Immigrant status

[Malleeboy]

When I took my son to the Immigration Museum in Melbourne, we were told that all non-Aboriginal Australians were immigrants. However, I personally have never felt like an immigrant, I have no personal connection to any family members who migrated to the colonies, as they all were dead at least 50 years before I was born.

From my perspective:

Australia was founded on 1 Jan 1901.
All my ancestors had arrived before that, arriving to the various colonies by 1857. (167 years ago)
Therefore, none of ancestors immigrated to Australia.

 

[Bradskii]

When I took my son to the Immigration Museum in Melbourne, we were told that all non-Aboriginal Australians were immigrants.

Or descendants of immigrants.

 

[timewerx]

There's nothing bad about being an immigrant.

Those who would be called "God's people" don't think of themselves as citizens of any country in this world.

Hebrews 11:14-16
People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Hebrews 11:37-40
They were put to death by stoning;[e] they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

 

[Malleeboy]

Agreed there is nothing wrong with being an immigrant, I just don't feel like one. I have no personal family link, my grandparents never meet any of their ancestors who migrated.

 

[timewerx]

Agreed there is nothing wrong with being an immigrant, I just don't feel like one. I have no personal family link, my grandparents never meet any of their ancestors who migrated.

I got even deeper ties to my country of nationality. My ancestors belonged to a genetic line who were the very first humans to settle in my country, as early as the last Ice Age, around 10,000 years ago.

But I still feel like an immigrant in my own country. First time I've felt it is when I became a Christian. Suddenly, the culture starts looking strange and I don't feel the same about it as I did before. I started feeling uncomfortable about the culture of our country all of a sudden.

I started feeling like I don't belong in my country and nor anywhere in this planet.

I had my Christian conversion before I read the Bible so I didn't know about Hebrews 11. I didn't know about Jesus choosing us "out of this world". I didn't even know about the Holy Spirit. I know none of those things, I wasn't even told about the Holy Spirit during my conversion. But I heard the Holy Spirit anyway calling me away from everyone. Highly unusual I thought because I wasn't expecting anything at all.

 

[Bob Crowley]

The aboriginals themselves were immigrants if you go back about 50,000 years.

It would appear the land was empty when they arrived, but they used to fight among themselves.

Recently I was at a church based education session and some immigrants from other countries were a bit irritated with the "first nation" label.

They'd put down their roots here and expected Australians to see themselves as "one nation" and not "first'" or "second" nations.

 

[trophy33]

When I took my son to the Immigration Museum in Melbourne, we were told that all non-Aboriginal Australians were immigrants. However, I personally have never felt like an immigrant, I have no personal connection to any family members who migrated to the colonies, as they all were dead at least 50 years before I was born.

From my perspective:

Australia was founded on 1 Jan 1901.
All my ancestors had arrived before that, arriving to the various colonies by 1857. (167 years ago)
Therefore, none of ancestors immigrated to Australia.

I think there is a difference between the technical term, which simply means that basically the whole planet was settled by migrating populations in the past and between your life experience. There is no reason why you should feel as an immigrant, if you were already born in the place you live in.