Tag Australianstories
5 years ago, while I was working in my uncle’s hotel in Aleppo, we had an Australian guest called David come to stay. One day, he broke his leg when he fell on the street. As a result, I went to the hospital and later, I brought him back to the hotel and took care
In early 1975, there was still very little bombing in Saigon. Although my father was a well known politician, I was protected from the realities of the war, as my parents always kept us wrapped in cotton wool – I was 18 years old, and preparing to go to France to go to university. Then
(2/2) I’ve never found the way I looked to be an impediment. For example, I found a job as an engineer really quickly after I finished uni. But there were always little things that happened. People would ask questions like, ‘Where are you from?’ And I’d say, ‘Australia’. Then they’d say, ‘And before that?’ And
(1/2) Our family is very nomadic. My kids are first generation Australian, I’m first generation English, my mum’s first generation Ugandan and although my dad was born in India, he moved to Malaysia when he was a kid. Then he moved to England in his early 20s, where he and my Mum were married. I
5 years ago, while I was working in my uncle’s hotel in Aleppo, we had an Australian guest called David come to stay. One day, he broke his leg when he fell on the street. As a result, I went to the hospital and later, I brought him back to the hotel and took care
I met Julia, an Australian, in my local café in Montmatre. She was taking some pictures, and we got to chatting. On our first date, she was 2 hours late because she had got off at the wrong station. But I waited for her. Her plan was to travel on to Barcelona, but she never
My father was executed when I was 9. I remember visiting him in jail, walking down this dark corridor and he was at the end of it. He had made me and my brothers necklaces from date seeds. After he was executed, they didn’t give us a gravestone or anything. I remember going to the
Our whole family came to Australia by boat. Sometimes in Iran, the government ‘disappears’ people and nobody knows where they have gone. Our father had already been harassed a few times, and we were very worried about what might happen next, so we made the decision to leave everything behind. We were held on Christmas
The part of London that I grew up in was expensive, not great to raise kids in, and of course the weather was terrible. There was also a rise in knife crime and gangs. We had a 5 year old son, and wanted him to have a better life. We decided on Adelaide, because we
My mother always discouraged me from studying. She said, ‘We are not the ruling class, we are working people, why are you studying? They are never going to give you a job even if you are educated.’ She even burnt my books a few times. She had been married at the age of 9, and