If Kobie could read the signs, she'd see:
- A Cantonese butcher
- A Taiwanese restaurant
- A Tianjin restaurant
- A Nepali restaurant (with Nepalese making 15.8% of the suburb's population)
- Dishes from Jiangsu, Teochew and Beijing - three separate cultural/language groups in Mainland China
- A shipping business whose model depends on customers proudly sending Australian-made gifts (of high quality milk formula, Merino bedding, and high-quality vitamins) to loved ones across Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the US
- A yoga studio run by a trilingual Hong Konger, with trainers from Beijing, New Zealand, Sydney
- A supermarket with traditional characters on one side (海龍) and simplified on the other (海龙) showing the Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong migration wave being replaced by a Mainland Chinese wave
And if she panned her camera over the road, we'd be seeing Singaporean, Malaysian and Vietnamese restaurants too.
To be describing this as a "monoculture" is a thinly veiled dog-whistle to: "all Asians are the same".
If Kobie cared to look, she'd be describing this as a melting pot - diversity in practice, coming together as a shared community - not a monoculture.
Anyone with an atlas or a recipe book could tell you that's not a monoculture.
It's Dal Bhat Tarkari next door to Pho, next door to Boba, next door to Nasi Lemak, opposite Nanjing Duck, next door to Yum Cha.
If Kobie cared to look, she also wouldn't be using this video to try to tell a story of "suburbs full of people who have refused to assimilate for decades".
The changing signs (already visible in the video) show it's just the latest chapter in an ever-changing story of a suburb where SEVERAL generations of new Australians - from MANY different cultures - have got a start: first Italian and Greek Australians, then Hong Kong born Australians, then Mainland Chinese Australians, and now increasingly Nepalese Australians.
To those who don't see it yet, ask:
- Where did the Greeks, Italians, and Cantonese Hong Kong shop owners who used to be there go?
- Where did their families go?
- What happens to the people behind the windows when the shop signs fade and change?
Those Australians deserve better than dog-whistling and divisiveness.
Sydney, Australia 🇦🇺
Hurstville.
This is an example of monoculture, but it's certainly not Australian monoculture.
For those who are unfamiliar with Sydney, this is not Chinatown. This is just one of many suburbs full of people who have refused to assimilate for decades.