How Indian immigration will shape our culture in coming years

The fastest rising immigrant force in Australia this decade (and likely beyond) is the Indian community with its range of languages, religions, cuisine and commitment to multi-generational households.

The fastest rising immigrant force in Australia this decade (and likely beyond) is the Indian community. Picture: istock

Modern Australia is one of the world’s most cosmopolitan nations, with more than 30 per cent of the population born overseas. This proportion at the 1947 census was 10 per cent. Back then Australia was a colonial outpost, with much of the 10 per cent being comprised of British immigrants.

The influence of the mother country was evident in our diet, in our religious affiliations (Protestant and Catholic), in our language, and especially in the configuration of our homes. Public housing comprised three bedrooms, a bathroom and an outside toilet referred to, in the English vernacular, as the lavatory. The “lav” was positioned near the wood shed and the “wash house” (outside laundry).

Post-war immigration ensued and reshaped Australia. It was enabled, I think, by the war’s very real threat of Japanese invasion which prompted a populate-or-perish mindset. And while many European immigrants arrived over these years, including Brits known as Ten Pound Poms, it was the Greeks and Italians who effected the greatest social change.

By the 1980s, our immigrant community had breached the 20 per cent mark. By that time tea had given way to coffee. Pizza, lasagna and olive oil were part of our diet. Anglo Australians even absorbed the new arrivals’ penchant for kissing each other on the cheek. Prior to that it was a handshake or a courtly head nod if a man was introduced to a woman.

But the Mediterraneans’ biggest cultural impact was surely their influence in reshaping the Australian home. Off with the back veranda, and on with a vast open-plan kitchen/family room leading to an alfresco space (and barbeque area). After all, Australia’s climate lent itself to indoor-outdoor living.

Ever aspirational, Middle Australia absorbed the design influences of a Greater Europe first with the 1980s Diana-phase, replete with Laura Ashley wallpaper and cottage gardens. Then in the 1990s came the influences of provincial France and Italy, especially in garden design. More recently our design inspiration has been Scandinavian minimalism, perhaps triggered by diminishing birth rates (minimalism works best in kid-free households). And with it, the rise of the ubiquitous white-on-white colour palette.

The fastest rising immigrant force in Australia this decade (and likely beyond) is the Indian community with its range of languages, religious affiliations, cuisines and commitment to multi-generational households. If Australia’s habit of cherrypicking the best “lifestyle bits” of other cultures is to continue, then surely we’ll see an Australian-Indian fusion culture emerge later this decade. But apart from cuisine – we’ve already absorbed Indian food – the most obvious influence could come in the form of design. India is a country of vibrant colours, so perhaps an emerging Australian-Indian fusion culture will challenge our current fixation with all things white.

No design preference remains unchallenged forever, so perhaps it’s time for minimalism to give way to “maximalism”, and for the prevailing orthodoxy of white-on-white to accommodate other colours. After all, at some point in the 2030s our current monocratic colour palette is going to seem dreadfully dated.