Ubuntu

Ubuntu is an African word that means "we are people through other people," and it is fitting that an African word should sum up what Australia day means.

To celebrate our national day, the stories of a number of current and future Australian citizens have been brought together in a book to be released today, "Joyful Strains," and hearing the story of one of the contributers, Malla Nunn on News24 this morning made me break out in goose bumps of national pride. When she moved to Perth with her her family in the 1970's, it was nothing more than an overgrown country town, but coming from the tiny African country of Swaziland, she thought Perth "might as well have been Manhattan"

When the family touched down in their new home country, her father told them "we came to be Australian, not South African," and as an Australian citizen, Malla is now a published author and an award winning film maker.

In a country that offers opportunities to anyone who is willing to try, "Ubuntu" is the perfect word to describe what it means to be Australian. We are people through other people, and no matter where you have come from, in the words of Malla Nunn's father: we all came here to be Australian.