Jason Lu
| Town/City | Sydney |
|---|---|
| First name | Jason |
| Last name | Lu |
| Country of Origin | China |
| Date of Birth | 17/07/86 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1992 |
| Submitted by | Jason Lu |
Story
My Father came to Australia in 1989 in search for better education and lifestyle. With borrowed money he arrived to Australia in 1989. During that year the massacre of Tianmen suqare occured, and fortunately for him, Bob Hawke granted all Chinese students in Australia Permanent Residency, because he fell in love with the country he immediately applied for PR. Within 2 years he was able to pay off his debts and bring me and my mother over.
My first impressions of Australia as a child was quite negative, I started to miss my family at home and because I was an only child everything was very isolated for me, my parents worked very hard both of them had 2 jobs just to pay the rent in a flat we use to live in the inner west of Sydney, being an immigrant it was very hard to fit in with the rest of society, but throughout the years I came to grasp with everything around me and things started to look better for my family.
Eventually For my parents they managed to purchase a property for themselves from all the years working as cleaners, kitchen hands and as factory workers. This was rather hard on my dad as he was a university graduate in China and was unable to apply himself in Australian society because of a lack of English.
I think one thing which motivated me in my life was just after high school when I wasn’t admitted to university because of poor school grades, my parents were devastated. Their hope was so that I could live a much happier and better life then theirs through education. I failed them and my father asked me this one question, “Do you think it was a mistake for us to move to Australia?”. I never thought of it like that, it hit me like nothing before, here I am taking everything for granted, while their working hard so that I could have a better life. That was the turning point of my life.
Now I have graduated from university and enjoying every moment of it, I have big plans for the future, and one is to become a great Australian Architect. For me my life has just begun, even though my parents have dreams of returning home and being reunited with their family, my home and family will always be in Australia.
Jason
I dedicate this to my brilliant father who taught me everything I need to know to become a man, and my beautiful mother who taught me compassion and love.