Randwick City Council's biennial A Migrant's Story project has been successful in providing an avenue for residents from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds to share their stories with a wider audience. The main objective of the project is to strengthen cross-cultural awareness, promote harmony, respect, understanding and empathy within our community. Since the inauguration of the project in 2003, 5 publications and a DVD have been launched with over 125 migrants sharing their life experiences, highlighting the pain and joy of their migrant journey.

A Migrant's Story - Mementos: September - November 2014

The award-winning project, A Migrant's Story, first commenced in 2003 and has developed into a wonderful vehicle for bringing awareness of the migrant experience to the Randwick community. With 35.8% of Randwick City residents born overseas, migrants enrich our community through integrating their unique culture with the Australian spirit.

The latest incarnation, A Migrant's Story: Mementos 2014, provides a platform for local migrants to share their powerful stories with the rest of the community. Over 130 migrants have participated in this project since its inception and a total of 6 books, 2 DVDs and an exhibition have been produced.

Randwick City Library continued to work in partnership with Randwick TAFE this year to deliver another DVD documentary, this time recounting the stories of some of the migrants through treasured mementos they brought with them to Australia. We were also ambitious enough to produce both a book and an accompanying exhibition in order to reach an even wider audience and provide a deeper connection to the participants' stories.

Over 90 people attended the launch in September, including 18 of the participating migrants and their families, our partners from Randwick TAFE, representatives of various local groups and organisations as well as three Randwick councillors. Cr Stavrinos launched the event and spoke of his own personal recollections as the son of migrants.

Those attending were treated to a roller coaster of emotions, with tears shed by many, as the audience viewed the latest DVD and exhibition. The audience was particularly touched by participating migrant Helene Grover's speech as she talked generally about the migrant experience and what this project meant for them as a way to share their experiences with the community.