Another load of refugees at Darwin

Press, 28 November 1977, Page 6

Another load of refugees at Darwin

NZPA Darwin, Another 27 refugees, found accidentally just outside Dar-, win Harbour, have joined the I swelling numbers from; South-East Asia surging' through Australia's "gateway j to the north."

The latest refugee boat, the twenty-fifth since the peace-time invasion of Australia's northern coastline began, and the eighth in the last six days, was right on course for Darwin Harbour when it chugged across the bow of the Naw patrol boat Ardent late on Saturday evening. The Ardent was returning from a three-week tour of Gulf of Carpentaria fishing grounds, and immediately pulled the dull grey refugee boat into escort.

The latest arrival, which boosted the number of refugees to reach Darwin to 742, again embarrassed the Darwin naval base responsible for surveillance of Australia’s northern waters. Last Monday two refugee boats were able to slip right into the harbour and tie up at a wharf before any official knew of their presence.

Two Grumman tracker aircraft criss-crossed the Timor Sea for the previous three days without sighting the latest boat, and it was less than 20km from the entrance to Darwin Harbour! when it chanced across the Ardent.

Navy spokesmen are now reluctant to declare the seas close to Darwin free of more

i, refugee vessels, simply con* I fining themselves to com* I merits that nothing had been jseen. Late yesterday the h Ardent set out again tc i patrol outside Darwin, aniui II reports of another, much ; larger, refugee vessel being inot far away.

>1 The Australian Naw is ?, treating seriously reports ■ from South-East Asia that a ■ huge fleet of about 60 re* s fugee boats has set out from > the island of Tengah, off the ‘ east coast of Malaysia. t The refugees who arrived : yesterday were all men —2l Chinese and six Vietnamese. A man aboard who spoke I English said the group left f Saigon on October 20 and ;ihad sailed virtually straight ’ to Darwin. “i He said the boat had been 'fuelled and provisioned by

| boats which met them off , Singapore and Indonesia. They had been told not to put ashore at either place, but to head on for Darwin. They had no gold and little money, the man said. But they were in good health after the five-week trip. The Minister of Immigra-* tion and Ethnic Affairs (Mr MacKellar) said that more re-

r fugee boats were expected to i arrive at Darwin, including s one carrying about 180 ; ; people. But, he said, there si was no substance to rumours -.of an armada on the way. '! Stories of rich business* ‘ men arriving posing as boat refugees, and of rackets to

vi bring people to Australia in si boats had no known foundaeltion. Mr MacKellar said.