Helping people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds

Randwick City Council coordinates a number of events to showcase our diversity and partners with local services for people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. Check out the wide range of events and activities designed with our multicultural community in mind. Go to our What's on calendar and filter by Multicultural.

Multicultural March 2023

Harmony Week 2023 (Monday 20 to Sunday 26 March) is part of Multicultural March and celebrates Australia’s cultural diversity.  It's about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone. This year’s theme sums it up perfectly – Everyone Belongs.

Join us as we celebrate with these upcoming events:

• Weekly Tai Chi: Master Trainers from Tai Chi for Health Institute, Dr. Janet Cromb and Fiona Black will lead you through the focused, gentle movements.
• Egyptian Dance Workshop: One hour workshop with Rachel from Inspire Belly dance to discover modern belly dance.
• World Fusion Dance Workshop: Learn basics of dance styles from around the globe such as Salsa, Bollywood, Flamenco, West African, and more.

Join us at the library to celebrate with a children's artwork competition, a party, and dress-up fun with photos taken in our amazing Harmony Day photo booth. Check out our complete program of events now!

Harmony Day 2023

Harmony Day is a day of cultural respect for everyone who calls Australia home from the traditional owners of this land to those who have come from many countries around the world. Council celebrates this nationally recognised event in conjunction with the Spot Festival in March each year.

Celebrating Harmony: Join us on Friday 31 March 2023 for this year’s community celebration featuring:

• Art installations by residents who participated in the Art and Wellbeing program
• Food by First Nations catering company Kallico
• Entertainment by culturally diverse performers
• Champagne and Canapes

For more information:  Multicultural March Harmony Day poster PDF, 594.38 KB

Randwick City Council is a Refugee Welcome Zone

Randwick City Council welcomes and supports refugees and asylum seekers in our city. In 2006, Randwick Council adopted the Refugee Council of Australia's 'Refugee Welcome Zone' initiative by signing a declaration that communicates, 'a commitment in spirit to welcoming refugees into our community, upholding the human rights of refugees, demonstrating compassion for refugees and enhancing cultural and religious diversity in our community.'

More information is available from the Refugee Council of Australia website

Citizenship Ceremonies

Citizenship ceremonies are held monthly. Click here for details on local ceremony dates, for more information, refer to the Department of Home Affairs.

Inner East Sydney Migrant Interagency (IESMI)

Randwick City Council convenes the Inner East Sydney Migrant Interagency, a network of 104 members from 73 agencies. The Interagency meets five times a year and during 2018 the meetings have enabled a stronger connection with Job Active Providers, built a better understanding around NDIS criteria, issues and support. The Employment Skills for Migrants continues to develop and grow supporting newly arrived migrants in networking and employment skills.

The landscape for multiculturalism, migrants, refugees and asylum seekers has changed significantly over recent years. The Interagency is working on and improving effective data collection and reporting as an important capacity building exercise for all who work within the multicultural and community sectors to ensure service relevance and currency.

Helping new arrivals

Assisting newly arrived migrants, Council maintains close links with migrant and multicultural services. For more information, contact:

Sydney Multicultural Community Services: programs in Aged Care, Settlement and the broader community through Australian Government funded initiatives such as Multicultural Home Care Packages and the 22 member consortium NSW Settlement Partnership (NSP).

Refugee Advice Casework Services (RACS): RACS gives a stronger voice to people seeking asylum. Affiliated with and proudly supported by the University of New South Wales and provides legal assistance, outreach, policy & reform and education.

TAFE NSW AMEP: The Adult Migrant English Program is funded by the Australian Government and provides up to 510 hours free English tuition to help migrants and refugees settle successfully in Australia.

Language aides and interpreters

In order to assist the needs of residents who have English as a second language, a number of Council staff have been trained as language aides to provide assistance to people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Council also has access to the Telephone Interpreter Service (TIS).

Information in other languages on our website

Many of the most important pages of Randwick City Council's website have been translated into other languages including Chinese, Greek, Indonesian, Russian and Spanish.

I Am Local - Are you a local in Randwick City?

To celebrate Randwick City's pride in our community, photographs of 151 local residents were on display Council's street banners throughout May and June 2015.

The images were chosen following a public expression of interest process conducted in late 2014.

For more information on the project, including details of all the people involved, visit our dedicated website www.yoursay.randwick.nsw.gov.au/iamlocal.