This article describes a study that addresses the cultural, historical and political contexts of immigrant bilingual education in Australia and particularly, Victoria. Data was collected through participant observation, audiotaped interviews, and library research to build ethnographic portraits of three schools containing four bilingual programs, with target languages of Chinese, Greek, Macedonian and Indonesian. Through a process of interpretive interactionism (Denzin, 1994), these portraits are examined, and include comparisons and contrasts to bilingual education programs in the United States. Finally, implications for educators, policymakers and others are suggested, including ways that supporters of bilingual education in other nations can learn from these portraits of three school programs.