Last flight out of Dili
Memoirs of an accidental activist in the triumph of East Timor
by David Scott

'Last Flight from Dili' is David Scott's remarkable story of East Timor's rise from 'hopeless cause' to freedom, giving us a unique insight into the people and events that have shaped East Timor's recent turbulent history.

Australian humanitarian aid leader David Scott was in Dili on 28 November, 1975 at the swearing in of the cabinet of the Democratic Republic of East Timor. Next day he was ordered to leave by the Australian Government who were aware of the impending large-scale Indonesian invasion. Australia's role in these terrible events is critically documented. He uses personal correspondence with José Ramos-Horta to give immediacy to the story. His use of recently released Australian Government documents adds to the intrigue of these dramatic events.

'Last Flight out of Dili ' is also an account of the hardship, loneliness and dangers that the young José Ramos Horta experienced in his remarkable commitment to keeping East Timor on the United Nations' agenda for 24 years.

David Scott uncovers evidence of Australian complicity in the Indonesian occupation of East Timor and his book is an indictment of the actions of successive Australian governments who abandoned East Timor to years of repression, destruction and mass killings.

Why did successive Australian Governments betray the people of East Timor by supporting the Indonesian occupation? And how was it that ordinary Australian people including non government organizations continued through the long years to support the struggle for independence? David Scott answers these questions so that future generations of East Timorese and Australians will know what really happened and why.

David Scott has spent a good part of his life committed to the cause of East Timor, first going there in November 1975 just a few days before the Indonesian invasion, but forced to leave on the last flight out of Dili.

With a foreword by Timor-Leste Foreign Minister, José Ramos-Horta.

"Last Flight out of Dili is a memoir which is well worth reading. It is an informed personal account by an author who has played an important part for many decades in social welfare and foreign aid circles in Australia."
John Tomlinson, Online Opinion

"David inspired confidence in me in 1975. Time only reinforced our first impression of that mild-mannered, good hearted, wonderful man." José Ramos-Horta, East Timor’s Foreign Minister

Format: Paperback
Pages: 414
Size: 152 mm x 232 mm