19: Young Arthur: growing up in the wilds of Emerald town. Part TWO

Welcome back to another episode of the Immigrants and Exiles series recorded at the Beachcomber Café in St.Kilda. Today we hear about the early adventures of young Arthur in a country schoolyard, about the value of ‘bi-linguism’ in brain development but also how being cosmopolitan was a barrier to being socially acceptable or ‘integratable’. Inclusivity was, and still remains, largely elusive in a country like Australia that measures the worth of people by their resemblance to the cultural establishment.  At many levels - at the institutional and the popular - there continues a resistance movement against difference. New arrivals need to fit an old template.   Music: “Why Bother” by Walter Musolino & Davide Musolino.