fatpantsss

hi heard some people say Australians are quite racist especially with the aborigines,
wondering if anybody is black living in Australia who has bad experiences or good experiences in urban and the outback areas.
i myself am from uk and i am white, but my wife is originally from africa, so i am worried if she will get a bad time out their.
i dont think she will but just want to check as heard some stories. and thats all i think they are.
thanks all

Pollyana

Be prepared for some extreme views, everyone has personal experiences and this is always a heated topic when raised on here.


note to the "usual suspects"- keep it polite, please!!

fatpantsss

thanks i expect it, here in uk we are pretty multi cultral, but seeking the aussie way of life, but if she gets a hard time then it wont be worth it unless its all hype who knows, but would appreciate people who are in similar circumstances, and experience with this topic and how it worked out for them
thanks

Almo

My partner worked in recruitment in Melbourne and a couple of times had some people in the companies he worked with make incredibly racist remarks/or refuse to consider a candidate on the basis of their name/where they were born/where they had been educated. These instances were very much the minority. It was surprising to us how open the people were about their reasons for refusing to see/employ a candidate.

Other than that we had some friends/acquaintances of Indian origin, one born/educated in the UK, the other in the US. They weren't abused to my knowledge but were sometimes treated with surprise in terms of their educational level/their job titles. I don't know whether this extended to being treated less favourably or not, in work or otherwise.

Whether or not it's any more racist a country than the UK is a toughie.

fatpantsss

thanks alimo for your comment, so you think Australia is no different from uk regards racism? if this is true than it will make our move more realistic.
i cant imagine it being that bad or any worse than uk, but just heard some things at work.
thanks

Almo

It's really hard for me to say, I personally found a significant minority of people happy to make casual comments that I felt were racist. Some of them were malicious, but others weren't intentionally cruel, just ignorant (which doesn't mean they're not offensive, of course). I certaintly felt that racist comments were made more readily in Melbourne than when I last lived in the UK but it might just be that in the UK people weren't as vocal.

Where are you thinking of moving to?

Petals

Don't think colour has anything to do with it, some Aussies don't like poms full stop. Country areas are very down to earth and people say it as it is and don't suffer fools. Its hard living in country Australia not for wimps. Distance and climate, lack of medical services, chidren traveling hundred km to school each day. Country people have a lot of problems to deal with without worrying who is who. If they don't like people its not because of colour but I suppose some could take that as why.

My parents lived in the Kimberly we have lived in Africa, my son teaches in the country so know a bit about country life.

fatpantsss

well haven't 100 per cent decided, i am a carpenter by trade, so where ever the work is i will probably move, just looking for work on seek and their seems to be more work in nsw, sydney area, but i know its expensive to live in that area.
i am going to come over on whv, to test the water and see what its like first, but the mrs wont be coming until later, proberly on tourist visa for few months if i can establish myself with work.
and if all works out well then i will apply pr visa.
thanks

fatpantsss

she was going to come over on a normal visitor visa, but as i just read your comment ,i remember a previous thread. you right she cant even see me, funny rule, anyway i guess she just have to take my word for it if austrailia is good or not and then join my pr visa.
decision decisions

fatpantsss

is that right mr sparkles

old.sparkles

It's not mr but never mind.

I deleted the post because I remembered the same thread, but when I checked, its only dependant children that cannot join you - your wife should be fine

As I said - my mistake

fatpantsss

ok sorry sparkles for the gender mistake.
so it would be ok for my wife to visit on a tourist visa?
emm i have ta check it up
thanks anyways

KJCherokee

I don't think Australia is any more racist than anywhere else. The racism regarding aborigines is more to do with the ones who live on welfare and collect in groups to get drunk than those who work and live what to us are normal lives.

You will get noisy bigoted people anywhere you live, unfortunately, but the fact that your wife is black african should not be a problem: I've found that people take you as they find you.

fatpantsss

ok thanks kjcherokee

GarryP

Yep, it's more realism than racism.

I've noted before the view of aborigines is roughly inversely proportional to your distance from Canberra - which is also proportional to you likelihood of meeting one.

The dependency culture that has been built up has created a situation where the very real and systemic problem are not addressed, because it's not politically correct to identify where that problem lies correctly. Those who are with them everyday have a more realistic viewpoint - and consequently a poor view of the intelligence of Canberra.

In general the dislike of the behaviour of the aborigines means everyone else gets an easy ride from the racists (unless you are in a location where there aren't many aborigines around). Such is tribalism.