The Vietnamese community remains the backbone of Footscray’s reinvention 40 years after its first members arrived in Australia, according to a community leader.
Speaking on the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon – the trigger for resettlement of 55,000 Vietnamese refugees in Australia from 1975 to 1981 – Phong Nguyen said Footscray had been the heart of the community since day one.
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“I think Footscray is very much symbolic of the journey; Footscray or Maribyrnong, you could say, is the birthplace of the Vietnamese community in Australia.”
The Vietnamese Community in Australia president and former Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria chairman said the arrival of Vietnamese refugees marked a watershed in Australia’s multicultural reinvention.
“It was the litmus test for multiculturalism, replacing the White Australia policy,” he said.
“There were a lot of attacks on the community and we had to struggle, but if we had failed the experiment it could have been a very different Australia to what we see today.”
Mr Nguyen was the son of a general in the South Vietnamese army and fled Vietnam with his mother by boat aged 18.
He praised late prime minister Malcolm Fraser for his “courage and leadership” in going against the tide of public opposition to allow Vietnamese refugees to settle in Australia.
Mr Nguyen said the position stood in stark contrast to today’s treatment by both major political parties of refugees and asylum seekers needing help from Australia.
He said the former Midway Migrant Hostel, now the Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre, had turned from a symbol of great hope to one of sadness and shame.
“The Vietnamese arrived at this centre 40 years ago with a positive welcome and acceptance of their plight as refugees,” he said.
“Now it’s turned into a prison-like place. It shows we as a nation have not progressed and have, in fact, regressed … on human rights.”
Mr Nguyen said the Vietnamese community had many quiet achievers who displayed “the Aussie battler spirit”, keeping the heart of Footscray alive as it was being abandoned by traders during the 1990s recession.
A cricket tragic and umpire, Mr Nguyen likens the community to a wicketkeeper quietly going about the job with a minimum of fuss.
“When the wicketkeeper is very good, you don’t notice him there.”
