Survivors of the treacherous journey made by 47 people in the early 1980s gathered to watch the footage of the rescue by an American gas tanker.
It shows the crew using a laundry basket to rescue the children and a net to haul up the pregnant women, including the mother of then two-year-old Minh Vu.
She told SBS she grew up only half believing her parents dramatic story in which they were attacked by pirates and left with no food for five days before being rescued by an American gas tanker.
“Ever since I have seen that tape, I see myself as a proud refugee,” she said.
“I am a boat person and I am very proud of it.
Her mother said her family risked the journey to find freedom.
“I left the country to seek freedom for my son, my daughter, my unborn baby and my husband,” she said.
The first boatload of refugees fleeing Vietnam arrived in Darwin in 1976, followed by more than 2000 over the next five years.
The UN high Commission for Refugees estimates that up to four hundred thousand Vietnamese died at sea.
Share
