What Australia Mean to Us?
I love our country and the privilege of being welcomed into Australian community. This is the 13th year I have addressed new citizens on Australia Day. From everywhere, to this year Uralla. I've spoken in the Outback, Istanbul, Delhi, New York, even Las Vegas. It was Brittany and me in Vegas. Brittany was a little more popular. So why is this one of the most important days on my calendar? It's because Australia matters.
My parents made the great journey of leaving their country, their home, to find a new home. The story of war torn refugees has been well documented, filmed, reported and in some ways become truisms, clichés, in an all too familiar political landscape. However the experience of war, escape, finding a new home can never become clichéd with its long reaching impact on the next generations.
They survived Nazism, communism, food shortages, human rights abuses. They had lost so many in the Nazi concentration camps and the Stalinist gulags. They made that frightening decision to escape Hungary. They left everything they knew and escaped across the mine fields with their small son to a refugee camp in Austria. There they waited for a long time for country to take them. Thank you Australia.
The lasting legacy of my parents is what drives my writing. I write to unlock pathways for young people and all of us to be heroes, wherever we are in our lives. We all need to be heroes, don't we? I tackle bullying, disability, racism, feminism, consent. Inspired by my parents and the courage of so many. I never lose hope. Now we face the battle of antisemitism.
At the World Holocaust Forum King Charles said 'The lessons of the Holocaust are searingly relevant to this day. More that seventy-five years after the Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps, hatred and intolerance still lurk in the human heart, still tell new lies, adopt new disguises, and still seek new victims.'
We must continue to empower our young people and who we are, to vigorously oppose the ongoing spread of hatred and bigotry.
As I weave stories from my family's secrets in every book, I write about the essence of humanity.
Key Facts:
Who are Australians?
No to Racism
From the Holocaust to democracy
Story empowers us all
About us:
Susanne Gervay OAM has been an Australia Day Ambassador for 13 years travelling across NSW to welcome new citizens and connect us all. As the child of refugees she values the importance of democracy and fights against racism with her work as a writer. She especially reaches young people who are our future and proudly is an ambassador for AUSTRALIA READS. htps://sgervay.com; Australia Reads About Susanne | Susanne Gervay
