Tuesday 26 August 2003

Voluntary investment by migrants from non-English speaking countries has given Sydney community facilities worth an estimated billion-and-a-half dollars according to pioneering research undertaken at the University of Technology Sydney.

The Australian-first study of ethnic community capital by Walter Lalich of the UTS Faculty of Business has found that between 1950 to 2000 the voluntary efforts of more than 60 ethnic groups generated over $940 million of investment in places of worship, clubs, sports grounds, childcare, schools, welfare and aged care.

Mr Lalich, a research associate with the Australian Centre for Co-operative Research and Development (ACCORD), spent two and a half years conducting interviews and examining the records of 386 ethnic organisations across Sydney for his PhD research.

"Migrants created and donated to Sydney many beautiful churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, and clubs," Mr Lalich said. "This is a little-known migrant contribution to the development of Sydney and to its social, cultural and economic potential.

"Ethnic collectives created over 210 places of worship, 100 leisure and sports clubs, 44 schools and child care centres, 48 welfare and aged-care facilities. More than 85 churches and other public buildings developed by earlier generations found new users and are preserved as public places.

"Around 327,000 Sydney people use these facilities, which employ around 5,000 people and rely upon the assistance of more than 18,000 committed volunteers.

"Collectively these non-profit organisations generate an annual income of more than $200 million, the religious organisations and social clubs relying substantially on community contributions and goodwill.

Mr Lalich said the community facilities have intense symbolic value for the people who developed them and now use them regularly.

"These buildings signify transferred cultures, arrival, new address, communal achievement and the help people received to settle and find their place in Sydney.

"People do not migrate only to find jobs, buy a house, feel secure and educate their children they seek to live a full, normal life of their own choosing in the place of settlement. However, they must themselves create the conditions that allow this to happen in a new social and physical environment.

"In the past 50 years Sydney has benefited from this need in the shape of new urban resources that today identify it as a dynamic multicultural city."

Mr Lalich's findings will be presented in a free ACCORD seminar Ethnic Communities Building Better Australian Cities and Towns at UTS on Thursday 4 September. It will be held from 9am to 1pm in Room 470, Building 10, Level 2, Jones St, Broadway.

Following on from Mr Lalich's study ACCORD and UTS are launching an Australia-wide research partnership to explore the past, present and future links between the ethnic diversity in Australian cities and the building of better local communities.

ACCORD is a joint venture between the UTS and Charles Sturt University, initiated and supported by the NSW Government.

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Further Information:
Walter Lalich,
(02) 9514 7747 or (02) 9560 2360
Suzanne Henderson,
Communications Manager, ACCORD,
Ph 0407 104 268

Issued by:
Terry Clinton
Media Office
Ph (02) 9514 1623 or 0419 293 261