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Refugee's experiences : extract from oral history
Title : Refugee's experiences : extract from oral history Refugee's experiences : extract from oral history
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Creator : Nghia, Elizabeth, 1945-
Source : Nghia, Elizabeth, OH 250/3
Date of creation : 1994
Additional Creator : Chryssides, Helen
Format : Oral History
Contributor : State Library of South Australia
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Copyright : This item is reproduced courtesy of Sister Elizabeth Nghia. It may be printed or saved for research or study. Use for any other purpose requires written permission from Sister Elizabeth Nghia and the State Library of South Australia. To request approval, complete the Permission to publish form.
Description :

Interview with Sister Elizabeth Nghia in which she describes fleeing Vietnam in 1976 and her escape on a small fishing boat.


Interviewer: Helen Chryssides; Project: Oral History of Women's Political Activity.

Elizabeth Nghia Bui was born in North Vietnam. Her family fled to South Vietnam in 1954 and settled in Saigon. Elizabeth entered the order of the Lovers of the Holy Cross and trained first as a teacher and then as a social worker. In 1975 at the time of the fall of Saigon she was in charge of an orphanage which came under Communist control.

Elizabeth then helped to form the Indochinese Australian Women's Association and for several years worked in a voluntary capacity to provide welfare services while the Association battled for funds. Later in her interview, Elizabeth describes the wide ranging services of the Association and the positive impact it has had on refugees and the wider community.

Subjects
Related names :

Nghia, Elizabeth, 1945-

Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975

Period : 1946-1979
Further reading :

The Boat people : an 'Age' investigation / with Bruce Grant [Ringwood, Vic.]: Penguin Books Australia, [1979]

Tran, My-Van The long journey: Australia's first boat people [Brisbane, Qld.]: Griffith University, [1981]

Walsh, Kate The changing face of Australia : a century of immigration 1901-2000 [St. Leonards NSW]: Allen & Unwin, [2001]

Internet links :
Reporting the nation: 50 years of ABC TV news and current affairssee Key stories across the nation: 1976: First 'boat people' arrive from Vietnam

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