THE City of Whittlesea is home to people from more than 130 different countries.
Over 150 students from Melbourne Polytechnic—formally Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE alone joined the celebration.
The moment in time saw the refugee community engage with each other through art, music, traditional language and clothing.
Dance performances by the Chinese Senior Citizens, St Francis Filipino Senior Citizens and Arabic singer, Daoud Badal encouraged the audience to sing and dance together and afterwards,a delicious menu of finger food including falafels and spinach and ricotta pastries completed the multi-cultural experience.
In addition to honouring the journeys of refugees,the City of Whittlesea shared community resources such as their health and wellbeing sessions, free swimming classes, family violence recovery groups, and emergency relief.
A highlight was the presence of Victoria Police, WellAhead, DVP Health, Services Victoria and Mental Health and wellbeing localssharing some of their resources in languages including Arabic, and Cantonese or with options for the right interpreter.
The City of Whittlesea Creative Communities Department hosted an art and craft activity for attendees to write their country of origin onto a large paper leaf which was added to the tree to showcase the diverse communities calling the City of Whittlesea home.
City of Whittlesea staff Nicola Vaughan and Julie McBride led an art and craft project to showcase refugees country of origin.
Welcome to Whittlesea is a program for people who are new to the area. The program can be accessed at local libraries and neighbourhood houses offering free or low-cost services, including English classes, digital literacy workshops, job support and social activities to help new residents settle, connect, and thrive.
