Ballarat, Australia’s first Intercultural City

Intercultural city: City of Ballarat Mayor Cr Samantha Mcintosh with members of Ballarat’s diverse community at the Harmony Fest launch. Photo: CAROL SAFFER

WHAT started out as a one day event in 2011 has grown to be a 10 day celebration of Ballarat’s diversity.

Harmony Fest promotes cultural diversity and makes people aware that Ballarat is slowly growing to be a big multi-cultural city said Frances Salenga, City of Ballarat Intercultural Services Co-ordinator.

“Ballarat is the first accredited Intercultural City in Australia,” she said. “As small as our population is in terms of our diversity, we have significant programs that we have delivered that are marked as best practice of which we are very proud.”

The Intercultural Cities Programme of the Council of Europe supports cities in reviewing their policies through an intercultural lens and developing comprehensive strategies to help them manage diversity positively and realise the diversity advantage.

City of Ballarat, along with the City of Melton, are the only Australian members of the International Intercultural Cities Network.

Harmony Fest wraps around Harmony Day, the United Nation’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which is celebrated on 21 March.

The day encourages Australians to come together to reflect on and celebrate the many cultures that create our great city.

“We come together to celebrate our difference, tell stories of where they came from and embrace our new culture in Ballarat,” said City of Ballarat Mayor Cr Samantha McIntosh.

“The City of Ballarat is a Refugee Welcome Zone which means people coming to Ballarat as refugees will absolutely be welcomed and we want people to know that this is the case.”

The Ballarat Region Indonesian Community organisation started last year and works closely with the Philippine and Thai communities during Harmony Fest.

Linda Craggs, President of the Ballarat Region Indonesian Community said the group is looking forward to introducing the Indonesian culture and people to the Ballarat community.

“I think it is very important to have this Harmony Fest every year because I see people getting together and being involved,” Ms Cragg said.

Ballarat Harmony Fest runs from Friday, 15 March to Sunday, 24 March.

For full program of activities go to ballarat.vic.gov.au.