In the final episode of this season, Adam talks with Liliana Maria, the daughter of Marcela Cornejo from episode 5. Liliana first arrived in Australia with her family in 1988 on a Humanitarian Visa, after escaping Chile’s Pinochet dictatorship.
Liliana reflects on the journey of a refugee from the perspective of a child. She talks about being caught between countries and identities, about the journey towards finding meaning, and about the power of story.
Liliana grew up hearing the accounts of her parents and of other Chileanos who suffered under the Pinochet regime. For Marcela, these memories still carry a lot of pain. For Liliana, they’ve grounded her in her purpose and she now shares her family’s experience as a tool for change.
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Our Panel at the REIMAGINE virtual festival – In My Country
From the episode:
Liliana is an experienced story-teller and community educator and runs her own consultancy serivce, Moving Cultures, Moving Stories. She has also shared memories from her childhood with SBS Voices and as a part of ‘The Village’ theatre project. You can find more information about ‘The Village’ on La Boite Theatre Company’s website.
Liliana also participated in ‘The Welcome’, La Boite’s follow up project to ‘The Village’. The Welcome is shares short films of power storytellers from across Queensland that will “transport you across countries, borders and oceans.” You can find the films at ‘The Welcome’s official website.
Multicultural Australia is one of Australia’s many settlement services supporting new arrivals to Australia. They are one of Queensland’s most respected multicultural agencies that has been shaping a better future for all Queenslanders for over 20 years.
Marcela, Liliana’s mother, was the focus of the previous episode. Learn more about Marcela here.
You’ll find images from Liliana and her family’s story in the gallery below.
Top row. Left is a photo of Liliana and her brother from kindergarten that was taken for her father while he was in prison. Right is Liliana celebrating her close up on the promotional posters for The Village.
Second row, left, is a telegram the family received informing them they were going to Australia. The telegram is addressed to Gonzalo and reads. “Your Australia trip is confirmed for Sunday the 15th of May. Please present yourself with your partner and signed documents on Saturday the 14th of May at 9.00am for instructions.”
The other photos on the second and third rows are of Marcela, Gonzalo & Liliana from the family’s application for protection to the Australia Government. The photo on the fourth row right shows three generations of the family, Liliana, her mother Marcela and her son Omari.
The fifth row and six row left, are photos from performances of The Village.
Sixth row right and the Seventh row are photos of Liliana working as a community educator.
Episode Credits
Sound is mixed by David Gaylard.
This episode is sponsored by Multicultural Australia, a charity welcoming refugees, people seeking asylum, international students and other new arrivals to Queensland with the goal of creating a fairer, more prosperous society for all Queenslanders. Learn more by joining the Multicultural Australia community at www.multiculturalaustralia.org.au
All music is from Free Music Archive. We have cut and/or looped sections from the following tracks in this episode:
- Aint No Thing, by BOPD
- Released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
- Transitioning, by Lee Rosevere
- Released under a Creative Commons License
- A Perceptible Shift, by Andy G. Cohen
- Released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
- Waterbeat, by DJ Lengua
- Released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
- Four Years, by Monplaisir
- Released under a CCO 1.0 Universal license
- Be Nice, by Jahzzar
- Released under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.
Our logo and graphic design is by Mo Zaidan.
We have also been helped and supported by a generous and talented community of people. For a full list of credits visit www.inmycountrypodcast.com/credits
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