'Packing to Leave' features stories of 10-12 Sydneysiders of South Asian background who relive moments as new migrants to Australia.
Packing to Leave features stories of 10-12 Sydneysiders of South Asian background who relive moments as new migrants to Australia
SYDNEY: "The funny thing about the Australian dress ... It's totally unusual for me, in a way it's scandalous - people come to office in shorts and stockings, and a tie, and a sleeve shirt! People in India are used to going to office with their tie, suit and everything, but here it is completely casual. Then, later, I got the feeling for it and I said, 'Yeah, it probably is alright,'" says Kalyan Ram
Ram is one of the early migrants to Australia, whose memories of this journey is being recorded as part of a series of mini-video documentaries, Packing To Leave: Saris, Suits And Spices. Subtitled Migration Stories from South Asia to Sydney, the online documentaries record the history of migration to Australia and settlement in New South Wales.
Packing to Leave also showcases the Centre's interest in documenting memories of older migrants in their own words. One of it's priorities is for former migrants to share their experiences and meaning behind their special mementos and photographs before they become too frail, says Andrea Fernandes, Project Officer, The NSW Migration Heritage Centre.
The project is presented in conjunction with the ongoing Cinema India exhibition at Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, which showcases Indian film posters, song booklets, costumes, film clips and other memorabilia. "I felt it was important to provide a cultural context to this exhibition that includes how our local communities understand and respond to this cinema, that goes beyond the 'Bollywood' phenomenon," says project researcher and interviewer, Vandana Ram.
Three community participants - Kalyan Ram, Vasant Sheth and Yasmeen Islam - are feature on the website. New interviews will be added every month until the end of the year. Although the 'White Australia' immigration policy was abolished in 1973, the history of South Asian migrants and the South Asian diaspora in Australia goes further back. Packing to Leave gives voice to 10-12 Sydneysiders of South Asian background who relive moments of great challenges they faced as new migrants to Australia.
"I have tried to capture the experiences of people who came here since 1950 and they are all pioneers in some way," says Ram. "It was a time when things we now take for granted were just not there, including atta, dal and spices, no community networks," she adds. Ram had earlier worked on another project on migratory experiences called Indigo, where she ran workshops with community members to express themselves in different creative mediums.
The NSW Migration Heritage Centre is an innovative virtual heritage centre - an online museum. Belongings: post-World War Two migration memories & journeys (www.belongings.com.au) is another Centre online project that features first person oral histories. Here, George and Rose Varughese and Diana Zilka tell us what it was like to migrate from India and settle in Australia, their memories triggered by their keepsakes or belongings. (Visit www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au.)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}