australia to canada

Not unusual at all in austalia, to find an area where 'black skin' was rare enough to be commented on as above or even something to 'look at' Sad but true.

Vash the Stampede

BNP, anyone?

And when's the last time a black person was murdered with an icepick in Australia?

Vash the Stampede

That is quite extraordinary. Has she been living under a rock all this time?

Bordy

In 6 years in Melbourne Ive never heard anything like that. Maybe its just the area you are in but I wouldn't say that represents all Australia.

BadgeIsBack

I agree. [To the OP], sounds more a symptom of your work environment than anything else. Bunch of blokes etc.

spiral tribe

You are right about it being a symptom of a bunch of blokes getting together but that is how sad it is.
When these blokes are in other company, with the wife or family they all pretend to be non racists but like a lot of Australian males they truly are racists but racist cowards who snigger behing the backs of blacks.

To the guy who mentioned the BNP and the icepick after quoting me. I dont quite know what you are getting at but hope you are not saying I am in the BNP?

ABCDiamond

It may be in some areas, but in 15 years here I haven't seen that much.

Vash the Stampede

No, I am not saying that you are in the BNP.

I was responding to your claim that racism is more "in your face" in Australia than in the UK.

In fact, the existence and activities of the BNP, and the murder of Anthony Walker with an ice axe in Liverpool last year, suggest that the opposite is true.

steandleigh

We live in FNQ and seeing and interacting with 'people of colour' (both Indigenenous and migrant) is a daily occurance for us.

Although I am not aware of any racism here, (apart from what I read in the newspaper and that is of a generally low level, albeit racism on any level is unacceptable) I have to say that, that is only amongst my friends and acquaintances, who are not racist.

I am fairly sure (as anywhere else in the world), there are idiots who cannot see further than the end of their nose or the colour of an individuals skin.

Generalising here, but you will probably experience the same amount (or not) of racism in Australia as you would anywhere else in the world. Thats a vast generalisation, I know. I'm talking about 'societies' similar to Aus.

Hope you can see past this and your migration is a successful one.

chance to be

im sure a lot of people will shoot me down in flames for this...but here goes (and i apologise in advance if its not you). My experience here seems to be that its not the long term indiginous ozzies who have the problem.
im sorry to say the most vocal racists ive come across are fairly recent Brits who ..."moved to oz to get away from all the immigrants in the uk" Saying that, as you are not one of the "people making parts of uk no go areas" (not my words) you will be "one of them" as you are trying to get out of it yourself too.
None of these viewpoints are mine - I cant abide any form of racism/discrimination. So, from my experience, you'd be fine (certainly no worse than the uk) because these sort of scum are generally the sort not to say anything to peoples faces
good luck with the move. dont worry for your safety - you'll do brilliantly!
c x

manxfamily

I dont know about being 'black' but its being a 'pom' you need worry about if the tales are true.

I think as in any country you are going to get the minority group of dickheads, but on the whole little to worry about.

Good luck

renth

Theres a lot of Afrikaaners in Perth, some of whom were involved in racist chanting, calling the South African fast bowler Ntini a "kaffir" at the recent test match at the WACA.

Probably something to think about if you were considering Perth.

BadgeIsBack

probably true lol. My old dear hates the idea of 'a certain sort' of Poms in Australia for this reason. She got a bit upset when I jumped ship. About my cousin's family (she doesn't get on with them), she said "they were precisely the sort of people who go to Australia". I had a hard time convincing her of *my* motives and that Aussie can be very m.cultural.

diddy

I haven't read alot of what has been said so I may be repeating stuff here. No matter how people like to paint things there is considerable racism in Australia and most Brits coming here are amazed by it.

Aborigines get a particularly hard time, but anyone none white/ non Anglo-Saxon/ Celtic in Australia is considered a wog, although I've noticed in the last ten years this phrase is becoming less acceptable - the sooner the better.

It is true that Australia is multicultural, however there are very few people of Afro-caribean background and this is noticable when walking around compared to the UK. However, this has also improved in the last ten years. I was a backpacker here in '96, 97 and 98 and there was literally nobody with an Afro-caribean background. Fortunately, it is slowly changing as Australia opens it's doors to Africa.

Do come here. I live on the Gold Coast and you will find that the big cities are very cosmopolitan and similar to back home, however out back towns tend to be less so. My son's Godfather who is originally from Nigeria is coming out later in the year and that is probably what I will say to him. The big cities are fine but there are racist t*ss*rs around particularly in the smaller communities.

I suspect what I've said will annoy alot of people, but at least I'm not wearing rose tinted glasses.

Australia certainly doesn't carry the image of the white Australia policy of the 60's anymore, but it does take time to change everyone's attitude.

Paul.

suebo

Okay I have not read all the posts...but will put in my two cents worth..

I am a white Aussie and I personally have no prejudice against anyone, whether white, black, chinese or any other race.

You should not have any problems moving to OZ. The prejudice towards Aussie blacks - Aboriginals - is only because the government hands out so many benefits to them. This is not aimed at all Aboriginals, but people are a little racist towards them, because there are a lot of them live from DOLE cheque to DOLE cheque. Get their cheque and run straight down the boozer and spend it all on booze.

So people get a little peeved - which is understandable.

Also depends where you are moving to. Small towns are more susceptible to this kind of thing, but it has approved a lot in the cities over the past 10 years.

Sorry if I offended anyone, no intention to do so - I have 2 Aboriginal nephews and hubbys best mate is also Aboriginal - who is a bloody hard worker

Cheers