guests, that it was everyone’s individual responsibility to contribute to creating an inclusive society and guard against those who sought to divide the community.
The annual Gala is hosted by the VMC, an entity which is run by the government and has a particularly important advocacy role in facilitating conversations between them and the community.
Whilst the Gala represents an opportunity to celebrate our rich diversity, the VMC is also involved in ensuring that multiculturalism is fostered through a range of initiatives and recommends a range of solutions to government for improvements in, for instance, aged, disability and youth care.
For Assunta Morrone (Manager, Strengthening Hospital Responses to Family Violence at Western Health), the VMC Chair shared a particularly important message, paying tribute to the “older migrant communities, upon which shoulders newer communities stood”.
Assunta who knows firsthand the challenges of the migrant experience as a daughter of napoletani (Neopolitans).
The event included some of the foundational VMC leaders including Trang Thomas AM, Stefan Romaniw OAM and its longest serving Chair, George Lekakis AO.
Emiliano Zucchi, CEO of the Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria explained that the Gala provided “a great opportunity to mingle with members of the state’s multicultural community and to be reminded about just how diverse it is”.
Emiliano himself migrated from Rome and made the choice to settle in Australia to raise his family. His role now centres on ensuring the voice of multicultural communities is heard.
Margherita Coppolino, this year’s recipient of the Pride Foundation Australia’s Person of the Year Award, was pleased that there was “more of an intersectional representation of the multicultural community”.
“The fact that multicultural LGBTIQ community members felt safe to be at such an event has significance,” she said.
“What does this say about how far we have come?”
Margherita Coppolino (centre) with attendees on the dance floor
The VMC 40th Anniversary Gala event provided many with the opportunity to come together, proud, and strong in their diversity. They delighted in the company and entertainment that reflected Victoria’s cultural richness. The Ukrainian dance troupe Lehenda provided a spectacular display of Cossack and folk dances.
Whilst diversity may have been the theme, inclusion was the outcome. Especially when the much-loved Latin band Zona 7 took the stage and had everyone dancing. As the night drew to a close, many were already making plans for the next Gala. One that focuses and celebrates the best of community harmony and inclusion.
