Auburn Local Government Area (LGA) Profile

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Cultural, Religious, and Linguistic Diversity
Current community service provision
Identified gaps in community service provision
Conclusion
References

Introduction

This chapter seeks to explore the different aspects that make Auburn LGA unique. The focus will be on the geographical location, demographic data, and culture. It will also provide a brief overview of gaps that exist in service provision.

Auburn Local Government Area is located 20 kilometers to the west of the Sydney Central Business District. It has a coverage area of 31 km², and it is bounded by Parramatta Road and Duck River in the North and West, Homebush Bay and Powell’s Creek to the East, and the Sydney Water Supply Line to the South (Auburn City Council, 2009, p.1). Auburn has common boundaries with the local government areas of Parramatta, Bankstown, and Strathfield. Moreover, the Suburbs within Auburn LGA include Berala, Homebush Bay, Lidcombe, Newington, Regents Park, Rookwood and Silverwater” (Auburn City Council, 2009, p1)

Map: Auburn and the surrounding areas

Map2: Auburn Migration Pattern

Auburn is described “as an older and a well-established area, and its population has increased due to substantial development in the suburbs of Newington and Homebush Bay as well as the redevelopment of areas such as Regents Park with increasing residential densities” (Auburn City Council, 2009, p1). Auburn’s population on 30 June 2010 was 78,597. These statistics comprised 39,763 males and 36,756 females (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2010). This region has been experiencing high population growth in the last ten years.

Table 3.1: Population Statistics for the year 2006 to 2010 for Auburn LGA

Year	Population	Population Change
2006	68231
2007	70293	2062
2008	71658	1365
2009	73791	2133
2010	78,597	4806

It is projected that by the year 2021, Auburn’s population will be approximately 92,523 people driven by an expected growth rate of 1.4 percent per annum. By contrast, the population growth rate of Sydney is projected to be 0.9 percent per annum (Auburn City Council, 2010).

Cultural, Religious, and Linguistic Diversity

Culture in Auburn LGA is dynamic and thus constantly changing. This constant evolution can be attributed to the continuous arrival of people from different parts of the world. These immigration patterns are majorly influenced by the presence of a major location for overseas arrivals, a significant amount of development, and the Olympic precinct in Newington. Consequently, Auburn LGA has the highest rates of settlement of refugees and humanitarian entrants in the country as well as people born overseas and those with foreign parents (Auburn City Council, 2009, p.2). This makes the area to be one of the most “culturally multifaceted or diverse” localities in Australia with the largest number of people who are “overseas-born” as compared to the rest of the Local Government Areas in NSW (Auburn City Council, 2009, p.2).

Despite the locality having deep ancestral and historical roots attached to the Aboriginal community and culture, the population of the native Aborigine people is just a handful in comparison to the non-Native Australian (Auburn City Council, 2009). In the 2006 census, about 53 percent of the inhabitants were born outside Australia or have parents originating from other nations. Amongst these nations, the first ten includes “China, Turkey, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Vietnam, India, Iraq, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Philippines” (Auburn City Council, 2009, p.2).

According to Auburn Council (2009, p1), cultural diversity and differences such as growth and change can be viewed as “sources of energy and creativity in a local community.” In addition, most of the local residents perceive diversity as a strength, owing to the absence of overt racism or ethno cultural conflict in the area (Auburn City Council, 2009, p.1). However, diversity and difference can equally be a burden to a local population. This can be witnessed in instances whereby the cultural differences are too large and cannot be intervened by the shared socioeconomic conditions, culture, education, or language. In such cases, there is a likelihood of cultural diversity turning out to be a source of misunderstanding, mistrust, and resentment,” (Auburn City Council, 2009, p.6).

The culture of Auburn is considered diverse due to the complex issues arising from the arrival settlement of the diverse cultural background of the inhabitants and the fragmentation of Auburn and its communities. This existing diversity, enormous cultural gaps, and deficits has contributed to its multiple social, economic, and other disadvantages. Thus, it has led to the buildup “of negative social boundaries such as exclusion, stigmatization, and disrespect.” Further, such great differences and cases of disadvantages have substantially contributed to the overall “undermining of the social wellbeing of Auburn residents” (Auburn City Council, 2009, p6). In addition, the diversity has immensely contributed to an identity crisis as witnessed amongst many young people, and lack of meaningful engagement of the residents leading to poor interaction and understanding.

In reference to the 2006 census, approximately 17,000 people – accounting for 22% of Auburn LGA’s population – are 12 – 25 years of age. A high proportion of these young people are school dropouts, and about 50% of the young people aged 15 -24 are neither in the labour force nor employed (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2010). The statistics of the young and unemployed person is expected to increase significantly and proportionately with the growing number of refugees and humanitarian immigrants in Auburn from 2006 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2010). This type of growth in the number of illiterate and unemployed persons is likely to have negative connotations in the future. Poverty level and underequipped workforce are some of the possible outcomes.

According to the SEIFA index, Auburn is the second most disadvantaged local government area in Sydney statistical division after Fairfield LGA (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1993). This is because most of its inhabitants are either new arrivals or refugees, and most of whom have either poor command of English language or cannot communicate at all in English. Moreover, almost all inhabitants lack an understanding of the local networks and have little or no familiarity with ‘western’ civic, political and social systems. These and other factors have significantly added weight to the burdens of poverty and housing stress. Other major issues faced by residents of Auburn LGA include unemployment and under-employment of skilled migrants and refugees (Auburn City Council, 2009).

