The organisers of a new campaign highlighting refugee success stories say they hope it will counter negative perceptions of asylum seekers.
The campaign I Came By Boat features Australians who arrived in the country by sea in desperate circumstances, then built lives and careers from the little they had.
Gareth Boreham has the story.
Dr Fern White runs a thriving dental clinic in Melbourne's bayside suburbs with an emphasis on helping the needy in the community.
"Our values that I try to instill into the practice are integrity and compassion and health. I've purposely mottoed it, 'Dentistry With Heart.'"
It is a long way from her family's escape from Vietnam more than 30 years ago, crammed aboard a leaky boat, leaving family members behind and carrying little but their clothes.
Fern White was only three months old then.
Now, she is one of the faces of a new campaign that tells inspiring stories of asylum seekers' struggles to success.
"Munjeb is the world's leader in osteo-integration surgery... Najiba has a Bachelor of Science and is now studying a second degree in international law."
From all parts of the globe, the stories come -- but with one thing in common.
"I came by boat." ... "I came by boat." ... "I came by boat." ... "People who seek asylum are forced onto the sea because it's safer than the land upon which they come from."
Founder Blanka Dudas, herself a Croatian refugee from the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s, came up with the concept.
She says she saw a British campaign in London designed to counter negative electioneering this year on the country's migrant influx.
"I thought it was a really good idea. To start with, I thought, 'Well, wouldn't it be great to do something like that here,' because there's been a lot of negative press about asylum seekers but not very much positive stuff.'"
Those behind the I Came By Boat campaign say it highlights the importance to society of giving refugees and asylum seekers the chance to give back to their new communities.
Fern White says it is those values inherited from her parents that she is now keen to instill in her nine-month old daughter.
"I think gratitude is the key. You know, looking back and seeing what we've got, as opposed to trying to think about all that we could lose."
The organisers are seeking to raise funds for posters on public transport and billboards next.
They hope to inspire others to come forward with their own tales of battling adversity to make a new life on foreign shores.
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