Cuc Lam's Suitcase

Cuc Lam’s Suitcase is an episode of the series National Treasures produced in 2004.

Cuc Lam’s Suitcase
If you were forced to leave your home forever, what would you take with you? Vietnamese refugee Cuc Lam took family photos and jewellery but sacrificed one precious possession to buy a suitcase, now in Melbourne’s Immigration Museum. Cuc Lam talks to Warren Brown about her journey to Australia and how this small red vinyl bag was a symbol of a new beginning in a new country.

National Treasures
Take a road-trip of discovery with the irrepressible Warren Brown – political cartoonist, columnist and history “tragic” – as he reveals a fascinating mix of national treasures drawn from public and private collections across Australia. On its own, each treasure is a priceless snapshot of an historic moment. Together, they illustrate the vitality and uniqueness of the Australian experience.

National Treasures is a Film Australia National Interest Program. Produced with the assistance of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Area of study:
This area of study focuses on the dynamic nature of rural and urban environments and the factors contributing to change, such as population change, population movement, climate changes, government policies and globalisation.

Outcomes:
On completion of this unit the student should be able to analyse and explain changes due to human activities in rural and urban environments.

By 1954, after the defeat of the Japanese and the expulsion of the French in the north, Vietnam was divided into communist North Vietnam and pro-western South Vietnam. The failure of a proposed vote on reunification led to war, which the north won in 1975.

The new national government sent many people who had supported the old government in the south to ‘re-education camps’, and others to ‘new economic zones’, where they were treated badly. These factors, coupled with poverty caused by disastrous economic reforms, caused millions of Vietnamese to flee the country, usually by barely sea-worthy boats.

These fleeing Vietnamese sold what they could for gold, and took only what they could carry with them. Pirates who raped, murdered and stole almost at will against the defenceless refugees preyed on them. Many ships sank, with the loss of all aboard.

Refugees who did survive had to stay in primitive camps in Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Indonesia.

The plight of the boat people now became an international humanitarian crisis. Several countries agreed to resettle as many as possible of the refugees, and agreed to quotas — the United States of America (823 000), Australia and Canada (137 000 each), France (96 000), and Germany and the United Kingdom (19 000 each).

Before 1975 there were approximately 700 Vietnam-born people in Australia. A few refugee boats had reached northern Australia, but most of the Vietnamese refugee resettlement between 1975 and 1985 was by air from the refugee camps in Asia, and was then followed by family reunion under the Family Stream of Australia’s immigration program. By 1981, 43 400 Vietnamese had been resettled in Australia. By 1991 there were 124 800 Vietnam-born in Australia and in the 2001 census, 154 000 people declared themselves as Vietnam-born.

1. Understanding the video clip
   1. Who was Cuc Lam?
   2. Why was she a refugee?
   3. Where did she go to after fleeing Vietnam?
   4. Why did she end up in Australia?
   5. When did she arrive here?
   6. Why did she only have one small suitcase on her arrival?
   7. What has happened to her in Australia?
2. Exploring issues raised in the video clip
   1. Where do Vietnamese live in Australia? Go to the Australian Bureau of Statistics home page at http://www.abs.gov.au; click Census in the top menu bar; click Previous Censuses — Census Data in the side menu bar; click 2001 Census Data by Profile; click Basic Community Profile; choose the area you wish to explore (possibilities are: Main Areas, Local Government Areas, State Suburbs, Postal Areas, Statistical Districts, Commonwealth Electoral Divisions, State Electoral Divisions, Statistical Regions, Sections of State, Urban Centres and Localities, Remoteness Areas). Information available includes: Numbers, where born, where parents were born, language spoken at home.
   2. Use this information to form hypotheses about changes in the size and function of the local environment, the impacts of population change on that environment, and the changing nature and location of economic activities in the area as a result of the population change.
   3. Carry out a fieldwork study in the area, and map and record evidence of the impact of the immigrant group on the community, as well as evidence of change over time in the economy, society and physical appearance of the community.

For more National Treasures information and video clips go to Investigating National Tresures