Celebrating Harmony Week

This year during Harmony Week 18 – 24 March, we recognise our cultural diversity and celebrate the opportunity to come together as friends and colleagues.

Harmony Week is a time to celebrate Australia’s cultural diversity. It’s about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone. Harmony Week is an opportunity to come together as friends and colleagues to reflect on how our differences make our workplace and community stronger.

According to statistics compiled from the 2021 census of Australia by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, some interesting facts about Australia’s cultural diversity include:

• nearly half of all Australians were born overseas or have at least one parent who was.
• since 1945, more than 7.5 million people have migrated to Australia.
• the most common languages spoken in Australia along with English are Mandarin, Arabic, Cantonese, Vietnamese and Punjabi.
• more than 150 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages are spoken in Australia.

Harmony Week is an ideal time to learn more about and celebrate our diverse ACU community. Embracing the differing perspectives and ideas of our people creates a richer working and learning environment. Below are some ideas for how you and your colleagues can be involved:

• Orange is the colour chosen for Harmony Week representing meaningful communication, freedom of ideas and mutual respect. You can show support by wearing something orange during the week or decorate your desk.
• Nothing brings people together quite like the sharing of food. Why not bring a plate of food to share for a team or office morning or afternoon tea or lunch representative of your cultural background or a country you’ve recently visited?
• Sharing photos – capture images that represent the concepts of diversity, inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging (remember if taking photos around ACU that include people, ask them if it’s ok first). You can share your pictures in your local campus group using a Harmony Week frame on Workplace using the hashtag #harmonyweek.

See more information about our Gender Equity, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives at ACU.