ONCE UPON a TIME in CABRAMATTA the Untold Story of How the Vietnamese Community Overcame the Odds and Found Their Place in Multicultural Australia
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MA! rguerite-!*&!-(.*&%!*(/()*+,$#!*SERIES WRITER O’H& PRODUCERARA -01(#2345617(/(#7869(:7858;(Sue Clothier & Craig Graham! ! ! ! <8=3>(?6=@1A(Jacob Hickey 8$9:;;$<=>?$@A<=$7$!BC?$AD<E@>!B<=F$A!G$H!EI$F>D??=$7@F!D7HB7I$© 2011 ONCE UPON A TIME PRODUCTIONS PTY LTD, SChttp://www.metromagazine.com.auREEN AUSTRALIA, SCREEF>D??=$J@??=FH7=E$7=E$F>D??=$=FKLN QUEENSLAND AND SCREEN NSW ISBN: 978-1-74295-136-2 http://www.theeducationshop.com.au ONCE UPON A TIME IN CABRAMATTA The untold story of how the Vietnamese community overcame the odds and found their place in multicultural Australia SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 2 Introduction nce Upon A Time in Cabramatta is a three-part documentary program chronicling the largely untold and unknown story of the Vietnamese people in Australia. It shows how the Viet- Onamese community in Cabramatta overcame the odds and found their place in multicultural Australia. The story begins with the 1979 landmark decision of Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser to open Australia’s doors to thousands of refugees fleeing Vietnam at the end of the war. It is a moment in history that finally buries the infamous White Australia Policy and transforms a nation. The years that follow are as dramatic as they are turbulent. In this one small Sydney suburb, Cabramatta, the 1980s and 1990s see the emergence of street gangs, a heroin epidemic and the first political assassination in Australia’s history. The Vietnamese people are vilified and demonised. Cabramatta seems to represent all that is wrong with Asian immigration. The universal support for multiculturalism is a distant memory. But as the century draws to a close there is a remarkable turnaround. The Vietnamese people finally find their voice and claim their rightful, democratic place in their adopted home. Cabramatta is a community transformed, Australia, a continent changed forever. SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 3 Curriculum Guidelines This documentary series would be suitable for students in second- ary schools studying the impact of migration on Australian society and the complex process of re-settlement. At its heart is an examination of the reality of ‘multiculturalism’ as a lived experience. It would be a valuable resource in SOSE/HSIE and History for students studying contemporary society and migration to Australia. Once Upon A Time in Cabramatta is difficult period of life in Cabramatta Pre-viewing questions an important series in presenting the from the late 1970s. historical and social roots of multi- 1. How many students in your class culturalism in Australia. It should help While Once Upon A Time in Cabramat- group come from non-English students understand the complexity ta is about the Vietnamese experience speaking backgrounds? of the Asian-Australian experience, to of those who came to Australia after look beyond the many media ste- the Vietnam War from the late 1970s, 2. How many people do you know reotypes and listen to the voices and it clearly has resonance today as new in your social, sporting and work experiences of people who have come groups of people attempt to come to worlds whose parents were not to Australia from a number of different Australia to escape war-torn home- born in Australia? cultures. lands. How people come and how they are assisted when they arrive are 3. Have you eaten Vietnamese food? It would also be a valuable resource questions that are as important in the for students of English and/or Asian twenty-first century as they were for 4. Share your knowledge of the Studies who may already have some earlier migrants; immigration policy Vietnam War and Australian knowledge of growing up Asian in remains one of the most important and involvement in that war. Australia through texts such as Alice fraught issues in Australia. What did we Pung’s Unpolished Gem and Brian get right and what did we get wrong in 5. Have you visited Vietnam? Describe Caswell and David Phu An Chiem’s political, social, economic and hu- the country, the people and how Only the Heart. Both these powerful manitarian terms in the past? Are there they live. texts, like this documentary series, ex- lessons to be learned from the nature plore the migrant experience from the of the Vietnamese experience? 6. What is the most practised religion perspectives of those on the inside. in Vietnam? Every journey is different. Some background to the Vietnam War and a map of the region is provided 7. Name any characters of Asian For students of Media and Film Stud- in this guide for students who may background appearing on ies, the series provides an excellent not be familiar with the details of this Australian television dramas. example of an approach to construct- conflict and Australia’s involvement in (Don’t include racial stereotypes ing history through personal narra- that long-running war. sometimes portrayed in comedies tives, archival film and the voices of such as Jen in Angry Boys.) many people, both Vietnamese and As Episode 1 sets up many of the Australian, who lived through the often situations and stories that are further 8. Why do you think the parents of explored in Episodes 2 and 3, an migrants tend to be especially am- understanding of the issues raised in bitious for their children to achieve Episode 1 will make it easier for the very high standards in education? students to understand the nature of the community and family tensions 9. What would be some of the and their resolution as they are pre- difficulties for you in having to move sented in episodes 2 and 3. The pre- to settle in a non-English speaking viewing questions are better suited to country with few possessions and middle school students or students very little money? in schools where there may be fewer students from non-English speaking 10. How can being part of a harmoni- backgrounds. ous multicultural community enrich our lives by encouraging us to expand our personal horizons? SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 4 The Filmmakers Key Crew Bringing recent history to visual life is a complex and rich field for documentary makers. A documentary series such as Once Upon a Time in Cabramatta has a very large number of people working on it, from researchers to advisors to editors, graphic artists and time-lapse, aerial, still and many other technical image makers. The people listed in this crew list are just a fraction of those involved in the project. Executive producers SUE CLOTHIER and CRAIG GRAHAM Series writer and producer JACOB HICKEY Series director BERNADINE LIM Director of photography JUSTIN HANRAHAN Narrator TARA MORICE SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 5 Background A map of the region at the end defeat the Japanese. After the victory neighbouring Cambodia and Laos in of this guide shows the location over the Japanese, the Vietnamese an attempt to disrupt supply routes. and size of Vietnam in relation to expected to gain their independence, Australian soldiers were in South Australia. It may give students but the French remained as colonial Vietnam as advisers from 1962. In 1965 some sense of the perilous journeys masters. Many Vietnamese troops Prime Minister Menzies, in an attempt many people made, and still make, now turned to fighting the French. to tie the United States to defence of to reach Australia by boat. Some- Australia against any threat from Indo- times they are at sea for up to three In 1954 the French were defeated in nesia, announced that Australia would weeks with little food and water. the north at Dien Bien Phu, but in the send combat troops. This included A very brief account of the back- south, Vietnamese leaders did not conscripted soldiers, National Service- ground to the conflict in Vietnam want to be part of the pro-Communist men, after 1966. These were chosen and Australian involvement in that system being set up by the north. The by a ballot of all twenty-year-old males, war is provided below. country was divided along the sev- though only a small proportion of all enteenth parallel of latitude, with the eligible men were called up. The Vietnam War arose out of more south being supported by the United than a century of foreign occupation of States, and the north by Russia and Most Australian Army operational units Vietnam. It was a war for Vietnamese China. The north began to send troops served in South Vietnam during the independence, but also a civil war into the south, supported by southern- war. They served mainly in the Phuoc between two competing philosophies. ers sympathetic to their cause. Tuy province of Vietnam – at the Nui Dat base and at the logistics base at Vietnam has always been subject to The main reason for the United States’ Vung Tau. Many officers and warrant threats and invasion from its large involvement was a fear that com- officers served with distinction in South neighbours – particularly China. In munism would spread throughout Vietnamese Army units as part of the the eighteenth century, a new threat Asia.