It was love at first sight when an Australian sailor spotted a petite girl named Claudia in a telephone booth in Hong Kong in the early 1970s.
For three years the pair exchanged letters before William Cream popped the question.
"He did kneel down and propose," Claudia says. "So that’s how I came to Australia. We married here."
For Claudia, then 17, it was an escape from a loveless childhood with a man who - at 37 years her senior - was more like a father than her own.
"My parents didn’t care about me at all. [I was] almost like an orphan with parents, so they lumped me all over the place with relatives," she says.
Her entire family opposed the marriage and disowned her, saying she wasn’t welcome to return unmarried or divorced.
One uncle, however, did offer this advice to William: "Nobody in our family went to university, so if you’re going to marry my niece you make sure she has a good education."
Claudia says her first day in Australia was a culture shock. There were hardly any people compared to bustling Hong Kong, and their roles were very different.
"[It was] strange in a way because in Hong Kong there were no white people doing manual work," she says.
"When I came to Australia I thought 'Oh my god, all these white people doing all this manual work.' In Hong Kong in those days white people had very good jobs, never lowly work."
Her husband kept his promise and sent his bride to university. “I just wanted to be a teacher but he said 'No, no, you do a law degree, do the best you can’.”
She was the first Asian woman to graduate in law in South Australia.
Her contemporaries included (Premier) Jay Weatherill and (Chief Justice) Chris Kourakis.
But for a young women of her background, work was impossible to find and she was rejected from more than 200 jobs.
Undeterred, she started her own practice and it turned out her timing was perfect. An influx of Asian refugees looking to establish new lives fuelled demand for migration and business legal advice.
After he had a stroke, Claudia nursed her husband for five years until his death ended a 30-year love affair.
She has also won accolades for her community work, including a coveted Governor’s Multicultural Award.
Today, Claudia Cream thinks her adopted home is well on its way to multicultural vibrancy.
"We’re doing much better," she says. "When I arrived, it was strange to hear another language spoken on the street, now you hear it all the time and nobody even thinks twice about it.
"So we are becoming more multicultural but there are parts of mainstream Australia who still don’t understand Asian culture and aren't positive about it."
Were you born overseas? We'd love to hear about your first impression of Australia as a new migrant. Whatever your background, tell us your story in words, pictures or tweets. Contact us on sbsnews@sbs.com.au or via Twitter @SBSNews using the hashtag #Day1SBS
Share
