Aural mementoes: memories of Sri Lankan migrants in Melbourne

Place is a process, and it is human experience and struggle that give meaning to place. (Harner 2001, p. 660) Memory is an integral part of our character and individuality wherever we live. Sound memories provide a diverse path through which migrants can preserve cognition and reconstruct past practices, usually for present purposes. Our communal roots build the social identity, with both geographical and psychological memory offering insights into the very core of our identity. This research focuses on the sound and music memories that Sri Lankan emigrants carry from their mother country and how they are integrated into the Australian sound environment. Ten members of five Sri Lankan families were engaged in recorded conversations regarding their memories of environmental sounds, music, and language, both form their motherland and from contemporary Melbourne. These memories of Sri Lankan emigrants in contemporary Melbourne help to explore the connection between a person’s past sound and music memories and their experiences of sound and music in their displaced location. This paper delineates the connection of place with memories and how these effects upon their lives, irrespective of where they live.