Chris Abideen

Story

In December 1987, my family consisting of my father (Zainul), mother (Jacinta), brother (Gerard) and myself made the decision to leave our homeland of Singapore to migrate to Australia for a chance at a better life. I was 5 years old at the time and my older brother was 9.

Australia was the country of choice due to the fact that my mother had a number of brothers and sister which had migrated to Australia in previous years and my family believed it would be best if we could be with the rest of the extended family.

My Father was a qualified crane operator so we knew that there would be no shortage of work in Australia.

My mother\’s older brother Ulric sponsored my family\’s migration to Australia and we stayed with him and his wife, Thesa, for a number of months until we were settled in.

Shortly after we moved into a property located in North Canberra and in 1989 my sister Sharon came along, followed by my sister Kathy in 1990. I attended primary school at Spence Primary School, high school at Melba High and did my college education at Copland College, I finished my school years in 2000.

In 2002 I met my partner Amy and moved to Gungahlin in 2003. In 2004, our son Tyrone was born, followed by our daughter Aaliyah in 2007. After many years in the private sector I managed to secure a position in the Australian Public Service with the Department of Immigration & Citizenship in 2008.

In my 20 plus years in Australia, I have seen many beautiful places and met many kind people. I am proud to call myself Australian and I am thankful that my family made the decision to migrate to here. I look forward to raising my children in this beautiful country and I know that they will grow up with an appreciation for the life this country provides.

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