Will a SIEV X National Memorial be allowed to be built in Canberra ?  – recent media readings, and website commentary by Tony Kevin 12 September 2005

 

“I have no doubt that there will be a permanent national memorial in Canberra sooner or later,  because SIEV X is part of our national migration history now; as much part of our history as all the other immigrant vessels that sank on their way to Australia and are memorialized around our country. To those who feel uncertainty about the idea of a SIEV X national  memorial, I suggest : this is about inclusion and tolerance , values that we Australians should cherish and share.” – Tony Kevin

 

 

I am publishing this material as references to a SIEV X-related public issue that is only now beginning to gather steam.

 

I am not/not a member of the Uniting Church- based committee, inspired by author Steve Biddulph, that is developing the project of a proposed permanent SIEV X National Memorial in Canberra. I applaud their two-year-old community-based initiative which has already made the facts of the SIEV X sinking well known to thousands of schoolchildren around Australia.  Their website, well worth visiting,  is

 

http://sievxmemorial.com/news.html

 

 The group plans a major public event in Canberra on 23 October 2005,  the fourth anniversary of the sinking of SIEV X:

 

“A large memorial event is planned for the Fourth Anniversary in October in Canberra. Musicians, choirs, powerful speakers will combine in concert/ceremony to mark the event in more and more people’s eyes, since the hiding of the Siev X tragedy is what we must never let happen. It’s at this launch that we will be saying to Australia – here we are,  this is what we plan to do.” ( from their website)  

 

Unfortunately I will not be able to be at this event as I have a SIEV X speaking commitment in Brisbane on that  day.

 

It was remarkable how quickly official and quasi-official voices emerged to condemn the project, as soon as an ABC interview  by Tasmania-based Beth Gibbings, one of the members of the committee was broadcast on 2 September -  ABC text below).  A former President of the RSL, Peter Phillips, mistakenly rejected  the project in these terms:

”The Siev-X was a great tragedy, but involved foreign nationals in a foreign country”.

 

Wrong on both counts, Peter: the victims were mostly wives and children of refugee men who were already present in Australia (and by now four years later, have been mostly accepted as Australian permanent residents) . And the boat sank in Australian-surveilled and patrolled waters during the largest-ever border protection military operation in our peacetime history; an operation supported by an Australian government people- smuggling disruption program in Indonesia. One cannot honestly say this tragedy had nothing to do with Australia.  

 

Two officials from the National Capital Authority came up with specious bureaucratic gobblygook (see below) as to why a SIEV X memorial could not be allowed on NCA-controlled ground, ie public land on the foreshores of Lake Burley Griffin, for at least 10 years and, it would seem, possibly never.  These officials report to a bipartisan parliamentary  committee chaired by – the Prime Minister. One understands where their hesitancy is coming from. 

 

ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope who is understood to be privately well-disposed to the idea of a SIEV X memorial is waiting to see how the issue plays out at the Commonwealth/NCA level before taking a position on it, in his capacity as ACT Chief Minister. ( see below)

 

There are already some SIEV X memorials in Australia – in Hobart and on Christmas  Island. And one is being planned for Fremantle. I have no doubt that there will be a permanent national memorial in Canberra sooner or later,  because SIEV X is part of our national migration history now; as much part of our history as all the other immigrant vessels that sank on their way to Australia and are memorialized around our country. To those who feel uncertainty about the idea of a SIEV X national  memorial, I suggest : this is about inclusion and tolerance , values that we Australians should cherish and share.

 

Nobody has ever suggested a “war” memorial. The SIEV X victims were asylum-seekers coming here in time of peace to seek refuge. They died on their way here,  and it was an Australian peacetime tragedy we must own  and reflect upon.  

 

My letter to the Canberra Times (below) expressed my personal views on the issue which do not necessarily accord with the views of the SIEV X National Memorial group. I did not consult them on the wording of my letter, or this commentary. But I wish them well. Please give them your active support.

 

Tony Kevin, Canberra 12 September 2005.    

 

MEDIA READINGS:

 

1.         ABC Online  “The World Today - Group proposes Siev-X memorial” , 2 September , 2005  12:43:00, reporter: Tim Jeanes

 http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2005/s1451780.htm]

 

PETER CAVE: The sinking of a dilapidated Indonesian fishing vessel during the 2001

Federal Election Campaign cost the lives of 353 people, most of them women and children. Codenamed the Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel – X, or SIEV-X for short,  its sinking brought criticism of both Indonesia and Australia for allowing the tragedy to happen. Now a group including artists and writers is pushing for a permanent memorial for those who died to prick the conscience of Australians and to ensure that a certain maritime incident will not easily be forgotten. The proposal is to put the memorial on the shores of Canberra's Lake Burley Griffin, an idea that some say is inappropriate. Tim Jeanes reports.

 

TIM JEANES: Tasmanian visual artist, Beth Gibbings, is among a small group of islanders and mainlanders who want the nation to permanently remember those who died on the Siev-X.

 

BETH GIBBINGS: It's one of the largest maritime peacetime disasters in our time, but in many senses there's a lot of people in Australia who don't necessarily know how to come to terms with the Siev-X. It doesn't fit into our normal idea, we're used to the idea of, you know, the fallen soldier, and we may not yet know how to deal with refugees, how do we remember those people who drowned coming here? And maybe there is some discomfort with that still.

