User:Commonkastle/Laotian Australians

Laotian Australians refers to Australians who have either migrated from Laos and/or have Lao ancestry. The Lao people have a history of immigration to Australia that began with the Colombo Plan in the 1960s, which gave a number of Laotian students the opportunity to become permanent residents in Australia. According to the 2016 Census, there are 10,402 Laos-born Australians with the majority concentrated in New South Wales.

Demographics
The Laos-born community in Australia comprises of several ethnic groups including the native Lao, Chinese, Hmong and Vietnamese groups. Most Laotian-Australians are ethnically Lao however there is diversity in the ancestries and culture of the Laos-born population in Australia due to a history of interethnic marriages.

Religion
The majority of the Laotian-Australian population identifies as Buddhist, with over 70% of Laos-born individuals stating they followed the religion according to the 2016 Australian Census. The main sect of Buddhism practiced by Lao people is Theravada Buddhism which is dominant across South-East Asia. There are several main temples frequented by Lao people in Australia, with one being Wat Phrayortkeo Dhammayanaram located in Edensor Park, NSW.

Answers to Module 7 Questions

 * Describe your media

A coloured map of Australia showing the concentration of Lao people


 * Is it your own work

Yes


 * What is the file format?

.jpg file format


 * What license have you chosen?

Creative commons license


 * What category/gallery will you add it to?

Categories: Laos, Australia


 * How will you describe the file?

A coloured map depicting the geographic distribution of Laos-born people in Australia according to the 2016 Australian Census of Population and Housing.

Language and Culture in Laos

Produced by NSW Adult Migrant Education Service for the Adult Migrant Education Program, Commonwealth Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs

ISBN 0730504433

By Jean Brick

1984

Page 6

Most Lao escaped by swimming The Mekong and many passed while swimming or were shot or captured

Once in Thailand, they were placed into camps and some were able to stay with relatives in Thailand. Generally Lao have been in camps longer than Vietnamese people, with many being in camps for up to six years.

Page 16-17

Lao use 2 calendars:

Western calendar for official purposes and then Lao calendar for religious and ritual purposes. Birthdays are not celebrated and many would not even know their birth date (especially rural Lao) on either calendar. If it were crucial for Lao to provide a birth date then they would make an application which would be confirmed by a witness saying they knew they were that age, however this could be redone to be more acceptable age if it were not appropriate for the purpose of the application.

Ages were counted from birth in Australia.

Lao in Australia

Settlement and experiences

Page 34

Average stay in migrant centre of six months

Lao migrants had limited opportunity to learn English and particularly for women, who had to drop out of ESL classes to make time for their factory jobs, where they spoke Broken English and did not have option to develop English further

Page 35

Although Lao food is still consumed, generally cheese is not but children drink milk.

￼Lao food requires elaborate preparation and is often time consuming, Lao women prepared Lao meal for husband and western meal for kids. Kids who were born or grew up in Australia are Australian breakfast 80 per cent of the time during the week and 54 per cent on weekends.

Page 38

Many children lost proficiency in Lao by teenage years and subsequently strained communication with parents who spoke limited English. Some relied on their kids for translation and this were left isolated as they could not communicate for themselves.

Page 40

In Lao as in Australia, many Lao households have altar dedicated to Buddha which servers as place of gathering for rituals and holy days.

Better on your own

A survey of domestic violence in the Vietnamese, Khmer and Lao communities

By Kien Dang and Caroline Alcorso

February 1990

Vietnamese Women’s Association, Lidcombe NSW

Page 3

Survey of 100 south East Asians by Liverpool Neighbourhood Centre found that half of people did not realise domestic violence was a crime.

Page 9

Language and cultural barriers often mean that Indochinese women were forced to stay or go back to violent homes. Three quarters of women rated their English as poor and just one fifth said theirs was fair. Almost all women had one or more small children.

Page 10-13

Recent migrant women were isolated, anxious and afraid which made them vulnerable to violence by their partners. Withoutr relatives or friends and good English, women who were subjected to violence had no one to talk to. Some women who had good relationships with their husbands were abused when they came to Australia.

Page 15

Some women believed the reason their husbands changed upon arriving to Australia was due to money stress, being unemployed or loss of self esteem due to working menial labour. Often men resorted to gambling drinking and drugs which exacerbated the violence.

Page 17-18

It is not custom to speak to outsiders about family troubles and especially domestic violence hence many women did not go to police for help, also some verbal abuse did not amount to domestic violence or an offence.