As immigration policies harden in the U.S. and the U.K., anecdotal evidence suggests that Indian students aspiring to study abroad, and skilled workers proposing to migrate, are looking to nations with more welcoming atmospheres, such as Australia and Canada. The view from within Australia implies that the government and people both continue to subscribe to the idea of their nation thriving on the foundation of a genuinely multicultural society. And, even in the era of Trump and Brexit, there is a clear recognition of the fact that a fair immigration policy is the key to that vision.

Thus, Australia continues to admit around 1,90,000 permanent migrants per year under its Migration Programme and somewhere between 13,000 and 20,000 per year under its Humanitarian Programme.

While many prospective Indian migrants arriving in Australia gravitate toward urban hubs such as Sydney or Melbourne, a less-prominent but arguably more ethnically diverse city is Darwin, located near the northernmost tip of the island nation.

Named for the famous biologist, Darwin, the capital city of the Northern Territory (NT) has long been recognised as Asia’s gateway into Australia’s economy, society and culture. Now, as an international team of reporters visiting Australia has discovered over many conversations with the people and institutions in the area, it is positioning itself as Australia’s portal for South and Southeast Asia.

Unlike some parts of Australia that have witnessed a backlash against immigrant populations, Darwin has a history of adaptive coexistence with Aboriginal peoples. This has produced tolerance of ethnic and cultural difference not seen elsewhere in Australia, and that is a big draw for prospective migrants.

Living alongside the Aboriginal people

Members of the Indian diaspora here, such as Ganesh Koramannil of Charles Darwin University (CDU), say that living alongside the Aboriginal tribes has transformed their world view. As a lecturer at the CDU in the School of Indigenous Knowledges and Public Policy, Mr. Koramannil not only studies ways in which government policies could benefit the Aboriginal people more, he is also seeking to organise exhibitions in India that would bring together Aboriginal artists with their counterparts among tribal peoples of South Asia.

In supporting the work of such academics, the CDU hopes that it will be at the very heart of the NT’s magnetic effect on potential student applicants too. Higher education in fields such as medicine, nursing and social work is undoubtedly seen as the key, not only to getting a foot in the door of Australia’s immigration system, but also to acquiring the skills necessary to add value as a member of the country’s workforce. However, the path can be bumpy. Susan Joseph, a nursing student in Darwin from Kerala, says that the fees for nursing degrees is around ₹36 lakh; some students get turned away even after spending the money because they fail the English-language test at the end of the course. Certainly, a basic level of English knowledge is a pre-requisite in this setting. However, what frustrates many students, she says, having taken a test at the start of the course, they see little point in taking it a second time, that too in a situation where the stakes are so high.

However, the odd hiccups notwithstanding, Canberra is not underestimating the importance of Darwin and the NT as outposts of multicultural richness that it hopes will pull in ever-greater numbers of migrants from the teeming Asian nations to the north.

Narayan Lakshman writes for The Hindu and was recently in Darwin