Brozovic-Basic Homepage

bilingual creativity

an image created by my younger child at 5 years of age; while playing on our home computer

Hello & Welcome to my Homepage!

My name is Katarina Lorenta Brozovic-Basic. I am Australian & Croatian, so my name is written with some accents which this language program does not support. So, to assist you with pronounciation, phonetically, my surname would sound like:

BR-OO-ZO-VITCH-BAAH-SH-ITCH

(the 'oo' being as in 'door'; and the 'baah' as in the 'Baah, baah black sheep' children's rhyme)

I was born and live in Melbourne, Australia.

My father arrived here as a Croatian refugee in 1960 and my mother as a Croatian migrant a few years later.

I grew up in an Australian society coming to terms with the diverse ethnicities of 'new-Australians' where the pressure on migrants was to 'adopt the ways of this country, and forget the ways of the old country' in order to blend in.

Resources made available to ethnic communities were then scarse; and most activites and services within ethnic communities were self-funded.

I learnt to speak Croatian at home and Saturday mornings at Croatian language schools; while English came at Kindergarten, schools and everywhere else around me. My bi-lingualism and the appreciation of knowing two languages was enhanced through living in Zagreb, Croatia for four years in the late 1990's.

Fortunately, as the collective consciousness of 'Australians' has developed over recent decades, so too has our understanding and appreciation of difference. To continue to develop into a truly inclusive and multicultural Australian society, our 'tolerance of difference' needs to firstly develop into a respect and acceptance of those differences - our own, as well as those of others.

Today, I work as a Community Development/Housing Worker, around the needs and issues of older low-income tenants.

In addition to those connected to my work and commitment to equity and social justice, my interests are: raising my children in bilingualism and with an understanding, appreciation and practise of contemporary Croatian and Australian cultures, as well as an awareness of the heritage and traditions of both countries. Likewise an appreciation of the many other cultures and traditions, as practised in Australia and around the world.

Communication and technology have grown from interest to a way of life for me. Access to information via the cyberspace of Internet technology is an extremely empowering tool and I welcome this opportunity to interact with you!

Katarina

HAAG is the statewide organisation of older renters in Victoria

HINKO

HINKO is a Croatian children's character with an interactive site for kids who read Croatian. Great fun!

Croatian Museums on-line

In English, a site with listings and links to Museums/Galleries around Croatia. Take a look!

This Webpage has been created using the my connected community (mc2) Webpage generator.
my connected community (mc2) is funded by the Victorian Government and coordinated by VICNET