Auburn’s linguistically culture is diverse. Even though the primary language in Auburn is English, more than 66 percent of the residents prefer communicating with their ancestral dialects at their residential places (Auburn City Council, 2009). These secondary most spoken languages, which have contributed greatly to the linguistic diversity of the Auburn residents, are shown in the table3.2:

Table 3.2: Language composition in Auburn LGA

Language	Percentage (%)
Arabic	11.1
Cantonese	10.1
Turkish	6.7
Mandarin	6.6
Korean	3

Auburn LGA is a religious area. This is because has more than 70% of the population profess to at least one of the known religions (Auburn City Council, 2009). The major religions in Auburn region are Christianity and Islam with 36.3% and 24.8% of the population respectively as its followers. Other smaller religious groups in the area include Hinduism and Buddhism (Auburn City Council, 2009).

As consequence of the great religious diversity, Auburn area is subjected to providing equal opportunity for all residents to interact and participate in their own religious activities. Further, days of worship and all major religious festivities such as Ramadan, Eid, Naroz, Diwali, and Chinese New Year are deeply respected in the locality, and the concerned people are given time to celebrate with other believers of their faith in such festivities. For example, Fridays are considered a worship day for the Muslims and hence most activities are halted by 2.00 p.m. to allow Muslim faithful to worship. In addition, the catering system is designed to accommodate all the dietary requirements for all the existing religious factions, and correct etiquette for interaction at all times (Auburn City Council, 2009).

Current community service provision

The population of the Auburn Local Government Area derives benefits from the “cooperative networks” as well as from “dense social ties” within the community (Auburn City Council, 2009). This area has a stable network of non-profit cultural organizations as well as community and civic organizations. There are more than one hundred and seventy funded and unfunded groups, services, organizations, networks, and societies, varying in sizes and core purposes including welfare, social, cultural, religious, educational, and arts groups. For example, the “playgrounds, rotary clubs, youth centers, inter-agencies and groups such as writers, poets, artists, and historical societies” are some of the nonprofit organization (Auburn City Council, 2009, p.8). About 76 percent of groups in Auburn have a strong ‘volunteer element’ (Auburn City Council, 2009, p.8).

Auburn City Council, as stated in its’ Cultural Plan, recognizes that a “personal approach” is an effective way of making sure that there is the broadest contact as well as inclusive participation of all community sectors(Auburn City Council, 2009, p.8). It is evident that the high level of voluntary cultural activities happening across the Auburn area is a significant asset. Therefore, the local council has worked to ensure that these voluntary activities are accessible to all, and the groups that run such activities engage a large number of people from diverse communities (Auburn City Council, 2009, p.8).

The local council takes into consideration factors such as means of communication, committee groups, networking and the locality of prior to an engagement process. Thus, through such an organized process, the local Council has also contributed notably in information broadcasting. This success has been attained through engaging local leaders at the grassroots levels hence the ease of information reach to a greater number of people (Auburn City Council, 2009, p.8). In addition, the Local Council has ventured into the exploitation of events and other possible avenues of engagement. For example, regular “Festivals and events within the Auburn’s cultural calendars have been used as additional opportunities of engagement with community member” (Auburn City Council, 2009, p.8).

Identified gaps in community service provision

In general, there is economic discrimination and marginalization in Auburn LGA. This is expressed in the form of uneven provision and distribution of community facilities and services by the Auburn Local Government Area (Auburn City Council, 2009, p.7). The most important facilities such as libraries, adequate childcare facilities as well as free and accessible community halls and recreational facilities are either not accessible or equally distributed. In a more specific expression, there is a crucial need for, as pointed out, “meeting rooms, multipurpose halls, cultural facilities and office space which are available, accessible and affordable” (Auburn City Council, 2009, p.7).

The Auburn City Council cultural Plan recognizes that “access to facilities that provide opportunities for lifelong learning and creative arts skills development, and appreciation are important in fostering community cohesion and community understanding” (2009, p.7). Despite this and the recent development of the Peacock Gallery and Artists Studio in 2010, the availability of committed and accessible facilities for arts and cultural programs, and educational activities are limited in number throughout the Auburn Local Government Area. Most the existing venues in Auburn are designed to serve multiple functions and hence sharing of venues by a wide variety of users is a common practice. However, most of the few available facilities are inadequately resourced. They are mainly characterized by limited amenities such as little or no kitchen facilities or public toilets.

Conclusion

Auburn LGA is an area that is experiencing a high population growth rate in Australia. The area is characterized by cultural and linguistic diversity because most people living there are of different origins from various parts of the world. This diversity is expected further in the future due the current immigration patterns.

The Auburn youths are not properly educated and a large number of them are jobless. However, the residents have benefited from the community services that are offered to them by various groups, most of which are run by volunteers. Although much effort has been put in place by the local council, volunteers and the community at large, there still many shortfalls that have accompanied the provision of some services. These shortfall need to be addressed in order to meet the future demands of the increasing population in the Auburn LGA.

References

Auburn City Council (2010). Population forecast. Web.

Auburn City Council (2010) Historical migration flows, Auburn City, 2001 to 2006. Web.

Auburn City Council, (2009).About the Auburn Local Government Area (LGA). Web.

Auburn City Council, (2009).Community Engagement Strategy, Web.

Australian Bureau of Statistics, (1993) Census of Population and Housing: Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA), Australia – Data only, 1991. Web.

Australian Bureau of Statistics, (2010). Web.

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