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Tự Do Vietnamese Asylum Seeker Fishing Boat
Phú Quốc island, Vietnam, 1975
Australian National Maritime Museum
On 21 November 1977, six refugee vessels from Vietnam entered Darwin Harbour. One of these vessels is now in the collection of the Australian National Maritime Museum: Tự Do (Freedom). It is one of the few surviving refugee boats in Australia from the mid-1970s, and the best-documented and researched in an Australian public collection.
The boat represents core aspects of Southeast Asian maritime experiences: a beautifully crafted, agile, strong, wooden fishing vessel built from locally sourced timbers by experienced craftsmen of Phú Quốc island, based on traditional knowledge and used for fishing in the waters of southern Vietnam.
Yet it is also connected to one of the greatest modern upheavals in the region, as North Vietnamese forces secured victory over South Vietnam, causing many from the South to flee, including across the sea, in a desperate bid for freedom. This vessel represents those refugees, new citizens arriving from foreign countries, but also stands for the fear of outsiders that often welcomed them to Australia after they were forced onto the oceans by insurmountable push-factors.
Catalogue Number: ANMM Collection 00009427 Acquired by Museum 1990
Material: Locally sourced timber
Dimensions: Length 18.25 m, Width 4.5 m