After the fall of south Vietnam in 1975, a lot of Vietnamese people tried to escape to search for freedom & democracy as we could not live under the Vietnamese communist regime. Hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese people left Vietnam, came to refugee camps in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Hong Kong and settled in third countries over the world. The Vietnamese Refugee Community in Sydney started providing support and guidance services to Vietnamese refugees to Australia since the Campaign Committee for the Establishment of the Vietnamese Free. The Vietnamese refugee community opened a Help and Guidance Office for Vietnamese Refugees on John Street, Cabramatta at the end of 1977. However, the activities of this office are very limited due to lack of facilities. All operating and office rental funds are funded by the Committee’s volunteers and students without any government funding.
It wasn’t until two years later (1979) when the Council of Vietnamese Organizations was established that these activities were expanded when the Federal Government and the State of NSW began funding the Grant In Aid Program (GIA), Social Welfare and Youth Services. That’s when the first Community Social Workers started providing support services to Vietnamese Communist Refugees in Sydney.
Ten years later (1989) the number of Vietnamese refugees increased, the needs of Social Security increased, and the number of Vietnamese Social Workers increased rapidly, but there were still many difficulties in social services due to new problems. Differences in culture, way of educating children, and the environment of struggle for daily life have made the relationship between family and children become disjointed, degraded, conflicted, and from there arise social evils such as drugs, gambling, domestic violence… that our Vietnamese Community has suffered for nearly two decades. Young people are almost left out of the “safety system”, having to strive to grow up in a new society with all the confusion and difficulties that are not oriented. Recognizing the urgent needs of Vietnamese youth, a group of Social Workers met every two months under the chairmanship of Mr. Nguyen Tiep to share their experiences and opinions expressing their interest in the future of Vietnamese youth in Australia. From these initial meetings, the Vietnamese Australian Welfare Association (VAWA) was formed.
On 14 September 1990, the Vietnamese Australian Welfare Association in New South Wales Incorporated officially registered to become an association under the name The Vietnamese Australian Welfare Association in New South Wales Incorporated – registration number Y 10331-18, activities and close contact with the Vietnamese Workers Interagency (VWI) at that time. After registration, a plenary session was held, and Mr. Le Hien was elected as the first President of the Association for the term 1990-1991.
In 1991, the Vietnamese Association of Social Workers Australia did not have an office or staff but received a small grant from the Department of Immigration, Local Government and Ethnic Affairs (DILGEA) for a research program called “Opportunity and Equity in Education”. Jobs and Training for Vietnamese Youth”. However, due to limited resources, including human resources used for this research, the Vietnamese Australian Welfare Association had to sign a contract to assign the Ethnic Community Council (ECC) to carry out this study for Vietnamese youth in many fields, with special emphasis on the field of Education, Employment and Training.
After the results of the study were published, the Executive Committee of the Vietnamese Australian Welfare Association held a meeting with the aim of following up on the findings and recommendations from the study. However, until that time, Vietnamese Australian Welfare Association still did not have an office, equipment, and staff, so most of the work was carried out by the members of the Association.
During the First Annual General Meeting, Ms. Le Nguyet Anh was appointed to the position of President for the term 1991-1992. When the new Executive Committee realized that if it continued like this, the Association’s activities would be slow and ineffective in serious matters, so VAWA applied for funding from DILGEA (now the Department of Immigration and Nationality – DIAC) through the Settlement Assistance (GIA) program.
After receiving funding (1992), VAWA acquired its first staff member and hired a desk at the former Campsie Migrant Resources Centre (MRC). The first employee was Ms. Anne-Marie ELIAS-SCHNEIDER, who was one of the researchers in the research program. After ten months, Ms. Anne-Marie applied for maternity leave and Mr. Tran T. Tri temporarily replaced her for 4 months as a Temporary Plantation Worker. Meanwhile, Anne-Marie resigned to go home to take care of her first child full-time. At the same time, VAWA hold the Second Annual General Meeting, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Hung was elected for the 1992-1993 term. The priority of the new President and the new Executive Committee was to recruit a new GIA Employee. Mr. Le Hien has been appointed among more than half a dozen excellent candidates. After only six months, Mr. Hien left and was replaced by Mr. Nguyen Ninh. During this time, Mr. Nguyen Ninh began working on the VAWA Newsletter for the NSW community of Social and Community Workers. This was the first edition to be unique in Australia. Mr. Nguyen Dinh Hung continued as President of the Association for one more term (1993-1994) and was replaced by Mr. Thomas Nguyen for a further two terms (1994-1995 & 1995-1996).
Over the next three years (1996), VAWA went from “one desk, one employee” to having its own office in Bankstown Plaza and purchasing a bus for community services. Mr. Nguyen Dinh Hung continued as President of the Association for one more term (1993-1994) and was replaced by Mr. Thomas Nguyen for a further two terms (VAWA also received an additional grant from the Department of Community Services (DOCS) to have an additional Homeless Youth Support Worker (HYSW). In parallel with this role, VAWA took over the housekeeper of two apartments in Bass Hill to provide accommodation and support for Indochinese teenagers. The first employee to hold this position was Mr. Nguyen Duc (1996).
Mr. Nguyen Dinh Hung returned to the position of Chairman to replace Mr. Thomas in the term of 1996-1997.
