A Remarkable Milestone

Until 1975 there had been very few Vietnamese people living in South Australia -they were mainly Colombo Plan students. The fall of Saigon created many hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese refugees and during the following decade many of us came to Australia. I was just one of many who embarked on a perilous journey across unknown waters in scarcely sea worthy vessels.

From 1982, family members began to join those who had arrived as refugees. Over the past thirty years more than 150,000 people have settled in Australia from Vietnam. About 11,000 have come to South Australia and today the Vietnamese community is one of the major communities in South Australia.

Migrants are people who are enterprising and who take big risks to create an opportunity for a better life for their families.This is particularly true of the Vietnamese migrants.They left a country that had been home for generations and they left the known for the unknown. I thought we brought with us very little, not much more than our humble personal belongings, but Australia taught me that we brought a great deal.

We brought with us our commitment to family values, our willingness to work long and hard to achieve our goals and a love of life and freedom. We brought a rich and ancient culture with long held traditions. And we have willingly shared our traditions with all Australians.

Like other Aussies we have shown that we are caring and generous. We have shown a willingness to not only support those within our community but also to give a helping hand to other smaller and less well established communities.

Although Australia offered us peace, freedom, security and economic opportunity, life in Australia has not always been easy. When we first started to arrive 30 years ago, Australia was only just beginning to recognise its proximity to Asia and many are still grappling with the concept that Australia may be part of Asia. The changing face of Australia that started with the arrival of Vietnamese refugees is helping with the transition of Australia into Asia. 

Thirty years ago a Vietnamese face in the street would be considered unusual. Trying to find fish sauce in a market was impossible. Thirty years ago Lemon grass was just a useless grass, there was no such thing called Vietnamese rolls or Vietnamese mint and the name coriander would cause a frowning look.

Today it is just part of every day life to hear Vietnamese language in the street, to see Vietnamese people in the parks, at the beach and on the sports fields and to see Vietnamese faces in the newspaper.

Today, it is just an ordinary Australian lifes tyle to have a dinner at a restaurant serving authentic Vietnamese food as part of a night out, cooking meals with vegetables grown by Vietnamese market gardeners or wearing fashion designed clothes made by Vietnamese dress makers.

It is no longer a curiosity having Vietnamese school mates and colleagues or dealing with Vietnamese professionals, businessmen, traders and community leaders. 

Today Australians appreciate that Lemon grass, Vietnamese mint and coriander are some of the important ingredients for contemporary recipes, and hot bread was originated from France but perfected by Vietnamese bakers during the 100 years under French colonisation.

After 30 years of settlement, Vietnamese have been able to participate in all parts of the Australian economy and industry.

The Vietnamese community has done well here, in spite of the traumatic beginnings of our migration. I believe There are two very important reasons why this is so.

One is because of the way we are, the other is because of the way all Australians are.

The Vietnamese community is irreversibly part of Australia. And we are all better off because of it.

We are now able to give a helping hand to others who come to Australia to escape persecution and traumain their homeland sand to build a better life for their families.

As a member of the Vietnamese community, I am proud of the contribution we have made and continue to make to the development and advancement of Australia.

I am also privileged to be involved with the South Australian Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs Commission. One of the main missions of the Commission is to help Australians of all backgrounds to understand the benefits of multiculturalism; and to live and work together in an environment of respect, understanding, justice and equity.

A multicultural society is one where all citizens are respected for who they are no matter where they were born, what language they speak ,what religion they follow or what cultural  traditions they value or practice.

The Commission promotes multiculturalism so that all groups and members of the community can live and work together harmoniously, effectively participate in the life of the community; and maintain and give expression to their distinctive cultural heritages. Multiculturalism results  in cultural, social and economic benefits for us all.

The Commission calls on all Australians to recognise, accept, respect and celebrate our cultural diversity. Multiculturalism embraces the heritage of Indigenous Australians, early European settlement, our Australian-grown customs and those of the diverse range of migrants now coming to this country. Our multicultural society is underpinned by a shared commitment to our democratic society, the rule of law, freedom of speech and religion, English as the national language, and equality.

In our multicultural society all Australians are entitled to equality of treatment and opportunity. In Australia there is no room for discrimination on the grounds of race, culture, religion, language, gender or place of birth.

In 1975 we saw the beginning of the settlement of Vietnamese refugees and over the thirty years since then the face of Australia has changed.

The arrival of the Vietnamese refugees marked a major change not only in our lives but also in the lives of the Australian population generally.

Several years ago Paul Lloyd in The Advertiser in the lead up to Australia Day wrote an article where he listed what he saw as the major events in Australian history. The Vietnam War didn’t get a mention. However, for 1976 he wrote: ‘ First boat people arrive from Vietnam – but it will be generations before it is realised what heroes they were, and how much they contributed to Australianness’.

Perhaps we are now just beginning to see how much the Vietnamese are contributing  to Australianness, and how much we are now no less Australian than the descendents of those who came on the first fleet.

Hieu Van Le

Deputy Chairman of the South Australian Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs Commission.

(At the time this article was written).