Australia.
An
island, ringed with golden beaches, and girt by beautiful blue seas.
To the north east the great barrier reef, verdant with colour and
life.
A
continent, the desert in the centre flat and ochre, Uluru, warn
smooth and rounded by the hands of time punching through the dusty
plains.
And
more than just this natural beauty, a land full of iconic imagery.
Possessor
of bountiful mineral resources. And wealth, one of the best
performing economies in the world during these troubled times.
Australia,
truly the lucky country!
Not
nearly as lucky, is the country that I grew up in, South Africa.
Also
blessed with golden beaches, iconic imagery and bountiful mineral
resources, South Africa seems to have continually made choices that
brought nothing but misfortune.
I
have so clearly etched in my mind, memories of searchlights, shining,
ironically, from an old english fort on the apex of a hill, their
probing beams of light slicing through the night, sweeping slowly
across the face of the township on the other side of the valley to
our family home.
Every
night the search lights used to dance.
If
we took out field glasses and looked at where the oval disks of their
light fell, we could sometimes see the security police, heavily
armoured, moving slowly from door to door, looking for people. It was
rumoured that the people that they were looking for were destined for
summary execution - without trial.
But
we didn't know.
Information
was tightly controlled. All we knew was that from time to time people
seen as enemies of the apartheid regime just disappeared.
Some
people, unable to withstand the uncertainty of being seen as an enemy
of the regime, fearful that they would be the next to vanish, would
flee. Their trip to escape doubly dangerous, for if they were caught
their attempt to flee was obviously an admission of guilt.
Those
that succeeded became refugees, living in countries far away from
their homes, families and friends.
But
this country, Australia, I've learnt, was founded not just on the
sweat of criminals, but also by the sweat of refugees.
I've
learned about Australia's roots because I, as one of the scatterlings
of Africa, was swotting up for my Australian citizenship exam.
We
don't know why the Aboriginal came here, but they may very well have
been the first refugees.
Following the first fleet of convicts,
there have regular waves of refugees. The
first recorded being Lutherans, arriving in 1839, fleeing from
religious prosecution in Prussia. Between
1933 and 1939 more than 7 000 Jewish Germans found sanctuary in
Australia. After
the second world war, the largest wave of refugees ever to come to
Australia. Over 170 000 people, mainly from central Europe: countries
like the Ukraine, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Poland.
Poland.
My
father was a Polish refugee. That's how we landed up in South Africa.
He
was a captain in the Polish army at the outbreak of the Second World
War. Captured by the Russians, he somehow lost all sign of his rank.Which
was really lucky, as the Russians took quite a lot of the Polish officers they
captured to a forrest; Katyn, and shot them.
But
my wily father not only managed to avoid the massacre by loosing his
rank: he contrived to escape and made his way through occupied
Europe, to England, where he joined, and fought for, the Free Polish Army.
At
the end of the war, the British prevented him from marching in the
victory celebrations and mandated that he was to be sent back to
Poland.
Desperate
not to return to a country under Russian control, he ran from embassy
to embassy in London, looking for any country that would accept him
as a refugee. The
South African embassy franked his passport on the spot, and he was on
the first ship he could find to Africa, a Polish refugee.
Had
he been accepted on the spot by Australia, I would have been born
here, and not in Africa. But
I've made up for that now: I passed my citizenship test. I've got my
letter from the minister, and attended the citizenship ceremony. I'm
now a new minted a citizen of Australia!
I'm
not the only person who wants to make this wonderful country their
home.
I
regularly hear terrible stories of Australian bound refugees on
boats, drowning, because the overladen and unseaworthy rust buckets
transporting them have foundered in the dangerous waters to the
north.
I
don't know why those “boat people” want to come to Australia.
Are
they trying to come to Australia in order to build a better life for
themselves and their children? If so, the risks they take are
enormous.
Are
they perhaps, like the enemies of apartheid, fleeing before the rough
justice of their homeland state can be brought to bear?
Or
is it because, like my father, they fear almost certain death for
simply being who they are?
Whatever
force is driving these refugees, it must be incredibly powerful.
Simply
look at the risks they are taking with their families and themselves
in order to try to get to a different place far on the other side of
the world.
When
I see these refugees being herded into detention centres, reminiscent
of concentration camps, with children in tow, I feel deeply troubled.
For
I learned during my citizenship studies that we Australians (I think
I can say this now), we Australians hold a shared set of values.
- Peacefulness
- Respect for the dignity of the individual
- Freedom of speech and association
- Equality before the law
- Equality of opportunity
And
that we share a strong spirit of egalitarianism that embraces
tolerance, mutual respect, and a compassion for those in need. And
that no one should be disadvantaged on the basis of their country of
birth.
I've
thought about these shared values that we Australians hold dear. And
compared them to the values that were in play in the country that I
grew up in. And to the countries that my father both fought and fled
from in the second world war. And even to those of the countries that
the boat people currently are fleeing from.
And
I'm sure that its these shared Australian values that make the
difference. That make this the place where we all want to be.
Knowing
that, the way we currently treat refugees seems somehow un-Australian
to me.
We
Australians are legally obliged to vote.
So
in this coming election I'm not going to vote emotionally. I'm not
going to vote for the party I identify most with. I'm going to my
research and vote for the party that most espouses our shared
Australian values.
For
I believe these shared values are what have truly made this the lucky
country.
“For
those who’ve come across the seas
We’ve
boundless plains to share;
With
courage let us all combine
To
Advance Australia Fair”
