Abstract

In 1995 a group of 18 youths of East Timorese sailed illegally to Australia on a small fishing boat called Tasi Diak (Good Sea) to seek political asylum. The Tasi Diak was the only maritime arrival from Indonesian-occupied East Timor to have made it to Australia’s northern shores.The 18 youths were subsequently detained at Curtin Base detention centre in Western Australia.

Jose da Costa' presentation looks at the group’s experiences of the Indonesian occupation and factors motivating them to leave East Timor. It discusses the boat journey from a first-hand perspective and experiences in the Australian detention centre and assesses the influence of the solidarity movement in Australia on the government’s decision not to send the group back to their homeland or to Portugal, East Timor’s former colonial ruler. The presentation will finally examine possible reasons for the length of time the group’s case was pending, why they were never granted refugee status by the Australian government and how they lived their lives in Australia from the time they were released from the detention centre.

Vannessa Hearman analyses Australian and Indonesian government responses to the boat arrival, in particular, given the existence of a strong East Timor solidarity movement in Australia. Through analysis of documents and newspaper reports in both the Australia and Indonesian presses, she traces the impact of the Tasi Diak’s arrival on the bilateral relationship between both countries.

Bio notes

Jose da Costa arrived in Australia in 1995 as an asylum seeker from East Timor on the boat Tasi Diak. He is a filmmaker and co-founder of Dili Film Works. He has acted in films in Australia and Timor Leste (Answered by Fire, Balibo and Beatriz’s War). Jose  da Costa is a trained primary school teacher and has authored several children’s books in the Tetum language.

Vannessa Hearman is lecturer in Indonesian Studies at Charles Darwin University. Her research deals with the 1965-66 anti communist violence in Indonesia, as well as histories of activism in and on Indonesia and Timor Leste.

Activity within the Doctoral Programme «Postcolonialisms and Global Citizenship»