Feature on Philippines

The Philippines, like its near neighbour, Indonesia, is young, dynamic and growing fast. Pinoys know how to have fun, unselfconsciously and exuberantly expressing their vitality through their food, music, and visual and performing arts.

This 7100-island archipelago is multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-faith. One hundred million people from 10 different major ethnic groups speak nearly 20 different languages and over 40 per cent are aged 16 years or younger. Metro Manila, the fourth-biggest mega-city in the world, is the size of Australia’s national population alone.

To experience and to know more about Australia’s near north neighbours is to learn more about the West Pacific that connects East Asia to Southeast Asia. To experience and learn more from Pinoys is to learn more about our own place, including Castlemaine, in the 21st century global order.

The 2017 Castlemaine State Festival is going to give us a hearty sample of the richness of Pinoy talent and their ineffable, joyous embrace of life and of community.

Trevor Hogan
Director
Philippines-Australia Studies Centre, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University