Opinion Articles

SOUL MATTERS: Southern Cross points to land of opportunity
By Amara McHugh-Shahani

During National Refugee Week last month, the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle’s Social Justice Council hosted a forum to explore issues around refugees and asylum seekers. This edited version of the words of welcome provides food for thought as the Government’s policy is discussed and debated.

My immediate forebear on my mother’s side came to Australia in 1792. He was a medical practitioner, not a prisoner or a refugee, but a free man ministering to the people of New South Wales. The white inhabitants here, while not refugees, were certainly not here of their own free will, nor did they see Australia as providing the freedom they had known in their own country. Their lives were as grey and ghostly as the gum trees surrounding them.

These people lost their country, their families and in many cases, the will to live, but they left us a legacy. We have a future that we can share with the people we welcome to Australia...how things have changed!

Apart from Dr John Harris and my Irish/English background, I also have French, American and Italian forebears and their blood has made me what I am. It’s exciting to speculate on the futures of our refugee friends and their descendants as they gradually integrate into our Australian way of life.

While we Australians have fought many wars to bring peace to other lands, our shores have not been threatened in ways that led us to flee to safety.

We have known raging storms and earthquakes, droughts and floods - but we have not suffered at the hands of invaders, nor known the anguish of persecution. Our path to freedom began when the colony was young. We conquered the bush, we fought wars to free others, we built cities, we paid in laughter, tears and nuggets in the theatre of life, as we maintained and cultivated our freedom. We forged the invincible Australian - a person of hope and dignity and compassion.

For today’s refugees, and those who follow them, the long walk to freedom is not over; hardships remain as they endeavour to put the past behind them and focus their energies on the struggle to grow and learn in a new land.

On behalf of all Australians and in particular, the people of the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle, I welcome our refugees here today. We hear and understand your problems, we welcome you as friends and we recognise the holiness of the sacrifices you have made to reach our country. May you live long and happy lives under the Southern Cross in this wonderful land known simply as ”Down Under” and in the years to come, I hope you will be as proud as I am, to be called an Australian.

Amara McHugh-Shahani is a Year 7 student at St Pius X High School Adamstown. This article is submitted by the Churches Media Association www.cmahunter.com.au.

*This article was published in The Herald, 12th July 2010