Our Children’s Festival is a joyful day for children, their families and their groups

The Children’s Festival is a festival of nations dedicated to the youth in our community.  It is a family fun day, particularly for children, with onstage performances and activities such as a children’s parade, lantern parade, outdoor games, competitions (poster /writing /lantern /costume and table tennis…), display and food stalls. Children from all cultures meet new friends, showcase their talents and learn from each other in the spirit of playing together, growing together and living in harmony. It is a day of celebration of our diverse community, of pageantry and culture - a day of laughter and smiles. A joyful day at our Children’s Festival gives children a feeling of happiness, makes them love where they are, what they are doing, and who they are playing with. Not only children feel joyful, but their families and their groups are also happy because children normally attend the festival either with their families or their groups, particularly the young children who can’t really come by themselves.

Help to build a tolerant and harmony society

A joyful day at our Children’s Festival goes further than “Just for fun”. In a multicultural country like Australia, where people have come from all over the world, it is important to maintain social stability and harmony in the community. One of the best ways to do this is to hold a festival and bring children and families from all backgrounds together so that they can play, learn and appreciate the differences of the many cultures flourishing in our community. Our Children’s Festival promotes tolerance and harmony and helps build social cohesion in the community. That’s why our motto is “Playing together and living in harmony”. With adults and children coming together at the Children’s Festival, participating in activities and sharing the fun, we believe that we will be able to break down social barriers between cultures and generations. Adults may have deeply rooted behaviours and beliefs that are difficult to alter. However, children, who are the adults of tomorrow, are more accepting of changes and new experiences. There is no doubt that the Children's Festival can influence views and behaviour of young people in the community and help guide them towards a more tolerant and harmonious society.

A contribution to the culture of the Australian society

Australia is a culturally diverse society. The Children’s Festival is a place where multicultural communities come together. There are many cultural groups participating in the Children’s Festival, and in particular, in the on-stage entertainment program, cultural display stalls and the children’s parade. Their singing, dancing and other artistic performances, both traditional and modern, reflect the cultures of people around the world. Without a doubt, the contributions of cultural groups through their performances at the Children’s Festival and other festivals and cultural gatherings will ultimately enrich the culture of Australian society. 

On the other hand, the Children’s Festival is also a good opportunity for immigrant communities to absorb Australian values - some of which may be quite new to them. The Children’s Festival is working with other cultural groups to advance unity and harmony in the community, starting with young people.

Help to build the tradition of “Doing good things for younger generations”

It is through the Children’s Festival that the volunteers, particularly young volunteers, are doing such good things for children. Children enjoy the activities being created for them in a loving and caring environment that makes them realise the privileges of living in the young, big and culturally prosperous country of Australia.

We hope that the children of today will try to do the same things for younger generations when they become adults. Over the past twenty years, we in the Children’s Festival Organisation have seen children from earlier events come back later as young adults or parents. Some come to play an active role in running the event whilst others want to introduce their children to an experience they enjoyed themselves in earlier years.

After attending our Children’s Festival on 12.9.2015, His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Ret’d), Governor of New South Wales wrote a message of support in 2016 as follows: “… Linda and I were delighted to attend the Festival last year at Bankstown, one of our nation's largest and most joyous multicultural festivals. We were particularly impressed with the festival's spirit of harmony and unity as people came together to celebrate the richness of their cultural ancestry while also sharing our Australian culture and spirit of community…”

 Also, the Hon. David Coleman MP, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs, Member for Banks, who had attended the Children’s Festivals in Bankstown and Sydney many times since 2014 wrote as follows in his 2019 message: “The festival brings together children and families from Australia's many different religious and cultural backgrounds, while promoting understanding and social cohesion amongst our youngest Australians…

… Events like the Children's Festival serve as a reminder of the truly vital role that families play in supporting our young people and shaping the next generation of Australians….”