Bonded through Tragedy, United in Hope
Hilton Deakin with Jim and Therese D’Orsa
May 2017, Garratt Publishing, Victoria (Australia)
BOOK LAUNCH
Cardinal Knox Centre, 383 Albert St, East Melbourne, Thursday 1 June 2017 : 6pm
Special Guest: Bishop of Parramatta, Vincent Long Van Nguyen OFM
“The first detailed account of the interaction of the Vatican, the Indonesian government, the Indonesian Catholic Church, the Australian government, Australians and others dedicated to justice and human rights, and the Australian Catholic Church” BISHOP VINCENT LONG VAN NGUYEN, Bishop of Parramatta
“Bishop Hilton gave us a voice in Australia, at a time when our struggle was largely forgotten or ignored, and around the world in various forums within the Catholic Church and wider community” XANANA GUSMÃO, Resistance leader, first President-Timor Loro Sa’e
“A ripping yarn of how one Australian bishop stood in solidarity, through oppression and liberation, with downtrodden people who rose up and established the newest nation in our region. This larger-than-life voice witnessed much human misery and triumph, and found a new life in the politics and advocacy of human rights, mixing with people he would never have met in the Church” FRANK BRENNAN SJ., Professor of Law, Australian Catholic University
There was a festive air in the Cardinal Knox Centre at the launch of this important book by Hilton Deakin, the Australian Catholic bishop and formidable social justice campaigner who was closely involved in East Timor’s independence struggle, and has been the Patron of the Australia West Papua Association (Melbourne) since the turn of the millennium in 2000.
Four Catholic institutions—Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne, Yarra Institute of Religion and Social Policy, Australian Catholic University, Garratt Publishing—joined in solidarity to bring about a special evening sparkling with good food, good music, good information, and the congeniality and conviviality of the West Papuan and East Timorese communities in Melbourne. In the background, but with only small mention, were the negotiations between the Australian and East Timorese governments over their nations’ oily borderlands, and a record of both states’ appalling support for West Papua’s independence and self-determination.
For service to the international community, particularly through the Catholic aid agency, Caritas Australia, and to the people of East Timor, Bishop Deakin received the Order of Australia, Order of the Republic of East Timor, and the Martinho da Costa Lopes Medal (the one he cherished).
Dapur Sampari (Papua kitchen) from the West Papua Women’s Office-Docklands set the scene for the book launch, serving a spectacular chicken-and-corn soup in hand-hewn coconut bowls to guests as they entered the Australian Catholic University lecture room. After the speeches, Timorese coffee was served with Papua cupcakes.
Lobar Wainggai’s hand-hewn coconut bowls. Lobar and 42 other Papuan asylum seekers circumnavigated their huge homeland in a double-outrigger canoe and crossed Torres Strait to Australia in 2005-6.
Click for PDF of Launch Program Launch, Bonded through tragedy
Relevant media interviews with Bishop Hilton Deakin
1. With Philip Adams, Late Night Live, ABC Radio National, 12 June 2017
2. With Jan Bartlett, 3CR Community Radio, Fitzroy (Part 1)
3. With Jan Bartlett, 3CR Community Radio, Fitzroy (Part 2)
