Multicultural Water Safety and Settlement – Ethnic Council of Shepparton and District

As Australia’s population has steadily increased over time, so has the diversity and makeup of the people within it. Victoria becomes more culturally diverse each day and unfortunately many of these more recent Australians have not received water or swimming education that is so important to their safety due to a number of barriers to participation.

Participation barriers include distance to facilities, lack of transport, difficulty with language and costs. Prioritising aquatics has often been difficult in their countries of birth due to factors such as residing in land locked regions or growing up in areas involved in economic or political uncertainty.

Life Saving Victoria’s Multicultural Department’s continued commitment to projects plays a needy and vital role in improving opportunities for all Victorians to receive fundamental water safety messages and education.

Since 2007 over 140,000 multicultural participants have been involved in activities.

The above video, ‘What’s the story? Multicultural Water Safety and Settlement’, summarises the aims and activities of the Life Saving Victoria’s Multicultural Department.

Life Saving Victoria (LSV) has been working with Victoria’s various multicultural communities for more than ten years. This work has enabled two journeys to take place. The first has seen the growth in water safety capability (Intervention Area 1) of the involved communities, while the second, less conspicuous but equally important journey has been the extension of Life Saving Victoria’s intent.

Life Saving Victoria began as a well-meaning but relatively naïve player in the matter of settlement and social cohesion (Intervention Area 2), but has further developed to employ a refined and deliberate approach that contributes to the State’s community harmony agenda.

This booklet aims to provide a brief overview of:

Addressing the water safety knowledge gap among newly arrived communities
‘Real-life’ examples of journeys towards employment and settlement
Initiatives that facilitate social cohesion

Victoria’s multicultural communities are not a demographic niche in the State’s overall population. Almost half of all Victorians were born overseas, or have at least one parent who was. By assisting these Victorians to feel included in a very traditional aspect of the Australian way of life – recreating in our aquatic waterways and coastal locations – Life Saving Victoria is helping to boost their sense of inclusion and belonging.

CLICK HERE to view Life Saving Victoria’s Multicultural Brochure.

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	The Ethnic Council of Shepparton and District acknowledges the Yorta Yorta People of the land which comprises the Goulburn Valley. We pay respect to tribal Elders, past, present and emerging and we celebrate their continuing culture and acknowledge the memory of their ancestors.
	The Ethnic Council of Shepparton and District is a peak body whose mission is to promote and represent the social, cultural and economic well-being of ethnic communities in the Goulburn Valley Region through the provision of quality and innovative settlement, refugee support, community development, and information and advocacy services.