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The Bangla-Speaking Community in Australia Bangla is a rich language. Scholars believe the language evolved from Pali, although it contains many Sanskrit words. It's spoken by about 200 million people in the Indian sub-continent, including Bangladesh. It is said to be the sixth most commonly used language in the world. The community is made up of relatively new migrants to Australia. The first arrivals, who came in the 1960s, were mostly Bangla-speakers from India but the mix has changed with Bangladeshis now the biggest group. According to the 1996 Census there are about 6,500 Bangla-speakers in Australia with most coming from Bangladesh. The SBS Bangla Program has a focus on providing practical settlement information to the small community. Often interviews are conducted in English, as well as Bangla, because of the bi-lingual nature of the population. There is also an emphasis on the arts, particularly music and poetry. Music has always been an integral part of life in Bangladesh while its literature is dominated by writers such as Rabindranath Tagore, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 and is still a highly revered figure among all who speak Bangla. Community Contacts Here is a list of some of the organisations serving Australia's Bangla community. National Bangladesh Association of Australia PO Box 412 Kensington NSW 2033 Victoria Bangladesh Samiti of Victoria PO Box 436 Doveton 3177 Bengali Association of Victoria PO Box 1332 Glen Waverley 3150 New South Wales Bangladesh Association of New South Wales PO Box 3951 Parramatta 2150 Bengali Association of New South Wales GPO Box 4928 Sydney 2001 Bangabandhu Parisad Australia PO Box 829 Rosebery 2018 Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia PO Box 344 Curtin, ACT 2605 Phone:02 6282 5755 Fax: 02 6282 5734 Special Events Calendar SBS Radio's Bangla Language Program produces features, news stories and documentaries on these events of special community interest: Saraswati Puja/Durga Puja (dates vary each year) Eid- ul-Fitr, Eidul-Adha (dates vary each year) February 21 Bhasa Andolan Day (1952 student protest in East Pakistan against imposition of Urdu as the national Language) March 26 Bangladesh Independence Day May 7 Birthday of Rabindranath Tagore May 24 Birthday of poet Kazi Nazrul Islam August 15 Indian Independence Mourning Day for Bangladesh, marking the assassination of Mujibar Rahman in 1975 |
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