Just a brief story of my journey to Australia and my experience as a refugee.
I arrived in Australia in November 1976 when I was only 6. My family lived in Vung Tau which was known as the fishermen island. The night we escaped Vietnam we had to leave at midnight and used a small boat to get to a larger fisherman boat. During the transit between the small boat to the bigger boat some people were left behind as the police held them captive when they realized they were trying to escape Vietnam. A very sad situation but my family was fortunate as we all got to the big boat safely. There were 52 people on the larger boat that started sailing offshore. It took us 52 days in the sea before we reached Darwin.
My family was able to escape by sea because my brother was the engineer of the boat. The captain allowed my family to travel for free whereas everyone else had to paid him with gold. Our first stop over was Malaysia. They gave us fuel and sent us on our way to the next destination which was Singapore. At that time there was no detention centre in Malaysia therefore they did not hold us captive. During that period, boat people were very new to other countries. On our journey to Singapore people on the boat were catching diseases. If there were any deaths, the body would just be thrown into the ocean. My sister fell very ill, and they thought she was going to die. It was hard as there were no medications on the boat and people were getting sick due to a lack of hygiene. When we reached Singapore, we were put in jail for 3 days and people were getting medical treatments whilst in Singapore. Luckily, the Singapore government held us captive so they could give us medical treatment. After everyone was medically checked, we were sent off again. The Singaporean government gave us fuel and food and showed us how to get to Australia.
Before we reached Australia we stopped in Bali. The Balinese were very good to us. They treated us with food, a bit of entertainment like swimming in the lake, and we stayed at some camp sites for a few days. The Bali government gave us food and fuel and showed us how to get to Darwin. We then sailed off and landed in Darwin where we stayed at an Army Barrack Centre. The people were so good to us all. We were medically treated and we had a choice of the state we wanted to go in Australia or we could go to America. My family chose to go to Queensland, and we stayed at the Wacol Migrant Hostel which was an Army Barrack Centre.
When we stayed in Wacol, we were all sent off to school to learn English. We encountered some difficulties when we came to Australia. However, we were very fortunate as people who were boat people a few years later faced a lot of heartbreaking stories. During the period of 1978 onwards, a lot of boat people were killed by pirates and held at refugee centers for years before they got freedom. I am very fortunate that my family safely arrived in Australia even though in the early stages of our lives we encountered racism. After two years of living in Wacol, we were given public housing. My family was given a housing commission house in Acacia Ridge. During that period Brisbane wasn’t multi-cultural like now. My family experienced an arson attack, and my family home was destroyed. Even though we faced some difficulties, we are still so very fortunate to be living in a country that looks after their citizens.
I hope this brief story has given you some indications of my life experience as a refugee.