O'Brien Resource Centre

Harmony Day

Harmony Day in Australia has been held on March 21 since 1999, coinciding with the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Harmony Day has grown over time into Harmony Week, 17th - 23rd March, a week celebrating Australia’s cultural diversity.

Living in Hobart and attending Mount Carmel College each day, it is easy to forget just how culturally diverse Australia is. Harmony Week allows us an opportunity to consider the cultural makeup of our Nation and reflect on whether we are truly a culturally inclusive society where everyone is treated with dignity and feels a deep sense of belonging. 

Reading fiction is just one way we may gain insight and understanding into our cultural diversity, so that we are able to develop connections with people who have a different cultural background to our own.  Research by psychologist David Comer Kidd and Emanuele Castano, at the New School for Social Research in New York, has shown that reading literary fiction enhances the ability to detect and understand other people’s emotions, a crucial skill in navigating complex social relationships (Bury, 2013).  An ability to empathise is crucial to the wellbeing of a society and what better way to build empathy than immersing oneself in the lives of another through the reading of fiction.

We will be celebrating Harmony Week here at the O’Brien Resource Centre with students being engaged with stories representative of all cultures that make our country such a richly diverse society.

Ms Melinda Levy - Teacher Librarian

Bury, L. (2019). Reading literary fiction improves empathy, study finds. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/oct/08/literary-fiction-improves-empathy-study [Accessed 13 Mar. 2019].

Image: https://www.harmony.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/HarmonyDay-facebook-infographic1.jpg