A Multicultural Landscape: National Parks and the Macedonian Experience

Introduction

This report describes progress made on Phase 1 of the Multiculturalism and National Parks Research Project. It is divided into three parts.

Part 1 consists of an introductory section dealing with theoretical and methodological problems. The report argues that:

• being a key factor in determining people’s world views, is central in shaping attitudes to the environment.
• cannot hope to work effectively as a cross-cultural communicator unless we acknowledge that national parks, having emerged from former colonial societies, are imbued with particular values and ideals concerning land use.
• The tendency in Government to draw a demarcation between the ‘mainstream’ and ‘ethnic others’ is criticised. We must acknowledge our own history – our own cultural and ethnic specificity – in order to acknowledge the cultural experience of others.
• ethnic diversity of contemporary Australia is reflected in the wide range of people who use our parks. While this sometimes causes tension between park visitors and staff, it also points to the diverse ways in which park landscapes are being used and valued. Their role in consolidating ideas of community – their value as social spaces – must be recognised.

Part 2 describes research involving members of Sydney’s Macedonian community who, since World War II, have developed enduring traditions of visiting Royal National Park and other parks around Sydney. This was the major case study for this phase of the Multiculturalism and National Parks Research Project. Part 2 contains:

• of a visit to Royal National Park on Christmas Day 1999. Some Macedonian visitors describe the importance of large community picnics to Australian-Macedonian culture.
• methodology for approaching members of the Macedonian community. This was influenced by heritage assessment research conducted for the NSW Migration Heritage Centre and NSW Heritage Office by Kate Rea.
• of how the Macedonian Australian Welfare Organisation assisted NPWS in facilitating community contacts and organising focus group research with a group of Macedonian pensioners and a group of young Macedonian people in their twenties.
• brief history of Macedonian migration to Australia.
• account of an oral history with Paul Stephen who arrived in Australia from Macedonia in 1948.
• of a focus group session involving Macedonian pensioners. They describe their attitudes to nature and the environment in both Macedonia and Australia, and give account of parks usage.
• of a focus group session involving young Macedonian adults who describe their attitudes to nature, the environment, and to Macedonian traditions of park usage in Australia.
• and summary of the Macedonian research.

Part 3 offers conclusions based on the research. It describes an initiative from the NSW Fisheries Department for negotiating ethnic diversity, and draws some lessons from the research project concerning how NPWS might better address the cultural complexity of contemporary Australia.