Multicultural Western Australia continued

While there have always been many different races living in Western Australia it was not until the last thirty years of the twentieth century that the State became truly multi-racial or multi-cultural. The increase in long-term visitors from Asia over the last ten years has contributed to the diversity and vitality of Australian culture.  Almost 60,000 long-term visitors arrived in Australia from Asia in 1997-98. This represented nearly 60% of all long-term visitors, a twelve-fold increase over 20 years.

This growth in the number of students travelling to Australia from Asia for educational purposes has combined with the overall growth in migration from South-East Asia.  With this increase the racial and ethnic makeup of Western Australian society has changed considerably.