Dark Dreams
Australian Refugee Stories
by young writers aged 11–20 years
Edited by Sonja Dechian, Heather Millar and Eva Sallis

This is the first of three books in the series, the brilliant follow-up just published: No Place Like Home and the third to come in 2006.

This is a unique anthology of essays, interviews and stories written by children and young adults, selected from hundreds collected through a nationwide schools competition in 2002. These stories are shocking, moving, and at times funny, with the quirky humour of children. Some focus on survival, some on the experiences and challenges of a new world.

A central theme that emerges is friendship - friendships lost and remembered, and friendships found, now, in Australia.

This book will have a key role to play in schools across Australia.

‘I read the essays with curiosity and a great deal of emotion. They would melt the hardest heart. The real treasures are the stories told by young refugees themselves, and by the children of people who fled to Australia a generation ago. Some of the more recent arrivals here have struggled with a language not their own, and have produced stories we will never be able to forget.’
– Helen Garner

‘To read this collection has been an experience both painful and rewarding. The accounts which communicate the traumatic events sear us with their authenticity and their humanity. From Holocaust survivors, Vietnamese boat people on to contemporary refugees fleeing oppression in Afghanistan or Iraq, Sri Lanka or Africa, these are accounts we must heed, and learn from.’
– Tom Shapcott

‘We have not been allowed to know the (recent)refugees as human beings – as men, women and children, as mothers and husbands, sons and daughters. These stories change all that and force a personal response from the reader. What a pity Australia’s bigots can’t be persuaded to read these accounts. It might, just might, make them more understanding and compassionate.’
– Phillip Adams

‘Many contributors spoke of their newfound realisation of the plight of the refugee. Some wrote of their own family members, others went to extraordinary lengths to meet strangers and hear their stories. In every case, the hearing of that story, first hand, had a profound effect on the listener. The strength of the contributions is very heartening, holding out hope that through the children of this country we may see our nation develop in a compassionate, inclusive and responsible way.’
– Meme McDonald and Libby Gleeson

Edited by Sonja Dechian, Heather Millar and Eva Sallis. Eva Sallis’s first novel Hiam won The Australian Vogel and the Dobbie Literary Awards. She is co-founder of Australians Against Racism and is a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide.

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