Brotherhood celebrates 60 years of opening doors to migrants and refugees
The Brotherhood of St Laurence is celebrating 60 years of service to people from refugee and migrant backgrounds. The Honourable Linda Dessau AM, Governor of Victoria hosted a reception at Government House on Tuesday 8 November, 2016, to mark the 60th anniversary of Australia’s first generalist migrant support service.
The Brotherhood’s Multicultural Communities Team got its new name when it shifted to Epping in Melbourne’s north earlier this year, to meet the growing need of migrant communities on Melbourne’s outskirts. But it began life in inner Melbourne in 1956 as the European Australian Christian Fellowship, then changed its name to the Ecumenical Migration Centre, or EMC.
A book titled Opening Doors: Celebrating the work of the Ecumenical Migration Centre (1956-2016) also marks the occasion.
Opening Doors captures stories and photos of key milestones and figures in the organisation’s establishment. Founder, David Cox describes being inspired to act after hearing a speech at a North Balwyn church by Eric Richards from the World Council of Churches’ Resettlement Department. “Eric’s speech motivated me because the need he presented was so obvious and so great, and the response so straightforward – that we as Australian-born young people could and should reach out to these newly arrived youth who had arrived after some harrowing experiences,” he said.
Among clients’ stories featured in Opening Doors is one of the organisation’s first, Stole Steriovich, now 73 year old, who arrived in Australia from the former Yugoslavia when he was 15, and is still in touch with David Cox, who was his case worker.
Brotherhood Executive Director, Tony Nicholson, says since its establishment, the Multicultural Communities Team has worked in partnership with diverse communities, government and key agencies to make a significant impact in the settlement field.
“Opening Doors is an appropriate title as EMC has been doing that for newly arrived people who’ve come to our shores for 60 years. In its modest way, this publication offers a mirror to the progress of our diverse nation with its rich waves of migration and refugee settlement that have greatly enhanced our society,” he said.
Multicultural Communities Team Senior Manager, Ms Hutch Hussein, said she was humbled to follow in the footsteps of giants in the multicultural field, who provided support at a time of virtually no services for newly arrived migrants and refugees. “Opening Doors captures important moments in our social history. EMC has played a significant role in pioneering responsive services for migrants starting with bilingual workers conducting outreach in Carlton’s espresso bars in the 1950s,” she said.
“Getting multiculturalism onto the government agenda in the 1960s and 1970s was a key achievement. All of us would hope to leave as important a legacy as the one this book captures. Theirs is the legacy of the little agency that could.”
Media inquiries: 0499 300 982 or sharon.lee@bsl.org.au