Greater Shepparton is one of the most diverse multicultural communities in Australia and last night held the Converge on the Goulburn festival to celebrate the diversity of cultures in Shepparton. I went along to check it out.Parking the car in Welsford St on a hot, early Autumn night, the sound of music and singing reverberated across this part of the city, begging me to join the celebration. The greater Shepparton area is home to over 60,000 residents with many residents coming from a country where English is not the main language.

Gathering the picnic blanket we headed south towards the lake precinct where hundreds of other people were gathered. As we got closer the smells arising from the many food stalls made me realise how hungry I was. It has been this way for millennia -communities gathering together over food and music to talk, laugh and celebrate, and tonight was no different.

Having checked out the many food stalls, including Greek, Thai, Indigenous, Filipino, Turkish and Afghan, we settled on a Chicken Tikka from a local Indian food stall, and sat back on the picnic blanket to enjoy the evening of traditional and contemporary music and performance. The evening was full of colour and plenty of energy, a perfect celebration of all the wonderful, positive aspects of a multicultural society.

This event is part of the Shepparton festival, which runs every March in the Shepparton area. For more information logon to www.sheppartonfestival.org.au