 

TIM JEANES: The Siev-X National Memorial Project uses the artwork of schoolchildren from around Australia, with Beth Gibbings saying the response from a travelling exhibition has often been overwhelming.

 

BETH GIBBINGS: It's incredibly emotional. We've found that when people come to the exhibition, that they stay for hours, they just read every word, it's very symbolic, you know, the students have really responded to the event and put their hearts out on paper, you know, paintings and sculpture that came from some primary school students in Adelaide had a mirror of Australia, and it was sort of saying, look reflect on what it would be like if it was you who were a refugee.

 

TIM JEANES: The travelling exhibition is supported by groups including Rural Australians for Refugees and the Uniting Church, and will next month move to Canberra.
There, the coordinators plan to make it a permanent exhibition on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin. That hasn't impressed the former RSL National President, Major-General Peter Phillips. He says the exhibition is likely to attract strong opposition from groups such as the RSL.

 

PETER PHILLIPS: It certainly shouldn't rank alongside the memorials that are already around Lake Burley Griffin, it would be totally out of place for what is essentially Australian memorials. The Siev-X was a great tragedy, but involved foreign nationals in a foreign country. To think that that would be put alongside the HMAS Canberra, for example, memorial, and the other memorials that are there I just think are inappropriate.

 

TIM JEANES: So what criteria will need to be met if the exhibition is to become permanent? Anna Jackson is from the National Capital Authority, which helps oversee such decisions.

 

ANNA JACKSON: Some of the criteria includes things like the monument must have cultural significance to the nation, and it needs to exemplify Australia's unique heritage and background. It then goes to the bipartisan committee of federal parliamentarians chaired by the Prime Minister.

 

TIM JEANES: Beth Gibbings says the memorial does meet requirements of being important to Australia's heritage.

 

BETH GIBBINGS: You know, these people, they were reaching out for the Australian dream. One of the survivors was talking about the children and the dreams they had of coming to Australia and what sort of life they would have. She was encouraging them to have big dreams, and she watched those children drown around her, and that's the story of Australians all over, is yes we have our dreams for being here in this country and they had theirs but they didn't get here.

 

PETER CAVE: Tasmanian visual artist Beth Gibbings, from the Siev-X National Memorial Project, ending that report from Tim Jeanes.

 

 

2.         “Development body rejects SIEV-X monument”,  ABC Canberra local radio 666, Saturday, 3 September 2005. 10:27 (AEST)Saturday, 3 September 2005. 10:27 (ACST)Saturday, 3 September 2005. 11:27 (AEDT)Saturday, 3 September 2005. 08:27 (AWST)

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/items/200509/1452461.htm?act

 

The body which controls development in Canberra has rejected a proposal to build a memorial for the asylum seekers who drowned when their boat, the SIEV-X, sank four years ago.

 

The National Capital Authority (NCA) says the proposal to establish a memorial on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin fails to meet its guidelines.

 

A group of artists and writers is pushing for a site to remember more than 350 asylum seekers who drowned when their Indonesian fishing vessel sank.

 

The NCA's Andrew Smith says proposals will not be considered until 10 years after the original event, and other issues will also need to be considered.

 

"Whether it sort of closely reflects the values and ideas of the Australian community," he said.

 

"I guess one other might be whether the work contributes to the education of all Australians and whether it talks about our unique cultural heritage, things that are sort of about nation building and help us identify ourselves as a nation."

 

3.         “ACT flags Canberra site for SIEV-X memorial”, ABC online
September 3, 2005. 7:33am (AEST)

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200509/s1452406.htm

 

The ACT Government says Canberra would be an appropriate location for a memorial to remember hundreds of asylum seekers who drowned when their boat the SIEV-X sank four years ago.

 

More than 350 asylum seekers were killed when the overcrowded Indonesian fishing vessel sank en route to Australia.

 

A group of artists and writers is pushing for a national memorial on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin.

 

Chief Minister Jon Stanhope says Australians should recognise the tragedy but it is for the Federal Government to consider first.

 

"This is a national Commonwealth issue, it's not an ACT specific or ACT Government issue," he said.

 

"At this stage I haven't given serious consideration to whether the ACT Government should step in if the Commonwealth Government is resistant to working with this particular group."

 

4.       Letter to the Editor from Tony Kevin,  published in Canberra Times 12 September 2005:

 

The 353 asylum-seekers who drowned in 2001 when their boat SIEV X sank in international waters between Indonesia and Christmas Island were mostly women and children, prevented from legally reuniting with their menfolk already here by punitive laws passed by our Parliament.

 

They drowned in international waters, as recently admitted by Ministers Vanstone and Ellison, and thus in Australia’s proclaimed military surveillance and interception zone which extended to 24 miles from Indonesia, in waters where Australia had primary duty of care.

 

How could anyone question the appropriateness of a national memorial in Canberra to the victims of this largest peacetime maritime disaster in our history? There are monuments around Australia commemorating people who drowned while trying to migrate here. How is SIEV X different? Are these deaths unworthy of remembrance because they did not have entry visas?

 

Nobody suggests a memorial on Anzac Parade, properly a place of military remembrance.

 

Nor should a SIEV X memorial be used for political purposes.

 

But Canberra is the heart of the nation, where we also commemorate our civilian triumphs and sorrows.

 

A SIEV X memorial certainly belongs here.

 

Tony Kevin, Forrest, Canberra.