Sustaining Settlement in Murray Bridge South Australia is a report of the project carried out by New Settler Services, Lutheran Community Care, funded by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.

Murray Bridge has a proud history of welcoming refugees: Vietnamese in the 1970s, Afghans in the early 2000s, and now Sudanese are our newest neighbours.

All of these people chose to settle in Murray Bridge because of the great opportunities that the Murraylands offers in terms of employment opportunities, plentiful and affordable housing, a rural environment, and, above all, because of the spirit of welcome that our community is known for.

This research project was undertaken to:

• better understand the reasons why refugees and other humanitarian entrants were moving to Murray Bridge
• investigate why some have left after a comparatively short time
• understand both the advantages and disadvantages of life in Murray Bridge for humanitarian settlers
• ascertain the experience of service providers and local businesses with humanitarian
• develop a plan to better retain humanitarian entrants who have already moved to Murray Bridge and those who come after them.