Journey only half the story

The stories from Australia’s multicultural communities will be told for a third season on Where Are You Really From? Host Michael Hing tells Danielle McGrane about the unusual stories he’s uncovered and how making this show has shaped him. C omedian Michael Hing is now on to his third season of hosting Where Are You Really From?

It’s his chance to bring stories of multicultural Australia to the masses, and he relishes his chance to flip the switch on a tired question.

“This is a show I really wanted to make because of my personal experiences of casual racism in Australia, which is often unintended but is still there,” he said.

In each season, Hing meets people with incredible stories that take him all over the country.

This time, he meets with a Vietnamese community in Brisbane, discovers Darwin’s Greek history, meets Serbian migrants in Wollongong and ends up in Shepparton, where there are 40 mosques and a rich Islamic history.

“I think a lot of people around Australia don’t know a lot about Shepparton, but when you go there it’s one of the most culturally diverse and interesting places in the country,” Hing said.

Shepparton’s Islamic history goes back more than 100 years, which Hing discovers is linked to the fruit-picking industry.

“We think of our cities in Australia as being diverse, people don’t necessarily think of regional towns as being this diverse but there are these huge success stories all throughout Australia,” Hing said.

He remembers stories from each season of the show and he’s approached this series a little differently.

“From the first time we started interviews, four years ago, I think we very quickly realised that the subject matter is so personal that you couldn’t do a silly irreverent show about this. It’s a show about people’s lives,” he said.

It’s a show that Hing concedes is not about him or his experiences.

“One of the couples we met just invited us as a crew to their wedding to come back, a Serbian couple in Wollongong who we met and hung out with who were really lovely to us,” Hing said.

“The big thing for me was hearing these stories. I just want people to hear these stories,. They’re so interesting and inspiring and heartbreaking.”

Where Are You Really From, Tuesday, 9.30pm on

SBS and SBS On Demand