Demographics

Frankly, I had done very little previous research into the people of Sydney, or Australia as a whole, so I had no idea what to expect when it came to demographics. A major issue that I had at first was determining what was a result of being in a big city and what was uniquely “Sydney” when it came to race and other cultures. Walking around there is certainly a difference between big American cities and the people in Sydney. One of the first things I noticed was the lack of African people around the city compared with cities like Chicago or New York. African Americans often dominate or at least play a large part in the construction of populations around the United States. Instead, there is a very large Asian population. Certain areas of the city resemble China-town but are at least ten times the size. Almost all sectors of the Asian population have large representation around Sydney. The area that I worked was largely made up of individuals of Korean decent while other areas are largely Japanese or Chinese.

Race, and its perception, is a subject that I have always been interested in; a direct result of growing up around Detroit where race is always a major issue. So, when discussing, mostly informally, with coworkers and Australian friends I often tried to steer the conversation into this subject. What I found out was very interesting. The first thing many individuals said, including a fairly prestigious Government official, was their opinions about Americans and race. It was mentioned that the first thing that we see about a person is the color of their skin and that it is engrained within our society and population while Australians seem to transcend this. An American will see a black man and immediately identify him as black while an Aussie would just see him as a man. When thinking about why this would be the case there are many factors to ponder. Our country has had racial issues for hundreds of years and it is really our generation that is seeing some of the first fairly equal circumstances; ignoring, of course, the arguments toward structural poverty for minorities. Australia, being such a young country, was much more concerned with setting up a strong population and economic base. Their populations are strongly set by immigration from surrounding areas and are quite diverse. Making me wonder why America is generally labeled as a melting pot and Australia is generally perceived to be filled with blonde, white surfers.