mpnews.com.au: The Mornington Peninsula is known all over the country for its diversity of landscapes including some of the best beaches in the world, wild surf coast, rolling fields and unspoilt bushland as well as historic landmarks signifying some of the first British settlement in Terra Australis.
But when it comes to people and culture, less than six per cent of people in the municipality speak a language other than English at home, compared with an average of 24 per cent in metropolitan Melbourne. Less than one per cent of the peninsula’s population is indigenous. The region is one of the whitest, most culturally homogeneous places in Australia.
This is not to say we’re an intolerant bunch. More and more cultural groups are setting up camp on and near the peninsula, one of which is the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association, members of which are known as Ahmadis. I spoke to Imam Syed Wadood Janud at the group’s mosque, which is in the picturesque estate that was once the Leisureland theme park, just off the Western Port Highway near Langwarrin.
“I was in grade four when my parents moved to Australia. We were pioneers of our community in Adelaide,” he said. The global size of the Ahmadiyya movement belies the humble nature of the Langwarrin mosque. “We’re based in more than 200 countries worldwide. We have tens of millions in our movement.” But why move to a remote land with entrenched Judeo-Christian values? “Ahmadiyya communities are actually persecuted in most Muslim countries. In fact, my dad was targeted to be murdered, and it was because of this constant religious persecution that we migrated from Pakistan.”