BACK ROADS returns to Monday’s as HEATHER EWART visits Leeton in NSW

Back Roads kicks off its Winter series in the vibrant multicultural town of Leeton, in NSW’s Riverina region.

This week, Heather Ewart travels to the New South Wales Riverina town of Leeton. People from 30 different nationalities have been welcomed in recent years with open arms, changing the fabric of Leeton altogether.

Leeton is the food bowl of NSW, its irrigated land produces rice, meat, cotton, citrus and grapes in enormous volumes. As a result, it’s always needed a workforce, with the first migrants arriving from post-World War Two Italy in the 1950’s.

The town’s multicultural officer Ken Dachi welcomes presenter Heather Ewart to town. He and his wife Sekai experienced the warm Leeton welcome themselves, when they first arrived three years ago from London.

Sekai found work as a nurse in Leeton, but Ken had no idea how well his work skills, as an international aid relief worker, would transfer. Before long the local council had the perfect job for him, welcoming new migrants and refugees.

Refugees from Afghanistan are the newest arrivals in town, often having risked everything to find a new life for their families in Australia.

Heather also meets Roshan Yosufi who arrived in this country as a refugee in 2013 and is now a citizen. He has waited nine years for his wife and three children to be allowed to join him in their new home in Leeton.

Production credit:   Executive Producer, Brigid Donovan.

Back Roads – Series 8, Episode 9 – Monday 11 July at 8.00pm on ABC and iview