The Good Sea

First, I thought the boat was going to split in two and sink. Some of us could not swim. We were all going to die if the boat sank. But I thought, ‘Oh well, we have made it this far; if we die, we will be considered heroes, there will be flowers in the sea.’

In May 1995, after five days and six nights on the Timor Sea, eighteen East Timorese asylum seekers, including a six-month-old baby, sailed into Darwin in a small wooden fishing boat. The Tasi Diak was the only boat to reach Australia throughout the 24-year Indonesian occupation of East Timor.

Drawing on archives, government records, media reports and interviews with the asylum seekers, The Good Sea tells the dramatic story of their perilous journey to Australia. It traces the lives of young activists in the East Timor underground. It examines the powerful impact of the boat’s arrival on Australia’s relationship with Indonesia in the last years of the Suharto regime – and how it energised the campaign for East Timor’s independence.

When the lights of Darwin came into view for the Tasi Diak refugees, it marked the beginning of an almighty struggle to challenge powerful interests on a distant shore. Critically, this boat arrival would herald the start of Australia’s worsening treatment of asylum seekers, raising questions about a humane refugee regime and respect for human rights.