This week is 'Harmony Week' which aims to celebrate the cultural diversity and the rich multiculturalism that makes up Australia.
Almost half of Australians (48.2%) have a parent born overseas, while (27.6%) were born abroad themselves.
Eurovision became the event it is today in Australia thanks to the set up of the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) in the 70s who began televising the event in 1983 for its multicultural audience.
And this migrant representation, as well as Indigenous, has shone through with the Aussie artists who have taken part at Eurovision since our debut in 2015.
Guy Sebastian
Guy Sebastian was born in Malaysia and lived there until he was six years old. He was our debut entrant finishing an impressive 5th place.
Dami Im
Dami Im was born and raised in South Korea before moving to Brisbane when she was nine years old. Dami finished in an incredible 2nd place, our best result yet.
Isaiah Firebrace
Isaiah is a Yorta Yorta and Gunditjmara man who grew up in Moama and represented Australia in Kyiv when he was just 17 years old.
Jessica Mauboy
Jessica is a Kuku Yalanji woman whose father was born in West Timor, Indonesia. She grew up in Darwin and represented Australia in 2018 after performing the interval act in 2014.
Montaigne
Jessica Cerro, aka Montaigne, has a diverse background with Argentinian, Spanish, Filipino and French heritage. Her father was a professional footballer born in Argentina and the family lived in Malaysia for several years because of his career. Montaigne unfortunately didn't get to perform on the Eurovision stage because of the cancellation in 2020 and Australia's remote participation in 2021.
Sheldon Riley
Sheldon has Filipino background through his father. His original name being Sheldon Hernandez. He competed at Eurovision 2022 and took us back to the Grand Final finishing in 15th.
Voyager
Lead singer Danny Elstrin was born in Germany and speaks fluent German while Ashley Doodkorte from the band has Dutch heritage. They, alongside their band members, will represent Australia at Eurovision 2023 in Liverpool.
Outside of Australia's acts many have competed for a country that have close heritage with including Andrew Lambrou for Cyprus (2023), Anja Nissen for Denmark (2017) and Mary-Jean O’Doherty for Armenia (2015) (plus others for the UK and Germany).
Additionally Australia Decides, our national final, has seen artists with close connections with Fiji, New Zealand, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and Papua New Guinea.
We look forward to continued cultural diversity from Australia's Eurovision and national final entries to truly represent the nation we are.
For continued updates on all Eurovision Song Contest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube and Instagram. All the links can be found at: https://linktr.ee/aussievisionnet
תגובות