AustLit

'A distinguishing aspect of David McMahon's novel Vegemite Vindialoo is that the narrative is all about immigration of the Anglo-Indian characters to Australia. Although their exodus to the white nations of Europe and America had started soon after Indian Independence in 1947, their immigration to Australia in large numbers started from the 1960s. The primary reason for their craze to settle clown in Australia was that the rigidities of the "White Australia Policy"- had started to wane since the late sixties and were officially replaced by the principles of multi-culturalism in 1973. By looking into the multicultural space of Australia through the experiences of Anglo-Indian immigrants, this paper seeks to examine the differences that lie between the theoretical delineations and the practical implications of multiculturalism in the diasporic space of an ethnic community Anglo-Indian immigrants' racial-cultural hybridity and small population (in comparison to the other groups) are the two important factors that are key contexts for studying their representation in the multicultural society inhabited by settlers not only from the white nations of Europe but also from several Asian countries. ‘ (Introduction)