About us

Since Karen people first settled in Australia, we have understood how important it is for our community to be organised. While we were still small, we began organising ourselves as a group, and as we grew, we formed a committee in 1996. Our committee's purpose was to work for Karen people who had resettled in Australia, particularly on social and political matters. So that we could be formally recognised, we began writing our first constitution on 17 February 1997. In the same year, Karen communities in different states began forming their own committees, meeting by teleconference. On 14 February 1998, our constitution was recognised by the Australian Government. In April 1998, our committees from across Australia held their first national conference in Sydney, and on 16 July 1998 the Australian Karen Organisation was recognised by the Australian Government.