Economic and Social Contributions of Migrants
Once settled into their new life in Australia, the migrants were able to offer new culture diversity to Australia’s largely British population. British people bought football, Southern Europeans bought their love of music and Scottish offered their dancing. A number of different religions also made their debut in Australia, continuing to help enrich the relatively new independent Australia to flourish and become the multicultural country it exists as today. These practises became known as social norms.
Despite bringing diversity and an array of different attributes to Australia, new migrants had to adopt the ‘Australian way of life’. This didn't stop them from being given the jobs nobody wanted. One economic benefit the migrants gave Australia was the Snowy Mountains Scheme. This scheme was a hydroelectricity and irrigation complex that required many workers, mostly immigrants. One would think the mix of different races and religions would result in conflict, but this wasn't the case. Tom Little recounted, ‘I’d four years in the Australian arm - I could have hated those Germans chaps as much as anyone, but I couldn't see the sense in it. We were there to do a job. The war was over and they were there to kick off again and start a new life’. Immigrants from a variety of countries were now being accepted by Australian citizens.
Despite bringing diversity and an array of different attributes to Australia, new migrants had to adopt the ‘Australian way of life’. This didn't stop them from being given the jobs nobody wanted. One economic benefit the migrants gave Australia was the Snowy Mountains Scheme. This scheme was a hydroelectricity and irrigation complex that required many workers, mostly immigrants. One would think the mix of different races and religions would result in conflict, but this wasn't the case. Tom Little recounted, ‘I’d four years in the Australian arm - I could have hated those Germans chaps as much as anyone, but I couldn't see the sense in it. We were there to do a job. The war was over and they were there to kick off again and start a new life’. Immigrants from a variety of countries were now being accepted by Australian citizens.