Khmer Krom Community

Mrs VLAHOS (Taylor) (15:20): I would like to speak today about the recent Khmer, Thai, Lao and Burmese New Year that was celebrated in my electorate. My electorate of Taylor is culturally diverse and I had the pleasure of joining a new temple that I had never visited before recently for the Year of the Horse BE 2558 (AD 2014).

With the Venerable Monks from this Khmer Krom community, I met with Uongvara Thach, President of the National Khmer Krom Community in Australia; Thach Song, Chairman of the Khmer Krom Buddhist Monastery; and Danh Tran Quang, President of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Association of South Australia. It was a very pleasant and enjoyable afternoon that my children and the community had together.

Let me tell you in brief about the Khmer Krom and the history of New Year. The government of Australia was very kind and wise in taking in 400 Khmer Krom refugees from the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. They have settled largely in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. As a result, they have built their associations and Buddhist temples across these areas, especially in South Australia and my electorate.

The Khmer Kampuchea Krom Association was formed in 1991 and the Khmer Krom Buddhist Monastery was established in 2006, and that was the site we visited on Waterloo Corner Road on that day. In fact, there were many Cambodian and Khmer Krom Horticultural Association members participating on that day with about 50 Khmer Krom self-employed growers in the Northern Adelaide district contributing to our horticultural and agricultural produce for the state. Their areas consist of about 300 acres for farming and they truly enjoy the freedoms of our country, our democracy and productive lifestyle that Australia provides them, having fled their area of Vietnam.

The Khmer Krom territory is a Khmer name for the Mekong Delta region whose indigenous people are the Khmer Krom, and currently they are under the control of Vietnam. The Khmer Krom trace their origins back to the first century AD to the founding Funan, a maritime empire that stretched from the Malay Peninsula to the Mekong. In the past, these territories had been part of the Kingdom of Cambodia and are still inhabited by over 12 million Khmer Krom who are still deeply attached to their culture, religion, customs, language, traditions and ancestral lands in Cambodia.

At the beginning of the early 17^th century, colonisation of the area by Vietnamese settlers gradually isolated the Khmer of the Mekong Delta from their brethren in Cambodia and, as a result, they became an ethnic minority. Historically, the identity and name of the Khmer Krom people and their ancestral lands has changed due to the colonising governments they have dealt with. Under the French colonisation, Kampuchea Krom was called Cochinchina. The terms Khmer, Khmer Krom, Vietnamese of Khmer origin, Khmer Nam Bo, and Cambodian are all interchangeable when referring to people of Funan descent.

At the recent New Year's celebration, we had the good fortune to witness a different form of ceremony, still Buddhist but quite different to some of the other temple ceremonies that I have experienced with Buddhist New Year, particularly in the Cambodian and Khmer community. I am sincerely thankful for this community for opening their temple to my children and me, for welcoming us with open arms and for teaching my children the importance of their practice to them, their ancestors, their elderly and their junior people who they are trying to gift their culture to for a future generation. I am glad I have them in my electorate, I welcome them and I know that many people in Australia welcome their presence in our nation.