A shared Ramadan meal in Canberra shows how everyday encounters and neighbourly goodwill quietly build social cohesion in multicultural Australia.

As the sun set over North Canberra last weekend, more than 500 people gathered on the carpeted floor of Gungahlin Mosque to break the Ramadan fast together.

Dates were passed from hand to hand. Water glasses were lifted. The quiet murmur of conversation filled the room.

When the fast was broken, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists sat shoulder to shoulder and ate together.

For me, that moment was not just another community iftar. It was deeply personal.

Twenty five years ago, when Muslim families first began settling in Gungahlin, there was no mosque in North Canberra. During Ramadan we drove across the lake to Canberra Mosque in Yarralumla for the nightly prayers that often finished close to midnight. I still remember parents carrying sleeping children back to cars in the cold. Elderly uncles leaned on walking sticks after long evenings of worship.

In 2001, a small group of us gathered in a living room and formed what became the Canberra Muslim Community. We were public servants, teachers, IT professionals, doctors, engineers and small business owners. We were not developers........

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