After two years, Mr. Duc Nguyen resigned from the Youth Homeless Position, Mr. Ninh Nguyen also left VAWA to take up a teaching and facilitator job at TAFE after three years of active contribution to VAWA’s services. VAWA once again had its Annual General Meeting during such turmoil. Mr. Nguyen Dinh Hung stepped down as Chairman, Mr. Nguyen Vinh replaced him for the 1997-1998 term and has continued this role for five consecutive terms (1998-1999, 1999-2000, 2000-2001 & 2001-2002) and has become the longest Chairman of VAWA to date.
The first task of Mr. Vinh and the new Executive Committee was to recruit two new employees for the two positions of GIA and HYSW. Mr. Tran T. Tri was temporarily appointed to the position of Coordinator (1996) to carry out reports and organize the Annual General Meeting and operated VAWA services while waiting for a permanent arrangement.
Both the positions of Youth Policy Development & Coordinator (YPD&C) and Homeless Youth Support Officer (HYSW) were declared vacant, and the recruitment process began (1998).
After six weeks of searching and interviewing, Mr. Tran T. Tri was appointed to the position of Youth Development Officer and Coordinator (YD&C) with the main tasks such as: organizing the recruitment of Homeless Youth Support Staff (HYSW), complete the remaining tasks during the absence of staff, reorganize the VAWA office, and apply for additional funding for both positions (YPD&C and HYSW). Mr. Tri left the organization in 2006. At the same time, the role of Coordinator was abolished and the YDP program was changed to SGP (Settlement Grant Program) funded by the Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs. Ms. Tran Thi Kim Anh was hired as the Executive Officer of this program until 2010 when this sponsorship program ended.
Since 1998, the position of Homeless Youth Support Officer (HYSW) has been replaced by Sorn Yin (after Mr. Duc’s resignation), Dao Van Nhon, Ngo Yen Nga, Nguyen Kieu Phi in 1998 and Ms. Phi continued until early 2001. After that, Thach My Ly and Tran Chau took turns running until mid-2003, when they were replaced by Mr. Le Duc Ai. After five terms, Mr. Vinh resigned and, in the 12th, Annual General Meeting, Ms. Chanta Christie Mau was elected to replace the position of President of VAWA for the term 2002-2003 and continued for a second term in 2003-2004.
Up to this point, VAWA has had a separate office that no longer depends on anyone. VAWA has realigned some projects that we have previously collaborated with other organizations. We cut costs to have money for a fax machine (yes, VAWA didn’t have a fax line before, nor a fax machine), a photocopier, and an additional computer for Project Staff or Volunteers to use. VAWA also moved to the front of the building to get a separate office instead of having to share it with a friendly organization. We are still located in this building because it is convenient for us to share two large meeting rooms with other parts of the same building. And it is also here that we have reigned to this day at 6-8 Saigon Place (old street name: Bankstown City Plaza) Bankstown, right opposite the Bankstown train station. After two terms, Chanta Mau resigned, and Mr. Diep Thanh Hoang was elected at the Annual General Meeting to the position of President for the first two-year term (2004-2006) after the Internal Regulations were amended. However, after just over a year, due to an internal dispute, Mr. Hoang Diep resigned, and Ms. Ho Thuy Ai was temporarily appointed as a replacement until the Annual General Meeting. Because of the ongoing difficulties that hindered the running of the Association, Ms. Ai convened an Extraordinary General Meeting in June 2006 to resolve the issue. On this occasion, Mr. Nguyen Dang Khoa volunteered to reorganize the activities of VAWA and was nominated by the Extraordinary Meeting to Handle the Standing Position of the President to carry out those reorganization works until the Annual General Meeting. At the 17th Annual General Meeting, Mr. Ambrose Dinh Quoc Hung was elected as a President for the terms 2007-2009; He was then elected for 2009-2011, 2011-2013, 2013-2015, 2015-2017, 2017-2019, 2019-2021, 2021-2023 to continue the necessary reforms for the existence of VAWA. Since the beginning of 2010, the Homeless Youth Support Program (HYSW) has been replaced by the Ministry of Family and Community Services with the “Early Intervention and Placement Prevention Program” (EIPP), Mr. Ai Le resigned and temporarily replaced by Ms. Kim Anh Tran until the recruitment of new staff is completed. Mr. Phan An was recruited and started working in July 2011. After six months, Mr. An Phan resigned and Ms. Kim Anh continued to temporarily wait for the recruitment of new employees to be completed. Mr. Pham Van Duyet was accepted and officially accepted the task from July 2012 until 2020. Mr Tri Than took over the position form 2020 – 30.6.2023. Mr Joanne Tra got offered the position but resigned a few months later. Mrs Hanh Tran applied and was successful for the TEI position from December 2023 until current (2024).
Since then, the Vietnamese Australian Welfare Association, with a stable Executive Committee and dedicated staff and the support of Volunteers, has succeeded in strengthening internally, developing the organization, correcting the way of life to achieve maximum efficiency and effectively provide all services in accordance with the standards of funding agencies for Vietnamese youth and their families who are in distress and may be in critical situations. At the same time, in a spirit of voluntariness, the Association continues to help its compatriots and newly arrived refugees in matters of settlement and migration.
After 17 years serving for VAWA, due to the personal health and ageing issues, Mr Ambrose Dinh Quoc Hung stepped down; Mr Hoang Diep was elected as a President for 2023-2025. Mrs Doan Trang was the Treasurer from September 2023 and resigned in April 2024. The current Management Committee members include Mr Minh Tran, Mr Toan Nguyen and Mr Tommy Trinh.
Reviewed in July 2024