He chooses this kind of retail because "every Lee and Lah" opens Asian grocery stores. Through hard work they move from a hostel into rented accommodation in Footscray, a modest house in Braybrook, and on to the home they build in Avondale Heights.Īlice’s father manages electrical appliance franchises. The story opens with the "Wah-sers" agog at the city sights and sounds, thrilled with the cheap plastic products, and grateful for the largesse of "Father Government" and Brother Laurence. Chinese Cambodians, they are already twice displaced and are desperate to succeed in Australia. In Unpolished Gem, narrator Alice and her mother overcome a huge range of difficulties in their lonely efforts to pursue the "Great Australian Dream".Īlice is born in Melbourne shortly after her parents and her paternal grandmother and aunt arrive from a refugee camp in Vietnam. When most migrants face huge cultural barriers to resettlement, it seems highly Anglo-centric to think that tests are more appropriate than encouragement and sensitive assistance. The controversy over proposed English tests for prospective Australian citizens suggests an essentially selfish attitude to immigrants. Alice Pung, Unpolished Gem, Black Inc., Melbourne, 2006.
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