Harmony Day at Auchmuty Courtyard

Harmony Day celebrates the incredible diversity within Australia by encouraging cultures to unite and appreciate their unique differences. On the 21st of March in the Auchmuty Courtyard, many cultural clubs arrived to share their history, cuisines, and practices with our students and staff.

This culturally rich event kicked off with the Afro Infusion band, Berias Masseque Music. Combining vocals, acoustic guitar, keyboard and drums, Berias Masseque Music produced African inspired electronic rock sounds to celebrate their culture.

The Chinese Club demonstrated their Guzheng instrument, a 21-string wooden flat zither which was played sitting down. It is tuned to the pentatonic scale and has toned sections of strings which can be played to achieve a wide array of sounds. Also demonstrated was the ancient Chinese art of calligraphy which was shown using water, instead of ink, and drawn onto re-usable paper to encourage environmental sustainability. We absolutely love a planet conscious initiative!

The Wollotuka Institute shared a demonstration of a yarning circle which is used to build respectful relationships and promote community connection. Wollotuka representatives also created a separate space for students and staff to create their own wooden hangers which could be decorated in vibrant colours. They also shared their delicious scones with wattleseed cream!

The Perhimpunan Pelajar Indonesia Club exuded a warm and welcoming stall by offering traditional baked sweets such as ‘Martabak Manis’ and ‘Risoles Ayam’. They also shared some Indonesian grocery store sweets such as Coffee Milk Biscuits, Choki Choki, Kopiko Coffee Candy, Malkist Kelapa Kopyor and Karuda nuts. Students and staff enjoyed trying these cuisines whilst learning educational facts about Indonesia.

The Tibetan Club generously shared their cuisines of Beef Tibetan Momos, Vegan Tibetan Momos, Vegan Curry Tacos, and Chicken Curry Tacos. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to try any of these dishes as the line was so long and very popular however, I’m sure they were all really tasty.

There was also a traditional Spanish Paella Primavera food stall, ice cream truck, plus an Argentinian Barbeque food truck to further celebrate the incredibly diverse cuisines enjoyed in our society.

This Harmony Day event was a successful representation of the purpose and meaning of the day as it encouraged the University community to unite and learn about the distinctions of these cultures. This incredible event was organised by the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI)  team in collaboration with UNSA and provided an opportunity to appreciate our culturally rich society.