One morning in August 2001, Julietta Jameson heard an ABC radio interview with Captain Don O’Donnell, the harbour master of Christmas Island. He was describing the moving send-off the islanders had given the Tampa – the Norwegian freighter that had rescued hundreds of asylum seekers off the coast of Indonesia.
Australian public debate on this issue was passionate and polarised, and Julietta was struggling to make sense of her own response. As she listened to Captain O’Donnell, she knew she needed to find out more. The solution became clear. Julietta decided to go to Christmas Island.
She had no idea what to expect: how could a detention centre possibly co-exist with life on a beautiful tropical island? That were the islanders like, and how had the Tampa crisis affected them and their way of life? But Julietta was also seeking answers for herself, in her own life. And what began as a journey to discover a place ended with many other discoveries.
Christmas Island, Indian Ocean is an honest, open-hearted account of one persons’ search for answers. The result is a deeply affecting and personal record of an extraordinary place at an extraordinary time.