Viva Sydney’s Spanish side

The deterioration of the Spanish Quarter isn’t the end for Sydney’s Hispanic Community, as education and Latin America colour a new face of representation.

“The growth of Spanish is undeniable” said Senor Isidoro Castellanos, Director of the new Instituto de Cervantes, in a speech at Sydney University last week.

The Instituto de Cervantes is akin to Alliance Francaise or the British Council and will open this June on City Road, Chippendale. Funded by the Spanish Government, the institute will act as a Spanish cultural center, hosting films, language classes and events with representatives from both Spain and Latin America.

“We hope to be a new forum for representation, not just for Spain, but for all of the Spanish speaking peoples’ said Castellanos, reflecting the increasingly important relationship between Australia and Latin America.

“The important thing with the Institute opening, is that it will give us a new focus and hopefully replace the Spanish Quarter as a representational forum for Spanish in Sydney,” said Dr Kathryn Crameri, Chair of the Department of Spanish and Latin American Studies at Sydney University.

“There’s been a lot more awareness of the role of Latin America in Australia lately, particularly in business like mining, and with the recent free trade agreement with Chile,” said Dr Crameri.

In Chile alone, The Australia Latin America Business Council reveals that trade was worth $856 million in 2007, an increase of 39 per cent from 2006.

With Spain, business is worth $3 billion annually and set to increase with the government’s recently signed contract with Navantia, the Spanish-based war ship manufacters.

While business booms, The Spanish Quarter in Liverpool Street is facing a gradual death as its traditional delis and restaurants begin to close, and the iconic Spanish Club shrinks to less than half its original size.

“I grew up going to those places, so for me it is very hard to see the Quarter shutting down. But now there are so many other Spanish restaurants in the city, and we have Spanish restaurants in other suburbs, so it’s not just confined to Liverpool street, it’s more mainstream now. All suburbs in Sydney change, and will continue to change.’ Says Alex Lopez, Co-Director of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce.

Criticism has been directed to Council for failing to protect the area, but Council claims to support to all businesses in the LGA, and support Hispanic culture in other ways.

“The City supports the Spanish Film Festival through marketing assistance adn the provision of banners, the City’s Living in Harmony Festival, the reactivation of Albion Place as part of the Art and About laneways projects and the upgrade of Kent Street to enhance public domain,” said a Council spokesperson.

Dr Crameri doesn’t think The Spanish Quarter’s demise will affect interest in learning Spanish. “Interest continues to grow, we had four hundred language enrollments in 2008 and five hundred in 2009,” she said.

Lopez reiterates the importance of speaking Spanish in business. “Of Course people in Spain speak English, but culturally it’s very important to speak Spanish when negotiating, because it’s good to know a bit about the culture and it’s a good ice breaker.”