The Brazilians in Sydney

Brazil has traditionally been a country that received inflows of migrants. However, in the last two decades of the twentieth century the flow has been reversed. Since the early 1980s, many Brazilians have emigrated, due to a socio-economic crisis that has resulted in massive social inequalities and rampant crime and violence. According to the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, four million people have left the country. The largest communities are in the US, Paraguay and Japan. Since the late 1990s, Australia has become a new and important destination for Brazilians. Brazilian immigration to Australia has had two clear waves. The first migrants arrived in the early 1970s, attracted by an Australian Government assistance scheme. Brazil was undergoing an economic boom but these were poor and unskilled migrants who did not participate in this prosperity. The second group started arriving in the late 1990s. In contrast with the first group, these are young professionals who are highly educated and belong to middle or upper middle classes. They usually migrate individually in search of better quality of life. More often than not, they already speak English and socialise with and marry Australians. As a result of differences in social class and cultural capital, there is little or no interaction between the early migrants and those who arrived more recently. In Sydney, this clear class divide within the community is a geographical one as well: the earlier group lives in the inner west suburbs, while the more recent group lives at the beach suburbs of Manly, Curl Curl, Dee Why and Bondi. However, once a year in September, the community gets together for the Ritmo Brazilian Festival at Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour. While singers, dancers and capoeira masters share the stage, Brazilians and Australians mix in the park eating Brazilian food, dancing and chatting.