As a multicultural country built on immigration from all corners of the world, state and federal governments in Australia often pride themselves on their ability to welcome new arrivals into the community through various programs and services.
But the breadth of the support services provided to the different migrant communities vary and are often based on the size of the community itself and the strength of their advocacy efforts.
Over the past seven years, Cristina Abela and Trina Abascal have been working with individuals and organisations to identify the needs of the Spanish-speaking community in Australia.
Through their work, they have been advocating for improved and better access to services, particularly for the elderly, international students and the newly arrived Spanish-speakers, who come from as many as 21 different countries.
Their work began when they met in Australia over ten years ago, shortly after migrating from Mexico.
At the time, they were looking for information and connections that could help them settle into their new life in Australia, so they turned to social media and information online to learn about their new home and to build a network of people from their community.
They searched for all kinds of articles, including personal stories from Spanish-speaking migrants that could help expand their understanding of Australian culture.
Much to their surprise, amongst all the information they came across, they found very few stories in English about their experience.
They soon realised that the underrepresentation by mainstream media was widespread and the documentation of how Spanish-speaking migrants had contributed to Australian society was scarce.
They say this disparity is still prevalent today, despite being amongst the most rapidly-growing culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities in Australia.
Trini Abascal and Cristina Abela with the award from the government of Victoria. Source: Trini Abascal
Pre-pandemic statistics show Latin America is one of the fastest-growing regions for international student enrolments in Australia. A 2019 SBS News report found “in just four years to 2017, the number of Latin Americans studying in Australia almost doubled”, with Chile and Colombia alone increasing their market share by more than 20 per cent each.
By January 2020, Colombians were the second-largest cohort of English language students, after those from China.
However, they say that when Australian media reports on international students or migrant stories, stories are often limited to portraying the experiences of those with Asian, South Asian or Middle Eastern origins.
Trini and Cristina decided to counter this with a simple idea to try and fill the gap: a blog in English featuring stories from Spanish-speaking migrants who made exceptional contributions to Australian culture, society, and the economy.
They called the blog Latin Stories.
“We decided to publish it in English, precisely because we wanted not only to reach the Spanish-speaking community, but also for the Australian community to see our contribution,” Trini tells SBS Spanish.
What started as a simple blog to "just tell stories” grew to become a major online project to connect Latin American and Spanish migrants to tailored, free resources.
“We are a charitable organisation supporting Latin American migrants in their migration journey in Australia, with the aim to advance multiculturalism and social cohesion in Australia," the founders say.
By promoting the contributions of Spanish-speaking migrants online and across any accessible platforms, Latin Stories, now called Latin Stories Project, has become a creative online force committed to spearheading innovative ideas that support the needs of Spanish and Latin American migrants in Australia.
These stories help us identify the needs of our community and through those needs we create new projects.
"I think it’s something we do differently from other people," Trini explains.
"Through our stories we identified there was a lack of networking… and that is why we have created our Interweaving Project, for example."
The group have also helped deliver important support services to victims of domestic violence, which have stemmed from the stories they have heard through their various workshops.
"We heard stories about domestic violence, so we asked ourselves, 'what we can do about it?' I think that makes us a different to other community groups."
Trini believes that with greater visibility and advocacy, the community stands a better chance of being supported and listened to by decision-makers.
"We are prepared to give the government the facts to back why services are important, why they sometimes have to be in languages other than English, and why culture has to be respected,” Trini explains.
“It is very difficult to understand this system when you are a newcomer… Maybe the government is not aware of that, as we are a very small community compared to other communities, maybe they don't give us the importance that we have so something we would like to do is to continue doing this work to show the government why it is necessary to continue [supporting organisations]."
Census data shows in the ten years between 2005 and 2015, the number of Spanish-speaking arrivals increased from 1,495 to 5,628, representing a 276.5 per cent change between 2005 and 2015. During the same period, the total number of people arriving in Australia rose from 139,888 to 255,222, a 121.3 per cent increase.
Multicultural Victoria data shows there was an overall increase of 22.3 per cent of Spanish-speakers in Victoria between the 2011-2016 census (21.7 per cent in Melbourne alone, and a 32.3 per cent increase in regional Victoria), boosting Spanish to the top 10 languages other than English spoken at home in the state.
Spanish-speakers are also among the top 15 languages with low English proficiency in Victoria, a message that the Latin Story Project team have been trying to drive home for years.
That’s why they’ve teamed up with experts to create projects such as “La Sobremesa” a community awareness and education program in Spanish designed with psychologists to deepen the community's understanding of gender equality in Australia and to promote healthy relationships and consent.
Another project is 'Conversations with inspiring migrants', a workshop giving participants the opportunity to hear a long-time migrant share their insights into how they developed the necessary skills and cultural competencies to integrate into Australian life.
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Latin Stories Project is also the first multiplatform initiative to attempt documenting the history of the Spanish-speaking community in Australia, online and in English.
Their latest work, “Nuestras Voces” a documentary film produced by local cinematographer Diana Páez is a follow-up of some of the original stories documented in the first blog, which include exceptional contributions to Australia by Spanish-speaking migrants who arrived between 1960 and 1980.
The film won the Victorian Multicultural Awards for Excellence 2021 for best innovative community project. It is the fourth initiative produced by the Latin Stories Project to win a prestigious award.
Trini hopes this most recent award helps increase the profile of the Spanish-speaking community in Australia so that when members are advocating on behalf of the needs of the elderly, international students or recent arrivals politicians can lend them an ear and a hand.
"I think as Hispanics and Latinos are very good in what we do," Trini says.
"We do a good job and that stands out, and I think that little by little the government has been noticing the good job that the Spanish-speaking Latino community does.
“We know that we cannot do it alone and I think part of our success is through forming small collaborations. I believe this way we can be stronger, to be able to ask for more support from the government and get those services."
