The Good Sea: The Journey of the Tasi Diak and the Politics of Refugee Protection in Australia

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Vannessa Hearman

The Good Sea

Name: The Good Sea
Price: 36.99 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9780522881677

The Journey of the Tasi Diak and the Politics of Refugee Protection in Australia

Vannessa Hearman

$36.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
Pre-Order now

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English

Melbourne University Press
14 April 2026

Refugees & political asylum; Migration, immigration & emigration; Ethnic minorities & multicultural studies; Political activism

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.

By: Vannessa Hearman
Imprint: Melbourne University Press
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 153mm,
ISBN: 9780522881677
ISBN 10: 052288167X
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 14 April 2026
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Vannessa Hearman is a historian of Southeast Asia specialising in political violence, human rights, and historical memory in Indonesia and Timor-Leste. Born in Indonesia and based at Curtin University in Western Australia, she is the author of the critically acclaimed Unmarked Graves: Death and Survival in the Anti-Communist Violence in East Java, Indonesia.