177 Nations of Tasmania Podcast Highlights : Stories from Belarus and Faroe Islands, plus book update

It's been pretty quiet in terms of the podcast in recent months, as it is getting harder to find the remaining nationalities. If you think you may be able to help with finding a few of the remaining 40 or so, I have included a list at the bottom of this post with my email contact.

The most recent podcasts were both from Europe, but places with very different environments and cultures. I must also say that I had never imagined that I would find someone from the Faroe Islands living in Tasmania ! With a population of around 56,000 inhabitants, it just pips Greenland as the least populated country covered so far, and also one of the smallest. It just goes to show that despite being a small place, you can find people from everywhere here in Tasmania.

TANIA (BELARUS)

Belarus is a country that often gets overlooked, being wedged as it is, between a group of larger and better known nations including Russia, Ukraine and Poland. It is, however, a country of much natural beauty including some of Europe's largest woodlands. There's also an interesting history with Tasmania that I discovered. In 1823, a Russian vessel docked in Hobart and stayed for some months, officers wrote in their diaries of meeting an old gentleman living in Hobart who called speak Russian, who was described as a "White Russian" ( literal translation of Belarussian). I found Tania's story particularly interesting in that she had wanted to move to Tasmania from a young age because of her sister, who had moved her around 20 years ago. This influenced her choice of study ( accounting), that she would give her a better chance of migration success.

LENA ( FAROE ISLANDS)

Island communities are fascinating to me, particularly one that is so remote and lying in such a seemingly inhospitable region as the Faroe Islands. So I was really interesting to her about Lena's early life growing up there, where TV didn't arrived until 1980 and even then it was just one channel. But as with other island communities I've learnt about, family and community closeness seemed to be important elements of life in the Faroes. I was also surprised that Lena mentioned food as one of the things she mentioned in relation to Faroese traditions she missed and still maintained to some extent - mainly because I didn't know anything about it of course. But that's one of the things I enjoy about these interviews - there's always something new and surprising that I learn !

BOOK NEWS

In other news, the book has finally gone to print, after a bit of a glitch with the initial printer. It was originally to be printed in China, but unfortunately due to certain restrictive laws there, they wanted us to remove certain sections about Hong Kong and Macau, which both and Andrew thought would have seriously undermined the project. It's delayed the print somewhat, but now things are back on track and we hope to have a time when to expect to printed books here in Tassie very soon.

You can pre-order a copy from www.177nationsoftasmania.com as well if you wish.

STILL LOOKING FOR NATIONALITIES

Contact me on marktmigration@gmail.com if you can help with finding people living in Tasmania from any of these nationalities. In reference to India or England, I'm really looking for someone with a unique or unusual story, whether it's to do with their background or reason for coming to Tasmania.

EUROPE

Albania

Guernsey

Iceland

Kosovo

Moldova

Montenegro

ASIA

Azerbaijan

Brunei

Georgia

Mongolia

Oman

Saudi Arabia

Tajikistan

( Long shot - Turkmenistan?)

AFRICA

Algeria

Botswana

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cameroon

Cote D'Ivoire

Gambia

Guinea

Liberia

Namibia

Somalia

( There are a few not listed, but if anyone knows of anyone from Angola, Mozambique, Lesotho, eSwatini, Cabo Verde, Mali, Chad, Djibouti, Sao Tome , Togo or Senegal, I'm still very interested)

AMERICAS

Bermuda

Bahamas

Dominican Republic

Haiti

Jamaica

Nicaragua

Puerto Rico

Uruguay

 ( Long shots - Suriname ? Guyana ? Grenada ? Antigua and Barbuda? )

OCEANIA

Cook Islands

Kiribati

Tahiti

Tuvalu

Vanuatu

Long shots - Micronesia ? Marshall Islands ? Palau ?

Get in touch at marktmigration@gmail.com

Preferably looking for people who lived in their country of birth till adulthood ( or at least teens), and are living in Tasmania as residents rather than as students, tourists or working holidaymakers.