This collection of life stories from Filipino-Aboriginal Australians certainly fills a gap in Australia’s social history and it does so in a heart-warming, insightful and immensely readable way. Wall and Choo have enriched the personal narratives, 11 from Broome, Western Australia and ten from the Torres Strait Islands, with both a discussion of the themes emerging from the stories and a short history of Filipino pearl divers in northern Australia.
The narrators relate their experience of blending two or in many cases multiple heritages. Their stories show how the lives of their forebears were often ones of resistance and resilience in times when citizenship was a long way off for both Aboriginal Australians and Filipino migrants.
Furthermore, relationships between Asiatics and Aboriginals were discouraged by government policies that were discriminatory in many ways. The stories tell of Filipino men marrying Aboriginal women, in some cases of successful business careers, though they were prevented from officially owning property.
There was a gun battle on the high seas over a kidnapped daughter and a glass jar filled with precious pearls. In many of the events retold and the relationships talked about, we come to appreciate Filipinos’ contribution to community building and cultural enrichment.
We see an image of post-WWII Broome as a town whose majority population comprised Aboriginals and Asiatics, living together, cooking together and sharing what little they had.
The Torres Strait Islands contributors reveal an intimate connection with the Catholic Church, past and present. Many experienced growing up in an orphanage and talked of their sadness in being away from family. Some entered into religious life or had relatives who did so.
Many of the storytellers have lived away from their homelands but feel strongly connected with the Torres Strait Islands and with their Filipino heritage. They bear witness to how life has changed and what their lives were like when times were so different to today. These stories are enhanced by the additions from Wall and Choo, which serve to interpret and underline their significance. The historical details in particular reinforce the contribution of the narrators and their forebears to the project of “re-imagining Australia”.
This is a worthy text both for shedding light on the lives and times of Australians hitherto not well known and in its authentic depiction of some of the threads in the fabric of Australian society today.
