06 July 2022, CANBERRA – Philippine Ambassador Ma. Hellen B. De La Vega was provided a tour of the Paspaley Showroom and Workshop at the Charles Darwin Centre on 28 June 2022. Paspaley is one of the world’s leading producers of cultured pearls. Known for their high quality and luxury pearls, Paspaley employs Filipino workers including pearl graders.

The pearl industry in the Northern Territory played an important role in initiating people-to-people linkages between the Philippines and Australia with the arrival of the first Filipinos in the 1860s as pearl divers. Known as the Manilamen, they made lasting social and economic contributions in Darwin, Broome and Torres Strait where they first settled.--END