Filipinos are the NT's number one migrant community. Here's why so many call the territory home

Australia Broadcast Center

2 days ago

On a Sunday evening in May, laughter can be heard from a group of Filipino locals embracing the Top End dry season at their local park.
There's fried chicken, ukoy (Filipino deep-fried fritters) and plenty of sweet treats.
"Every weekend there's an event," says Maria Lourdes Delin, who moved to Darwin from the Philippines in 2010.
Here in the Northern Territory, Filipinos are the number one migrant community according to Australian Bureau of Statistics country of birth data.
In every other Australian jurisdiction, that spot is held by English, Indian, Chinese or New Zealander migrants.
So why do so many Filipinos choose to call the territory home?
Gerald Danao, who grew up in the northern Philippines's Ilocos region, moved to Darwin in 2022 in one of the first cohorts of international students to migrate after COVID.
The 41-year-old entomologist was looking for a place to complete his master's degree, when a friend convinced him of Darwin.
"[They] knew that I wanted to grow old in a very relaxed life, a laid-back community, and be in a more tropical place," Mr Danao says.
Beyond advancing his career, Mr Danao's move to Australia was also about finding acceptance as a gay man.
He said being gay could be a "taboo" among many Filipino families.
"I knew my family could be one of [those who disapprove] and it's going to be shocking," Mr Danao said.
"When I arrived here I had the courage to actually be myself."
Now on a graduate visa with a permanent job in environmental management, Mr Danao and his partner, who's also a skilled Filipino migrant, are committed to making the territory their forever home.
"We need to be loyal now to NT because they are loyal to us, it should be a give and take relationship," he says.
"We've decided to apply [for permanent residency] as soon as possible."
For more than a century, Filipino migrants have come to the territory to fill gaps in local industries.
The first wave began in 1895 when a small group of Filipinos became divers for the territory's now-iconic pearl industry.
Then the White Australia policy's introduction in 1901 put a 70-plus-year limitation on non-European migration.
After the policy's end in the 1970s, there was a second wave of Filipino migration with many school teachers moving to the NT.
Another wave in the 80s coincided with the Family Reunion and Marriage Visa Scheme, which allowed people to bring family members or prospective spouses to Australia.
Filipino Honorary Consul General for the NT, John Rivas says the territory is now seeing a fourth wave of migration with an influx of skilled workers and international students.
"A lot [of the skilled workers] are in the building industry … but lately there has been an increase in the number of Filipinos working in the aged care and childcare industries," he says.
For Nadine Lee, the history of Filipino migration to the NT is a story about her family lineage.
Ms Lee's great grandfather, Antonio Cubillo, was one of the first Filipino pearl divers to come to Darwin in 1895.
But it's Mr Cubillo's love story with a local Aboriginal Larrakia woman, Lily McKeddie, and the 10 children they had together that's created a legacy.
"There's lots of Larrakia people with Filipino history and connections, and I think it does surprise people," Ms Cubillo says.
As a fifth-generation descendent of the couple, Ms Lee says the Cubillo family has become one of biggest Larrakia-Filipino families in the NT.
During the 90s Ms Lee's brother Gary wrote a play on the great-grandparents' love story titled 'Keep Him My Heart'.
While the play was only performed six times, a book with the same title has recently been published.
"Now we have a physical documentation on our ancestry. With all the children, it helps us figure out where we are in our family tree," Ms Lee says.
President of the local NT Filipino Association, Emcille Wills, says Filipinos have lots to love about life in the Top End.
"First of all geographically … the Philippines is so close to Darwin, the second is the climate and the third one I think is the camaraderie [of the local Filipino community]," she says.
"Because Darwin is smaller compared to other states, there's only one organisation and we know most of the Filipinos, so we're quite connected."
Mr Danao says the tight-knit nature of the local Filipino community has been a huge blessing.
"I felt really relieved. I got a job in my first week, because of my Facebook post on the Filipino community [page]," Mr Danao says.
"I owe them actually, I might not be here without them."
Ms Wills says the association's goal is not just to connect with other Filipinos, but with the broader community.
That includes having Filipino dances and music brought to a territory stage.
"We managed to actually perform in the Darwin Festival, the Territory Day and it's never happened before. And it's not just the Filipino community, it's other cultures as well," she says.