Looking at the bigger picture

It is a characteristic of all nine profiled that they see beyond the personal in what they do.

They look to the welfare of others, strangers in a common land. They take pride in what they do, and they take pride in being Australian.

It is the latter that is perhaps most acutely felt by those who have found haven in this country. A chance at creating a new home in a new country is no small thing. As Faris Shohani says, it is "like being born".

In a population of 21 million, Australia has more than 250 ancestries and almost 400 different languages. A fifth of us are born overseas. The nation, then, is a kaleidoscope of origins and histories, but there is a beauty in that diversity. Look at the big picture. It is there shining through: pride and faith in this country.

Today in parks across the country, the national flag will be raised and speeches will be uttered. Barbecues will sizzle with freshly thrown snags. The small ceremonies of a big occasion. Australia Day means as little as that. It means as much as that.

Nadia Mohamed, Somali youth worker

LOOKING back on her young life, Nadia Mohamed sees that she has drawn inspiration from the good times and the bad.

In the 13 years since she arrived in Australia from Somalia, she has felt the lows of discrimination and the highs of new friendship. All of it, she said, fed into her decision to work with young people.

"As a kid I met a couple of great youth workers who listened more than they talked, who gave options but didn’t persuade you to do things in a way that might be right for them," she said. "Obviously all adolescents have issues. Mine weren’t drug or alcohol related, they were more coming to terms with the fact that I live in a different place ... and I struggled with my place in Australian society."

Such struggles are a common theme for many young people from migrant or refugee backgrounds, she said. For them, balancing their cultural difference with their new life in Australia can be a confusing experience and for Ms Mohamed it meant a reassessment of her Muslim faith and her Somalian heritage.

"I had this sense of what has Somalia done for me? Australia has given me an education, I have Medicare ... Somalia has done nothing. But then I realised that people have different cultures and it’s fine. I don’t have to dress like an Arab to be a Muslim."