Do you know what a chameleon [pronounced ka-me-lee-on] is? A chameleon is a type of lizard that has an amazing skill: it can change colour! A chameleon can be yellow and red, green, blue and a mixture of them all. The ability to change colour means that a chameleon is always changing with the world around it, always responding to its environment.

Two young Australians, Matthew Albert and Samah Hadid, have chosen to use the chameleon as a metaphor for Australia. Writing in the Melbourne newspaper The Age on March 18, 2009, Albert and Hadid argue that:

Metaphors of the past will not suffice for a changing future. Australia should move away from aiming to be a melting pot or a mosaic. It should be, what we call, a chameleon nation. A chameleon nation adapts to fit in with its context.

Australian identity, it seems, is always in crisis. The stereotype that Albert and Hadid refer to as The Australian B3 (beaches, blondes, barbecues) does not represent the truth of a nation where nearly one quarter the population are born overseas, and whose people speak more than 300 languages. As Albert and Hadid say:

The chameleon nation we envision draws on, and builds all the differences it contains to ensure that Australia is a nation of the world and continues to contain the world within our nation. Our chameleon spirit can be manifested in the way we welcome migrants and refugees, and the way we accept changing demographics.

Both Matthew Albert and Samah Hadid are inspiring examples of people from a chameleon nation. Samah Hadid is a co-founder of the community magazine Reflections. Reflections is run by a group of young Muslim girls who decided to create a magazine aimed towards young people from Muslim and non-Muslim backgrounds. The magazine encourages young people to form bonds and friendships with one another. You can read all of the issues of Reflections online at their website.

Matthew Albert is the founder of the SAIL (Sudanese Australian Integrated Learning) program which gives free English support & community services to the Sudanese refugee community in Melbourne and Sydney. You can find out more about SAIL at its website.

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