Summary

Digital photograph of Cuc and Minh Lam at Vung Tau Beach, south of Saigon, Vietnam, July 1974.
This photograph was taken in the year Cuc and Minh married and four years before they fled Vietnam in 1978 as part of a massive emigration after the end of the Vietnam War.

Description of Content

Man and woman sitting on a wall overlooking water with a bicycle to their left.

Physical Description

Digital photograph

Significance

Statement of Historical Significance:
This collection demonstrates the risk and desperation involved in the refugee experience. It is extremely rare to acquire objects from refugees, as by the very nature of the experience, people carry little if anything with them, and what they do is usually lost or thrown away. It helps tell the story of Vietnamese immigration, which has played a significant part in the history of immigration to Australia, and assists in representing the period post 1975, when Australia's new political and social policies of multiculturalism were being implemented. This collection also provides further insights into life in one of Melbourne's principal migrant hostels - Midway in Maribyrnong.

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