Life in Australia
Moving to a new country and navigating life in these surroundings can be an enormous journey.
Australia’s diverse multicultural communities are filled with stories about migration, settlement, and the experience of being from a culturally and racially marginalised background.
Content Warning The following quotes explore themes like racism and discrimination. Reader discretion is advised.
Resources for support regarding racism and discrimination can be found online at
Quotes have been presented verbatim, aside from small punctuation and grammar edits for readability. All identifiable information has been removed.
“The isolation and loneliness was more when I first came to Australia, but I have since found my place and friends here.”
“Living in Australia is the best thing that has happened to me in life.”
“My life is very different and stressful here and I feel isolated. I am financially stressed most of time and do hard work to get through.”
“I love living in Australia and it had changed for the better over the last twenty years that I’ve been living here, but there’s still room for improvement. ”
“I’m a migrant single female. I worked so hard to study and get a good career in Australia. The most difficult thing was to get permanent residency I went to hell and back to just stay in this country for my future. That struggle has totally drained me.
Now when I want to settle down find a partner, it’s so hard to find one. I want to buy a house and settle down but due to the cost living increasing everyday it’s so hard to survive in single income. Everyday, there’s stress around how to achieve small financial goals.”
“It is very difficult to acclimatise with Melbourne’s weather.”
“I am grateful for all the support there is in Australia but there could still be improvements. I have faced discrimination in a TAFE course which was recent and I’ve gone through situations similar to that in the past.”
“I got a penalty when I crossed a road by a police man even though others did the same. I was the only Asian lady in the crowd.”
“People have made me feel an outsider when they learn of my cultural & low socio-economic background.”
“Living in Australia is the best and I am very grateful to Australia for having allowed me to stay permanently without any problem. We will be ever grateful to Australia at any given time. ”
“Aussie workers used to deflate my bike wheels so I couldn’t get home easily.”
“At work they would put me aside and feel like I’m not part of the work culture. My mother in law doesn’t like me as well because of my race. ”
“When I came to Australia, it was hard because of different country, different weather, different culture! But after many months, I connected to the Australian culture, weather, and everything.”
“Some strangers said to my family and I that you are not welcome in Australia. You should go home.”
