What they brought from Vietnam: Tuyet’s favourite frying panWhat they brought from Vietnam: Tuyet’s favourite frying pan 

Tuyet’s favourite frying pan

Few objects in the Australian National Maritime Museum’s collection seem as ordinary as the small metal frying pan Tuyet Lu carried aboard Tự do on her journey to Australia in 1977.

At first glance it is simply a cooking utensil, worn by use to a point of almost being unusable. However, for Australia’s migration and refugee stories, it might be one of the most significant objects that still exist in museum collections. It is not a treasured heirloom, but a favourite everyday object. It belonged to a family who made it to Australia as refugees during the ‘boat people’ crisis. 
 

The frying pan and the journey of the Tự do

The pan accompanied the Lu family on one of the most consequential journeys of their lives. Following the end of the Vietnam War and the reunification of Vietnam under communist rule, they like many other families, were confronted with many difficult decisions. As head of the family, Tan Thanh Lu was both responsible for the safety of the family and in a way the cause of its distress. He had fought for the South Vietnamese government in the Vietnam War, and was also a prime target for the new communist regime in Vietnam because of his successful business ventures. That is why he organized the construction of Tự do and its use as a boat to flee from Vietnam.

In September 1977, the boat left Vietnam carrying almost 40 refugees. They were desperately seeking safety and a new beginning in another country. Space on board was extremely limited, and people couldn’t afford to bring along unnecessary belongings. Tuyet, the wife of Mr Lu, was pregnant at the time, and often seasick. Still, she was one of those responsible for cooking on the journey. The voyagers relied on provisions such as rice, noodles, coconuts as well as tinned fish and dried fish.

The journey of Tự do is unique because it was successful. The boat did not fall prey to pirates or had any major emergencies. In a refugee crisis that saw sinkings as well as pirate attacks, it was the lucky boat. Supported by extensive preparation, it made it all the way to Australia in one piece. Many others didn’t.

The Lu's family takeaway shop in Wollongbar, Northern NSW.

Reproduced courtesy of the Lu family.

 

In Australia

One lucky survivor of the journey was the frying pan. After reaching Darwin, the Lu family spent time in the quarantine station there before being sent to Wacol Migrant Hostel in Brisbane. Like many newly arrived migrants and refugees, they came across unfamiliar foods and living conditions. The family continued to use the frying pan in the hostel, trying to prepare Vietnamese dishes when hostel meals proved unappealing. In this new setting, the frying pan suddenly became a tool for maintaining cultural identity. Through the frying pan, the family could preserve traditions and recreate familiar tastes, while maintaining a tangible connection to the life they had left behind and still carried with them. 

This continuity is particularly important when considering the broader story of migration and settlement. Refugees often arrive with very few possessions. Objects that survive the journey become anchors of memory, both for them and later for collecting institutions. They provide a tangible link between past and present, homeland and destination. The frying pan accompanied the Lu family across national borders and through major social transformations. 

Cooking for a living

After leaving the migrant hostel, the family was now becoming part of the wider Australian community. With limited employment opportunity, the family opened a series of restaurants. Cooking had transformed again, and now it was a task of economic survival, which proved to be challenging. Not every restaurant venture was successful. It took a move to Lismore and another new start to finally find a place where the family could flourish. The frying still played a role in each of their restaurants, until it was no longer fit for use. But it was not thrown away, but kept.

Seen in this context, the frying pan is an object about belonging. Decades after the voyage of Tự do, the frying pan remains a powerful witness to these experiences. Battered and well used, it carries traces of a remarkable journey. Together with the boat they came on and the voyager's stories, it has found a new home in the Australian National Maritime Museum collection.