Consulate-General: Speech on Australia Day 2015
On the occasion of Australia Day 2015, Consul-General Nancy Gordon delivered her Australia Day address.
Australia Day is a national day unlike any other.
It doesn't celebrate an anniversary of independence. Or the birthday of a king or a queen.
Rather it marks the date that Europeans first arrived in 1788, joining the Indigenous people who had lived and thrived on our great southern land for more than 40,000 years.
In this way, Australia Day celebrates not just our nation but also our connection with other countries and other people.
You can see this in the fact that one of the day’s most important events each year are the citizen ceremonies that welcomes people from around the world - including many from China - to the Australian community.
Australia Day recognises the contribution of all citizens, including the many people from around the world who have helped build the vibrant, multicultural.
One of those is a man named Mak Sai Ying, the first recorded immigrant from China. He was born in Guangzhou and arrived in the fledgling town of Sydney in 1818.
He married a local woman named Sarah Thompson. They worked hard, raised a family and opened a pub in Parramatta called ‘The Lion’. His life, like those of the many who followed him, is a typical Australian migrant story about building a better life in a new homeland.
Almost 200 years later, we see this story repeated in reverse.
A year ago, here in Chengdu, Andrew White opened a restaurant. Andrew was born in Sydney and came to China in 2011 to work as a mining geologist.
He married a Chinese woman, Bamboo, and worked hard, opening a restaurant and bar in Chengdu’s Wuhou district called ‘The Arthouse’.
Together they have a lovely daughter. Like Mak Sai Ying, Andrew has a built new life in a new country.
Dami Im, who just sang our national anthem, was born in South Korea. She emigrated to Australia with her family at the age of nine. She began her music career as a gospel singer and independently released her debut studio album, Dream, in 2010.
Three years later, Dami won the fifth series of The X Factor Australia and subsequently received a recording contract with Sony Music Australia.
Dami Im is another example of a migrant who has helped make Australia the rich and vibrant country it is today.
The success of people like this supports the strengthening of good relations between Australia and Asia.
When President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Tony Abbott declared the completion of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement in Australia in November last year, they opened the door to yet stronger and deeper connections between our two countries.
It was so that we could take advantage of opportunities like this at the local level that we established the Sichuan Australia Trade and Investment Round Table last year.
We are working hard with our partners in DOFCOM and the business communities in Sichuan and Australia to use the Roundtable and the FTA to boost business and prosperity.
At the grass roots level, we held the “Panda Koala" Cup, an English speech competition, last year.
Students from all of Chengdu's 110 high schools participated, and the winners received an all-expenses paid study tour to Australia on Sichuan Airlines' direct flight from Chengdu to Melbourne.
I farewelled the winning students last week. From their excited faces I guessed that these children might be the next generation of Mak Sai Yings and Andrew Whites, building the people to people connections between Australia and southwest China.
Australia today is a diverse nation. In places like Chengdu we see those strands come together. We see expatriates, naturalised citizens, returnee Chinese doing a range of work: from building water heaters, to running restaurants, to exporting traditional medicine.
Many of you here tonight were not born in Australia, but have lived, worked or travelled to Australia. Many more have worked with Australians. But you have all contributed to the Australia- Southwest China relationship and you have all helped make Australia what it is today.
In particular I would like to thank the Sichuan Foreign Affairs Office and the Chengdu Municipal Foreign Affairs Office for their cheerful and tireless assistance in supporting the Consulate’s work.
Thanks for coming and hope you enjoy this evening.
Happy Australia Day!