177 Nations of Tasmania Mark Thomson

Although Estonia is a small country far away on the other side of the world, there has been a long-standing, though small Estonian community since the aftermath of WW2, when many migrants from the Baltics settled in Tasmania.



Triin is a more recent arrival, having settled in Tasmania a bit over 10 years ago after a career in professional volleyball in Europe. In fact, volleyball is the main sport for women in Estonia, and was through this that she met her Tasmanian husband, who was also playing volleyball in Europe.



When they both reach the stage in the careers when retirement was looming, they had to make a decision as to where to live together, and Tasmanian seemed to be the most viable option.

Though in some ways, settling down in Tasmania was a relatively smooth process for Triin - she got work quickly and the language was never a problem, but there were some cultural differences that were a challenge to adapt to, not least the very different style of communication and social relations compared with the norm in Estonia.

Triin continues to play volleyball in Tasmania and help develop local players with the skills and knowledge that she brings from Europe.

We also discuss the Estonia love of foraging and choral singing, a strong feature of other Baltic cultures also.

Nubar was born in Egypt to Armenian parents, and grew up speaking Armenian, English and French rather than the majority language of the country, Arabic. After the revolution in Egypt in the 1950s and the rise of Arab nationalism in the region, many Armenians perceived they were going to be worse off and chose the emigrate to places like Australia, and Nubar's family were no exception.

Armenians have a long and rich history that goes back thousands of years, of migrating from their homeland in the Caucasus and settling in forming communities in many different parts of the world, but particularly the Middle East and Asia. It's a history well beyond the limits of this podcast, but Nubar's accounts of some of his family's history will perhaps give a taste of that history.

Nubar arrived in Melbourne with his family when was still school age and ended up initially having a career as a drama teacher, before pursuing and interest in filmmaking, which would ultimately lead to work as a lecturer at the Swinburne Film School in Melbourne. He currently lives on King Island, where his wife was born, a fairly remote island to the north-west of the Tasmanian mainland.

Although Papua New Guinea is one of Australia's closest neighbours, it's a place and a people that the average Australian is fairly ignorant of. It's probably not well known, but Papua New Guineans make up the largest of the Pasifika communities in Tasmania.

Anne is a PNG born and bred, but now works at the Devonport Library, absolutely miles away both physically and culturally , from her early years in different parts of Papua New Guinea.

As her father was an Anglican Minister, and later a Bishop, her family moved around PNG every few years, and so she talks about her memories in a small town in the PNG Highlands, contrasted with the city of Lae, the second largest city in PNG. Like many other Pacific Island countries, the concept of family is very different to that in Australia, with family extending to a much wider community and the bonds being much stronger.

Once Anne finished school, she came to Australia to study at Uni. She spent her first few years in Ballarat, but after graduating came to the NW of Tasmania, and after further study and some volunteering, ended up working as a librarian in Devonport.

There could hardly be two more contrasting places than Singapore and Tasmania.

Joanna originally left the hustle and bustle of Singapore to take a restful break in Tasmania on the recommendation of a friend. She was shown around Hobart by a man she later decided she would spend the rest of her life with.

Joanna had studied Design in Singapore, and later Psychology, but she ended up studying Nursing in Tasmania and working in the Aged Care sector. She would eventually combine these experiences to pursue her current career as an environmental gerontologist.

Her experience of Aged Care in Tasmania also proved invaluable when she returned to work in Singapore with her husband and did pioneering work in helping make changes in the way aged care services were delivered in Singapore.

Florian grew up in a the picturesque alpine region of the Austrian Tirol, in a small village near Innsbruck. For many, life in the Austrian alps might be considered quite idyllic, and possibly because of this, locals tended not to stray too far out of their local district. Therefore, when Florian sat down and told his parents he was going to Australia with his Brisbane-born wife, it was a really big deal.

The original plan had been to stay for 2 years, but it ended up getting extended, and after a stint in South Australia, Florian discovered the green hills of northern Tasmania were more to his liking and the connection he felt with the Tasmania landscape eventually lead to staying long term.

Despite some reservations by his parents initially, the long distance from home has actually helped Florian bond more strongly with his family and value some of the traditions of his homeland more than he did in the Tirol.

Ieva's family left Latvia as the German army was retreating in the face of the surging Red Army forces, in what proved to be a dramatic journey. They would eventually land in a refugee camp in Germany, and then it was a 6 year wait before they were accepted as migrants to Australia. It was not their first choice as they had wanted to follow other family members to USA or Canada. Like many war refugees, family members became separated across the globe.

Between 1947 and 1952 around 20,000 Latvians would migrate to Australia, making them amongst some of the earliest new post-war migrants to settle from post-war Europe. Like many Latvians, Ieva's family would eventually settle in Adelaide, and later she would marry a fellow Latvian living in Tasmania, and she has lived in Hobart for the last 60 years.

Ieva only returned to Latvia for the first time in 1990, as a part of an Australian Latvian choir invited to a cultural festival, at a time when the country was on the verge of independence. She was also the President of the Tasmanian Latvian Association for 35 years and has actively tried to maintain some Latvian traditions and language. Like many Latvian migrant communities around the world, traditions of Latvian choral singing have been kept alive, though maintaining many traditions with a small community is a big challenge.