I am many things. I am a wife to my best friend (and have been for nearly a quarter of a century). I am mum to our 5 kiddos. Some of the things I am, I have been for a long time - daughter, sister, friend. I am a Creative. Musician. Playwright. Artist. Dreamer of dreams. And I have always been a person of colour. I am bi-racial: I have Fijian and Australian parents. I love both countries and cultures very much and for different reasons. Living in this brown skin has at times been beautiful and tricky, challenging and messy. I’ve experienced racism, exclusion and bias first-hand. People may say these are things of the past but they still happen. As do good things! And things worthy of celebration. They happen every day too. It’s a little like living in a regional Australian town: it can also be beautiful and challenging at times. Don’t get me wrong - I love my town. It is a very special place. My town is the Country of the Wiradjuri, where there are undulating hills, spectacularly open skies and enormous, ancient rocks that look like they have been stacked to reach the stars. My town has a rich history of Aboriginal people communing together, sharing stories and culture with each other, fishing in the Gilari Bila (Lachlan River) and dancing with the dust rising from their feet. It also has a history of segregation - when Aboriginal people were separated from the rest of the town and kept on an Aboriginal Reserve, often under the strict rule of a succession of managers - even into the late 1960’s, just before the 1967 National Referendum. My town was chosen as a site to establish a Prisoner of War Camp during World War II. It housed civilians and military personnel from Japan, Korea, Indonesia and Italy. One fateful night early August 1944, Japanese prisoners infamously staged a breakout (the largest POW Breakout in modern military history anywhere in the world). Much blood was shed on that site. Today, all the lives lost in that event, are remembered. All Japanese people (civilian or military personnel) who died during WWII, are buried in my town in a special war cemetery. My town became home to 17,000 new Australians after the end of the same war. Displaced, foreign, men, women and children from war-torn Europe came to live in the Migrant Camp. They came with hope and they came to build a new home. My town has a rich history of diversity - in all its beautiful and challenging parts of its past. I wrote a musical called Intertwined about my town last year. It touched on many of these things and pointed towards the power of community, hope and peace as tangible things we can hold onto today. I have always been interested in stories. Storytelling is one of the main ways I have learned about Fijian culture and heritage from my parents. Regional towns are full of stories about people who have come from places near and far. Australia's post-colonised history is made of this same tapestry of nations - from ‘Non-English First Fleet Migrants’, to Afghan Cameleers, to Chinese Gold Miners, through to Australia’s Blackbirding history and Displaced Persons and Migration Assistance programs - there are layers of stories to unearth and listen to if we are willing to make time and space. Regional Australian towns have also borne witness to the persecution of, and advocacy for, First Nations people such as through the Freedom Rides and the establishment and continuation of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. The Picnic Podcast Sessions is a show about regional artists from Culturally & Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds, where, over a picnic, we discuss what it’s like to live, work and play in places and spaces in rural, regional and remote areas. This show exists because it’s important to discuss the unique challenges and complexities that artists of diverse backgrounds often navigate in regional communities. I’m going to introduce you to some amazingly talented and inspiring artists. We’ll hear their stories, learn about the people and places that made them and share a recipe or two as well. My hope is that sharing these stories might help us move beyond the often stereotyped-mono-culture of regional Australia and might instead give insight into the rich, nuanced and colourful people and perspectives that exist in our country towns. These yarns are about truth-telling, empathy-building and sharing differences and finding common ground. I hope you enjoy the Picnic Podcast Sessions. This project has been made possible thanks to the amazing work of Diversity Arts Australia and the Shifting the Balance Leadership Program (Stage 2). I am grateful to all who’ve helped me to get this off the ground and out to you and in particular to my podcast guests who shared their time, hearts and food with me. Lusi x This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lusiaustin.substack.com
