Refugees and immigration

Migration to Tassie

Reading about our history it was when migrants came to Australia that Christianity took off and I wonder if we will again see a new vibrant faith...

Pray

Lord, thank-you that we can gather today to hear your word. May it be your words we hear, guided by the Holy Spirit. May we each humble ourselves to learn what it is in this moment you want to teach us. May todays message spur us on to be bold to declare Your good news to the people you put on our hearts. Amen

Since the arrival of the First Fleet on the shores of Botany Bay in 1788, close to 10 million settlers have come from all corners of the globe to call Australia home. Driven by the promise of a new life in the Great Southern Land, waves of immigrants came to find fortune in the gold rush, to escape the social upheaval of the Industrial Revolution, two world wars and the aftermath of the Vietnam War. These migrants have played a vital role in shaping Australia’s history, forming the multicultural identity we pride ourselves on today.

Immigration Australia Timeline

No Borders group

1788 - Aboriginals

When the first Europeans arrived they did not find an empty land as expected. Instead, they found themselves outnumbered by more than 500,000 indigenous Aboriginal people.

1788 – 1868 - Convict Transportation

From 1788 to 1868 Britain transported more than 160,000 convicts from its overcrowded prisons to the Australian colonies, an arduous journey that took roughly 8 months by sea.

1793 – 1850 - Free Immigrants

Between 1793 and 1850 nearly 200,000 free settlers chose to migrate to Australia to start a new life. The majority were English agricultural workers or domestic servants, as well as Irish and Scottish migrants. These settlers formed the basis of early Australian society and Christianity in the nation.

1850 - The Gold Rush

Thousands of Chinese people came to Australia during the 1850s gold rush. By 1901, the Chinese were the third largest migrant group in Australia after the British and Germans. When the gold was exhausted many took up market gardening or established businesses such as restaurants or laundries.

1850 – 1900 - Labourers

In the second half of the 19th century South Sea Islanders were recruited to work on Queensland sugar plantations, Afghan cameleers played a vital role in the exploration and opening up of the Australian outback, and Japanese divers contributed to the development of the pearling industry.

1901 - White Australia

Did you know migrants had to pass a dictation test in any European language in order to enter Australia between 1901 and 1958?

Following the Federation in 1901, Australia’s newly-formed Federal Parliament passed the Immigration Restriction Act, which placed certain restrictions on immigration and aimed to stop Chinese and South Sea Islanders from coming to Australia. These laws, known as the White Australia policy, were administered by a dictation test and informed Australian attitudes to immigration for the next 50 years.

1945 - Populate or Perish

In the years after World War 2, Australia promoted immigration with the catchphrase ‘Populate or perish!’ to replenish the countless citizens lost at war. It negotiated agreements to accept more than two million migrants and displaced people from Europe, offered assisted £10 passages to Australia to one million British migrants, and finally, in the 1970s, repealed the restrictive White Australia policy framed in 1901.

1970s - Boat People

In the late 1970s, a new wave of seaborne refugees docked in Darwin, firstly from East Timor and then from Indochina, most fleeing from war and violence in their home countries. The Vietnamese ‘boat people’ in particular arrived at a time of dramatic social upheaval in Australia, with heated public debate about our involvement in the Vietnam War and the new concept of multiculturalism. Despite some opposition from the wider community, the relaxation of immigration restrictions meant that most of the refugees were allowed to settle in Australia.

1990s - present - Asylum Seekers

Since the late 1990s increasing numbers of asylum seekers fleeing conflict in the Middle East and Sri Lanka have arrived in Australia by boat. Today the question of how to deal with asylum seekers arriving on unauthorised voyages remains one of the most controversial issues in contemporary Australia.

last 30 years with my own story - My Story with immigration in Tasmania

In Wynyard, no diversity, small town, noticed those that were different and I am sure they noticed too. I guess looking back now the white policy was still having an impact. An undertone that the Asylum seekers were coming for our jobs, weren’t grateful for their accommodation when they came and that it was our mission to send people overseas to spread the Gospel to those countries.

Yet I also have a strong belief that all should be treated with dignity, all are made in the image and all have the spirit of God with them.

Going to Hobart was a big step in broadening my awareness. First, I had to get over the fact that the streets were still busy after 6 pm at night.

University was a place that was multicultural, and living in Sandy bay meant I had a lot more interaction with people from other cultures.

But the time I enjoyed most was working with the Nepali church at Citywide.

They had first asked to use the lenah Valley church on Sunday afternoons

journey of becoming one church

Recognising Paul Rai as a pastor

learning of their asylum seeker history - Bhutanese/Nepalese

Their faith in action - community, prayer and evangelism

Examples of community - multiple families living in the same house, regular curry nights

Examples of prayer - fasting (40 days) prayer meetings

Examples of evangelism - include driving school, Christmas celebrations, and food packages during covid.

But it is hard, language barriers, trying to connect ministries (incl. young adults).

Playing soccer - different in organised time

was a great journey to work together, finances coming together, creating jobs, having members from the church on eldership and now they are sharing in the once-a-month Friday night meals.

One of the last projects I was doing was enabling the Nepalese to hear an interpreter during meetings and combined services.

This is me and Isaac, he has painted my favourite place in Tassie, 5 days to get it back.

Since 2000, the most significant growth in Christian adherents has been in Africa, which has seen a 2.81% average annual increase. Asia has had the second fastest increase in Christians at 1.5%, followed by Latin America (1.14%) and Oceania (0.63%).

Baptist mission Australia is looking to use what they have learnt in overseas mission and bring it to Australia, to contextualise the gospel and be missionaries in our Australia. This means we need to humble ourselves and be willing to learn from a brother or sister in Christ from another country.

Philippians 2:1–5 NIV

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

God humbled himself to be a servant to all, to die for all. My story has been a humbling one. It excites me to think about a church that really represents its community and is held together by a miracle as many of the early churches were, filled with diversity and different people groups united in their love for Jesus.

But it is hard work and takes humility to be like-minded and seek the interests of others.

At the end of August (28th), we are going to look more into the stats of the community around us, as well as what has shaped us as a church and where we want to go.

As we work towards a strategic plan fo next 5 years

Country of Birth (after Aus) in Newstead- England, India, Nepal, New Zealand and China

Language - Nepali, Mandarin, Hazaraghi, Urdu, Persian

groups of 30-60

Newstead - 48% no religion (TAS 50%) about 2,500 people, another 5% left blank, Anglican/catholic/uniting 30.5%

Baptists are not on the map.

Strategic planning - in 4 years' time to have baptists on the list in Newstead

No religion - does not include those who reported Secular and Other Spiritual Beliefs such as Atheism, Agnosticism and Own Spiritual Beliefs

I believe this could be a key passage for us

Matthew 7:7–8 (NIV)

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Coming of the light, we are all sinners and all have the potential to be justified in Christ, and we need to humble ourselves to ask, seek, and open the door to other cultures so that we can worship our God in unity.

Prayer