Wollongong is a regional coastal city with around 200,000 residents located 80 km south of Sydney. It lies along the coast bounded by the Royal National Park to the north, Lake Illawarra to the south and the Illawarra escarpment to the west. Wollongong became a Refugee Welcome Zone in 2005.
Over a quarter of the population were born overseas and 20% of people speak a language other than English at home. Wollongong Council supports a range of initiatives for refugee communities in the area including key support for the Illawarra Refugees Issues Forum (IRIF): a bi-monthly interagency of services that work with refugees.
The Council provides regular support for local Refugee Week activities, a supported venue for HSS orientation sessions, regular library tours and presentations on Council’s services to TAFE AMEP students and ongoing support for and partnership work with frontline agencies.
Wollongong Living Books
One of the most successful programs that Wollongong Council has implemented is the ‘Wollongong Living Books’ project which gives the local community the opportunity to talk and listen to the stories of a diverse range of living “books”. These “books” are local volunteers from a diversity of different backgrounds and life experiences. These include people of different ages, sexuality, ethnicity, culture, faith, language, occupation, ability and life experience who share their stories and converse with readers from the local community. The initiative was started in 2007 and since then over 2800 readers have participated with around 30 “books” currently in the collection.
The project was designed to build understanding in the community and uses the motto of “Real People, Real Stories” to work towards challenging stereotypes, encouraging recognition and valuing of diversity and promoting respect for human rights. The project has been highly successful and widely promoted through its introduction into local schools.
