Tawose family bucks trend when it comes to immigrant settlement in Australia

Nigerian graphic designer Ola Tawose and his family are bucking the trend when it comes to ­immigrant settlement in Australia.

Ola Tawose and his 5 year old son Midola, wife Shola, and baby Hazel, enjoying time in Robinson Park in Orange, 254km west of Sydney. Picture: Maddie Schumann

Nigerian graphic designer Ola Tawose and his family are bucking the trend when it comes to ­immigrant settlement in Australia, opting for a home among the gum trees well away from the ­nation’s congested cities.

Mr Tawose moved to Australia on a skilled migrant visa in ­November with his then pregnant wife and their son Midola. They spent three months in the outer-­western Sydney suburb of Mount Druitt before a job opportunity drew the family to Orange in central NSW.

According to 2016 census data, immigrants such as the Tawoses are few and far between, with 86 per cent of new arrivals in the previous 10 years settling in capital cities and 54 per cent settling in either Sydney or Melbourne.

This is despite Australia’s ­capital cities being home to only two-thirds of the population, with about 40 per cent in Sydney and Melbourne.

In contrast, only 3 per cent of new arrivals made their homes in regional areas of NSW, which account for 11 per cent of the population.

“I chose the job because it was permanent,” Mr Tawose said. “I wanted something stable and we decided to take the risk and move to Orange.

“We were awe-struck by the peace, the quietness, and knew it would be a great place for our family.”

While he believed migrants were drawn to the cities because of greater job availability, he encouraged new arrivals to make the tree change to the nation’s regional centres.

“My job takes me to Sydney from time to time,” Mr Tawose said, “but I always yearn to come home to the bush.”

Census data shows there were only 1418 immigrants who arrived between 2006 and 2016 living in the Orange local government area. In the Blacktown LGA, which includes Mount Druitt, there were 48,131, people who had been in the country for only 10 years or less — or one of every seven people.

Mr Tawose said although Orange did not have a large African community, he found the township to be welcoming and multicultural.

“We decided to take a risk and made a conscious decision to open the minds of our children and ourselves to new cultures,” he said.

“We couldn’t be happier. My five-year-old never wants to go back to Africa and that’s the biggest joy when your child loves the place he lives.”

He said a surprising advantage of the move had been having more time to pursue creative projects.

“You don’t get stuck in traffic and have time to read, go to the libraries,” Mr Tawose said.

“I don’t think I would have been able to accomplish so much in such a short time if I was still in Sydney.”