Australia - A Land of Opportunity

This week I got the opportunity to spend an evening with a friend of mine. I got to listeni to a story that brought tears to my eyes and pride to my heart at the same time.

About 6 months ago I met an outstanding young man called Will. He's a chiropractor and we got talking over a couple of beers about our histories and common paths and all that sort of thing. At the time Will said that if I ever spent a little time in his home town he would love for me to come and stay with him and come and meet his family as he would love to introduce me to them.

Well this week was that time. I spent time with Will, his girlfriend Vuy, and a couple of his friends, including his father and I got the opportunity to spend time at the family house and have dinner with them. It was fabulous! All sounds pretty normal until now doesn't it? Yet here is where I let you know the thread that brought us together. Will's family are Vietnamese. He was born in the refugee camps in the 1980's and arrived as a baby with his parents in Australia. Back in the 1980's my mother was an Adult Migrant Education Teacher and a key part of the Hobart community, where I grew up, settling refugee families from the boats into life in Hobart. I well remember visiting multiple families who had nothing and my mum would have boot-loads of furniture, toys, and whatever else her friends had been able to lay their hands on to help these people settle in. At the time I remember how proud many of these families were but how grateful they were for the support they received from the local community.


When I first met Will he told me with pride about the sacrifice his parents had made for him and his brother and sister in coming to Australia and what it meant to him. When I listened to his father and mother's story I truly understood why. Will's father, Hiep, was born in Vietnam in the 1940's. As a young man he was required to serve in the South Vietnamese army. When the Americans left in the early 1970's he and many of his army friends were taken prisoner by the North Vietnamese. He was held prisoner for seven and a half years from the age of 22 to the age of 29! All that time, Will's mother waited – they weren't even engaged at the time but she waited for the man she loved. For the first 3 years she was not even sure if he was still alive. She found out when Hiep was able to send one letter, and he sent it to her advising that he was alive and being treated well by the Republic Army. She knew the letter was propaganda, but the fact that he had sent the only one letter he would be able to write told her that he still loved her.

Hiep told me of how he was so hungry some times that they all ate grass, and when they got the really green stuff it was like a luxury, and very sweet. He told me of the time that he was put into solitary confinement in a cage one time for apparently providing rice to a man that he should not have (he didn’t actually do it). He spent from early morning until the next day in a cage so tiny he could not even roll on his side. He was let out once for porridge and then returned to the cage.

Hiep was only released when he was so weak that the army thought he must die, and they would rather have him die away from the camps. But he survived! He was required to report to the police at 8am and 8pm each day to check in and sign his name. On one occasion he was able to convince the authorities on an 8am check-in that he could miss the 8pm check-in which gave him and his 8 month pregnant wife 24 hours to escape.

They left in the early hours of the morning with Hiep at the bottom of a dinghy with holes in it covered in vegetables and his wife sitting up top and two relatives rowing the boat through the estuaries to a waiting fishing boat to help them make their escape. They rowed from 5am to 8pm to get to the meeting point where fisherman had bribed authorities to hide the fishing boat.

For the next 10 days Hiep and his wife along with 82 other people were crammed into a fishing boat as it headed over open seas to Malaysia. The fisherman would take the young girls to the back of the boat to rape them and Hiep had to beg them to leave his 8 month pregnant wife alone. Finally the boat alighted in Malaysia and they stepped shakily onto land. Will was born 1 week later in a refugee camp.

After a process of verifying Hiep's records with Australian and US connections the young family were able to come to Australia where they have lived ever since. Hiep now teaches Maths to young students and his wife works with Will in his chiropractic practice. Will's younger siblings Brett and Amy also have professional careers and are outstanding people.

Hearing this story had me spellbound and listening to the boys talk about how proud they are of their Vietnamese heritage but also how proud they are to be Australian really brought home to me what a great country we live in. It is made up of the diverse cultural history that we have and the struggle that people have endured to get here. I said to Hiep that it amazed me the sacrfice that the first generation to a new country is prepared to make to create a better life for their children. He responded "that is life". Hiep also celebrated his birthday whilst I was there happily welcoming me to be part of the celebration. Happy Birthday Mr Duong!!

So this story is for Hiep and his wonderful family - the love you all share gives me a benchmark to aim for with my own family. It also makes me realise that our country is great because of the wonderful people it is comprised of and the diversity they bring. Everyone has a story and we should not be too quick to judge. It also makes me realise that there are others out there who are a lot less fortunate than ourselves and embracing them into a country makes us better in the long term. Hiep and his wife are remarkable people. Their children, their contribution and their love for Australia makes them equally remarkable.