On November 21, 1977, refugee Tan Lu and his pregnant wife, Tuyat, chugged into Darwin, ending a six-week voyage that had seen them steer their family in an overcrowded fishing boat, using only a school atlas and a compass to guide them. During the crossing they had had to outrun Thai pirates and deal with the indifference of Malaysian authorities.Back then, Australians were just beginning to realise refugees were their Vietnam War legacy. But the Lu family knew nothing about the controversy swirling around boat people.
Formerly wealthy South Vietnamese business owners, the Lus felt oppressed by the victorious Hanoi regime, so they built a fishing boat in secrecy, crewed it with fishermen who supplied one of their warehouses, named it Tu Do - Freedom - and in early August under cover of falling darkness sailed south...
Read the full story of their epic journey to Australia here.
