Though it takes about an hour to get from Central to Cabramatta via train, the trip is well worth it. Sue and I headed out today for the annual Moon Festival, which I understand is traditionally in Vietnam, a “mid-autumn celebration”.
Both physically and metaphorically, Cabramatta is “home” to many Australians with Vietnamese heritage, because it’s an area where many people settled, soon after they arrived here in the wake of the Vietnam war.
The festival attracts a huge crowd, and in the midst of the more traditional Vietnamese stalls, there’s a fun fair, there were Japanese food demonstrations, and members of the highly entertaining (and very cute), Jerusalem street food bakery, Knafeh.
We had an awesome afternoon
It is a great headline photo. Indo Chinese immigration happened a bit differently here. They gravitated to the inner eastern suburb of Richmond, where there are housing commission tower blocks, and some have never left. The next generation and the younger immigrants moved much further out to what was, but longer, a cheap outer suburb. At a guess Springvale, the outer area to which they moved, would be over half an hour by train. I had no idea Cabramatta was so far from the city.