MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

The Falkland Islands have become surprisingly diverse, reports The Spectator

Go to one of Stanley’s shops, offices, restaurants, or the sheep farms in the more remote areas, and you’ll meet people hailing from far-flung corners of the world.

By Robert Taylor - What springs to mind when you think of the Falklands? You might imagine the wild, windswept landscape, sparsely populated by the sheep-farming communities that have made the Islands their home for nearly 200 years.

Those of my vintage will recall grainy television images of the war in 1982, Margaret Thatcher’s subsequent visit, and grateful Islanders speaking to her in accents that sounded like a mixture of West Country and Kiwi. And those fortunate enough to have visited (I’ve had that privilege several times) will recall the sheer Britishness of the place, with a Victorian cathedral that wouldn’t be out of place in rural Somerset, pubs to help weary travelers just off the plane from Brize Norton feel at home, and a supermarket by the harbor selling items that Sainsbury’s might stock.

But visitors will also be struck by something more surprising: the Falkland Islands have become one of the world’s most multicultural communities. Go to one of Stanley’s shops, offices, restaurants or hotels, or the sheep farms in the more remote areas, and you’ll meet people hailing from far-flung corners of the world. Visit one of Stanley’s pubs, and you might find yourself standing next to a local for whom English is a second or third language. Observe the children walking home from school, and you’ll see just how international the Islands now are.

The figures speak for themselves. The tiny population of 3,700 people comprises no fewer than 68 different nationalities. While many Islanders record their nationality as Falkland Islander or British, there are big contingents from the Philippines, Zimbabwe, Chile and St Helena, and smaller numbers from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA. There are even a few from Argentina. It’s a rainbow nation tucked away in the South Atlantic.

Yet, remarkably, everyone gets along pretty well and feels part of one community. Of course, newcomers are proud of their own nationality, and not everyone takes to living in such a remote place, hundreds of miles from mainland South America. But they pull in the same direction, helped by the Falklands being a young country. As one of the Islands’ Legislative Assembly members, Leona Roberts, puts it: ‘We haven’t got a millennium of history to draw from. We’re still evolving and, perhaps, that makes it easier for us to incorporate new flavors, literally and metaphorically.’

That’s undeniably true, but the Falklands have also worked hard to make it all happen. And other countries might do well to ask just what’s been done.

For a start, the steady growth in population, particularly since 2010, has been organic and driven purely by employment in areas ranging from medicine, education and policing to public administration, tourism and catering. There’s no question of local people losing out, because vacancies have to be advertised first to the Islanders and only then, assuming no takers, elsewhere. So, everyone understands that new arrivals are essential for development and growth, for sovereignty and self-sufficiency. Significantly, there is no sickness-benefit epidemic of the sort we have in Britain, and zero unemployment.

Secondly, the Islanders have made a big effort to embrace multiculturalism, with cultural, culinary and other events organized by a local charity, Multicultural Falklands, to which the whole community is invited. In recent years, events have included a Multicultural Day featuring a carnival, music and dance performances, a Multicultural Food Festival held at Goose Green, with Princess Anne as guest of honor, and a Festival of Lights. None of this undermines the Islands’ British heritage. But it adds color and flavor.

Significantly, there is no sickness-benefit epidemic of the sort we have in Britain, and zero unemployment

But, most importantly, newcomers recognize the importance of integration. I spoke to James, a food marketeer, who came to the Falklands to work as a chef a decade ago from the Philippines and is now so settled in Stanley that he has no plans to go back. He told me how seriously he researched the Islands’ geography, culture and history before he arrived, so he knew what to expect, right down to details like the surprisingly long bus journey from the main airport to Stanley, across barren, treeless terrain. That can be a shock to someone used to the bustle of big-city life.

Once settled in Stanley, James made a huge effort to involve himself and branch out from his initial habit of mixing mainly with fellow Filipinos. Newcomers who fail to integrate, he explained, might simply not last the distance. The Falklands by no means work for everyone.

The Islanders wouldn’t dream of boasting or lecturing about how to make multiculturalism work. They are far too busy building their own future. And it’s undoubtedly true that integrating newcomers into a community with just one person per square mile is more straightforward than integrating them in the UK. If hell is other people, then the Falkland Islands are more like heaven.

But lessons are there for anyone who wants to listen, and the results only too apparent. Despite the population doubling in 40 years, with so many arrivals from around the world, the Falklands remain a haven of tranquility. There are ridiculously low levels of crime, and it’s not just a myth that locals don’t bother locking their cars or houses. They simply don’t need to. It’s all part of the impressive community bond, with a shared pride and a belief in what Stacy Bragger, trustee of Multicultural Falklands, described to me as ‘humbleness, self-reliance, resilience and working together to overcome challenges.’

Yes, the culture has changed over the years, even since I first visited in 2013. But change has been steady, understood and managed. Those born and bred on the Islands appreciate the need for immigration. And immigrants appreciate the need for integration. That, in a nutshell, is how the Falklands have made it work.