Passage to Australia

It is decades since they fled their blood-stained homelands, but these refugees' memories remain raw and affecting.

Medical scientist and immunologist Professor Sir Gustav Nossal was 7 when his family left Austria for Australia in 1939. Professor Nossal was knighted in 1977 and made a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1989. His research accomplishments are world renowned.

ONE of the first memories I have in Austria is of Hitler haranguing the crowds in 1938. There was a huge address in the town square. My two brothers and I were there and the crowd was shouting, "Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil!" Our parents had given us a good tip. We were against the Nazi regime so they said: "When they are singing, 'Sieg Heil', you simply sing, 'Heil Sieg'." It was quite a stupid thing, but it was our little protest.

At primary school, the Hitler Youth were praised by our teachers. There were comic strips with heroic acts being done by the Hitler Youth against the Jews. In class we had to wear a swastika lapel pin. It was a source of conflict and anxiety for me. Outside class I hid the pin on the obverse side of my lapel and put it in backwards. Prior to the 1920s both my parents came from wealthy families, but they lost everything and came to Australia without a penny.

Both sets of my grandparents had wonderful properties in the Austrian countryside and I have joyous memories of summers spent there with my brothers and my cousin, playing in the grass and going boating on the lake.

It was very upsetting to leave. During all my growing up I thought of my two existences <0x2014> one before and one after the emigration. It was as though I had two separate lives.


My first impression of Australia was of a noisy wall of silence. I didn't speak a word of English. We were put to school almost immediately and eight-year-old boys were racing around the schoolyard, shouting. I was surrounded by these screaming kids. The only trouble was I couldn't understand a word that they were saying. It was quite disturbing.

It was difficult, but I was determined to overcome it. Within six months, my brothers and I were speaking English to each other, though we always spoke German to our parents.

We settled fairly readily. Most of the welcome was very supportive with the inevitable small but significant component of anti-Semitism and prejudice.

We were completely and utterly displaced, but as my father said: "We don't know whether this madness will last one year or 10 years, but now that you're in Australia you're going to be Australians and you're going to fit in to society." And that's indeed what we did.

My brothers and I moved to a Jesuit school in Sydney, which took the three boys for one fee. I thought that was a very decent gesture. I had a protected upbringing there. They made a strong boy in the class my protector. He made sure I didn't get into any trouble and he became my best friend. Childhood was essentially very happy.

The first time I went back to Austria was in 1961. I go back every three or four years. I've still got relatives there. Some of the nicest times were going back with my widowed mother.

My greatest achievements? The thing that is most precious to me is the research in immunology <0x2014> the research into how the cells of the body fabricate those wonderful antibody molecules to keep us free of infectious diseases.

Having the chance to lead a large and iconic medical and research institution <0x2014> the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research - and thereby to have the chance of imprinting hopefully good things on a lot of young minds.

I also had the opportunity to look at Third World health, first with the World Health Organisation and more recently with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I feel I'm very lucky.

Padmini Sebastian was 16 when she fled the Sri Lankan civil war with her family. They came to Australia as refugees in 1984. Padmini, 41, is manager of Melbourne's Immigration Museum.

AS A result of the ethnic riots in Sri Lanka in 1983, we lost our family home and went into hiding. My parents sent me to live with my mother's sister in Belgium for six months. In the meantime, they applied to come to Australia as refugees.

Historically, there has always been political unrest between the Tamils and the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka. In 1983, the tension and resulting riots were severe. It happened very quickly; we woke up one morning and riots broke out that afternoon. Businesses and houses owned by Tamil people were attacked and Tamil people were being burned in their cars.

We had to drop everything and scale the walls around our home as the mobs went down our street. We were lucky <0x2014> our neighbours, who were Sinhalese, gave us refuge. Within 20 minutes of going next door, the mobs came and burnt our house down.

Going to Belgium was really difficult. I found it unsettling leaving my parents. Because my parents continued to be in hiding in different houses I couldn't phone them often, so I used to write to them. It was the most prolific letter writing I've ever done.

We started life in Melbourne at the Maribyrnong Migrant Centre, a hostel that has since closed. We had a lot of support. People put us in touch with the local Sri Lankan community. Someone organised a house for us to rent and another family helped us by looking for schools.

When you come from such a traumatic experience it's very easy to feel isolated. When I got here I thought, "Where have I come to?" It was quite desolate travelling from Tullamarine to Maribyrnong - there weren't many trees or buildings and it was quite cold. I didn't feel I had come to a vibrant and energetic city.

The hostel was quite regimented and I didn't like the idea of having to go into a hall and eat my breakfast before 8am and have dinner between 5-6pm. The food was quite different and I wouldn't eat. Very slowly we discovered Asian shops and bought spices.

I wasn't going to go back to Sri Lanka because I was angry with the way we were treated, but I have been back a couple of times.

I have the most extraordinary job. Our museum is about people: individuals, families and communities. It is about their stories and I don't have to imagine what it was like.

Angel Calderon fled the Guatemalan civil war in 1983 at the age of 18. He lived in Mexico and Honduras before coming to Melbourne as a refugee in 1985. Angel, 44, is now head of the institutional research, policy and planning group at RMIT University.

WHEN you grow up with turmoil it has an impact on your life. The conflict in Guatemala lasted 36 years so I grew up with it and it was life for us. I received my first death threat when I was in year 8. It was an anonymous letter.

A few months before I left Guatemala, my brother was kidnapped. Almost 25 years later we have heard nothing. I don't know how you come to terms with things like that. I think you just learn to live with it.

There was conflict all around. There was no other way for me but to leave the country. My family put me on a plane to Mexico. They stayed in Guatemala in the hope that my brother would come back.

I was lucky enough to leave, but there were hundreds and thousands of Guatemalans who didn't have that opportunity. I was 18 at that time. At that age you think you can conquer the world.

At home you would have everything given to you, but suddenly I had to make my own decisions - I was my own mum, my own dad, my own brother, my own sister - I was my own family. I remember the fear of being homeless.

It's not until you come to a country such as Australia that you have the luxury to think and to ponder what has gone. You start dealing with your emotions. I can be smiling and happy, but then there are times when it really hits me. Sometimes you block off certain things in your life because it is the way you protect yourself.

When I arrived I spoke no English at all. It was a September morning and it was raining. I went to the migrant hostel in Maribyrnong and that was my beginning in Melbourne.

I spent a year studying the English language. My intention was to practise English as much as I could so I lived in share-houses. It was important to me to make connections with people. After one year, I enrolled at university. I thought it was really important in those early years to get a good education.

I am always grateful to the people who have done things for me, because I am a product of the help I have received over the years. I feel I have been able to succeed and move from one thing to another and survive.

I went back to Guatemala after 17 years. I had to draw on a lot of strength to do it, but when I made the decision to go back, there was no return. It was a question of seeing my family.

I was born in Guatemala, but I live in Australia and Australia is home to me. This country has given me the chance to enjoy many opportunities, including education. Now I feel I can give back to this country.

Tomorrow is World Refugee Day and Refugee Week runs until Sunday. The national theme for Refugee Week 2008 is "A Place to Call Home".