A one day festival celebrating Victoria’s Ethiopian community will be held at the Immigration Museum on Sunday 18 April, 2010.
Visitors to the Ethiopian Festival will be able to enjoy Ethiopian culture and traditions, including food, music and dance performances and family activities while learning more about Ethiopian migration to Melbourne and Victoria.
Come along to the Immigration Museum to meet the community and take part in activities on the day:
- Experience a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony.
- Sample tasty chicken, lamb and vegetable stews the Ethiopian way: scooping it up with injera bread using your hands.
- Listen to the sweet sounds of the masenko, an Ethiopian stringed instrument.
- Watch traditional dance and singing performances.
- Take part in an Ethiopian circus or dance workshop.
- Watch a cooking demonstration and the film Ethiopia.
- See traditional Ethiopian clothes, woven baskets, ceramics and jewellery in the arts and crafts display.
- See photographs, talks and displays to learn more about Ethiopian history, culture and migration.
The Ethiopian community in Australia is a recently established community, with the earliest migrants arriving during the 1970s when the Derg socialist government assumed power in Ethiopia. This repressive regime forced over half a million refugees to flee the country, with many being accepted in Australia. In the following decades Ethiopians migrated to Australia to escape drought, famine and political persecution.
Victoria is now home to Australia’s largest Ethiopian population. The majority of the population lives in Melbourne’s western suburbs and represent a vibrant mix of cultures, including the Tigray, Oromo, Amhara, and Harari.
The Ethiopian Festival is one of three cultural festivals developed annually by the Immigration Museum in collaboration with Victoria’s culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
Ethiopian Festival
Sunday 18 April, 2010, 11am – 4pm
Immigration Museum, 400 Flinders Street Melbourne
Adults $8, children and concession FREE
Immigration Museum, 400 Flinders Street, Melbourne. Open daily 10.00am – 5.00pm.
For further details phone 13 11 02 or visit museumvictoria.com.au/immigration museum