Community
5 September, 2024
Multicultural Festival to showcase the best parts of Mount Isa
The precinct around Good Shepherd Catholic Church will be buzzing on Friday night.
The flags are draped, the bunting is hung and the baskets and fridges of global flavours are waiting to greet the public tastebuds, as Good Shepherd Catholic Parish hosts its popular Multicultural Festival tomorrow night.
Under the theme of Countries, Cultures and Characters in 100 years of Mining in Mount Isa, the annual event is a celebration of the diverse food, music and backgrounds in our city, where the latest census data reveals more than one-quarter of residents were not born in Australia and more than half have parents born overseas.
The event will see 15 global food stalls with a smorgasbord of Pacific Island, Asian and Latin American tastes on offer, among many others.
Organisers are also still selling tickets to its limited-edition raffle, where a $100 ticket purchase could win a lucky person a $10,000 prize.
The festival marks the climax of a month of activities for Good Shepherd as the parish celebrated Multicultural Queensland Month in August.
Community Action for a Multicultural Society (CAMS) in Mount Isa, which is among the Good Shepherd ministries, was provided a $2000 state government grant to enable the parish to deliver three Indigenous bush tucker tours at Outback at Isa for migrant residents and a sushi tasting experience at the weekend.
CAMS coordinator Therese Sexton said the ministry was focused on ongoing support for new migrants to the city, with conversational English classes and physical and social activities offered as well as advocacy for government policies that create a more inclusion community.
The Church also marked Migrant and Refugee Sunday at the weekend with a special Mass where parishioners were encouraged to dress in their traditional cultural garb and Bible readings were delivered in native tongues, including Cebuano, Pidgin English and Samoan.
With an estimated 53 different nationalities contained in a population of less than 20,000 people, Father Mick Lowcock said the festival was a celebration of the diverse range of cultural beliefs and experiences that colour the Mount Isa landscape.
“This festival is about people – and people are the heart of Mount Isa – while many come to the city for work, what their lives are truly about is the relationships they establish after they come here,” he told North West Weekly.
Fr Lowcock said the event was born partly out of a desire to host a parish event between school fetes and partly out of the belief that such a festival would provide an opportunity to make new citizens feel welcomed in the Mount Isa community, especially when they were from a cultural background that was not as recognised among locals.
“We used to celebrate Migrant and Refugee Sunday and there was a little gathering afterwards,” he explained.
“At that stage, the schools had fetes in the first, second and fourth school terms – so I thought, ‘why don’t we have a fete during the third term?’
“People know there are Filipino migrants and European cultures in Mount Isa – but the multicultural festival also highlights other cultures that are growing in the city.
“I remember the first time Indian culture was recognised at the festival - people would come up and say they feel like such a part of the Mount Isa community.
The festival kicks off at Good Shepherd Catholic Church on Stanley Street on Friday from 6pm.