Vietnamese Community in Australia - SA Chapter Inc

01/03/2025

🇦🇺2️⃣8️⃣🌻0️⃣2️⃣🌻2️⃣5️⃣🇦🇺
50th Anniversary of the Vietnamese Community in Australia at Prime Ministers House Kirribilli, hosted by The Honourable Anthony Albanese MP.

It was an honour to represent the Vietnamese Community in South Australia and join with Vietnamese Australian distinguished guests to celebrate our contributions to Australia over 50 years [1975-2025]:

🇦🇺 I 💛 A SUNBURNT COUNTRY 🇦🇺

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains.
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of drought and flooding rains.

It was an honour to be invited,
To Prime Minister's Kirribilli home.
We shared stories about our journey
50-Years "Home Away From Home"

My heritage is Vietnamese,
Our boat was 10 by 3m wide.
84 people crowded on board,
We prayed and cried, and cried.

I was one of ten toddlers,
My brother two weeks old.
Two days and three nights adrift,
In severe wind, wet and cold.

We refuged in Malay Bidong,
Until South Australia opened her doors.
Thank you to Australia,
For welcoming us, to your shores.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the rainbow gold,
For flood and fire and famine
She pays us back threefold.

Threefold in her people,
Her rich diversity.
Fourfold in multiculturalism,
Her refugees, migrants, democracy.

I'm grateful to this sunburnt land,
This Nation of opportunity.
Her freedoms, hopes, liberties.
"for those who’ve come across the seas"

[Poem improvised by Cr Khuyen (Quin) Tran, President of Vietnamese Community in South Australia. Inspired by Dorothea MacKellar's "I Love a Sunburnt Country"] ... See MoreSee Less