Amal Basry's long journey finds home

The best-known survivor of the SIEV-X tragedy built a poignant legacy.

Amal Basry died on Saturday. Her death, after a long struggle with cancer, was a tragic irony; her life's journey, a mirror to our troubled times.

She understood, intuitively, that her experiences had much to tell us about who we are as a nation, and how we can become a more just and compassionate society.

Amal and her teenage son Amjed were among the 421 asylum seekers who boarded a 19.5-metre fishing boat in the pre-dawn darkness of October 18, 2001, in a Sumatran port. At 3.10pm the following day, the boat, now known as SIEV-X, capsized and sank on its way to Australia.

When Amal surfaced, as she put it, the gates of hell opened up - 353 men, women and children died. Amal clung to a corpse for more than 20 hours and was rescued by an Indonesian fishing boat the following morning. She begged the captain to search for her son. The boat picked up more survivors; the final one was Amjed.

After her arrival in Australia in mid-2002, Amal made it her mission to tell the story of the sinking. A woman of extraordinary courage, she would rise from her sickbed to address audiences in schools and colleges, at memorial services and public meetings.

She told her story with the passion of Coleridge's ancient mariner. She relived the terrifying images many times. "I was like a camera," she said. "I saw everything, people drowning and screaming."

During the night before her rescue, she saw the lights of three boats and joined other survivors clinging to debris in a desperate attempt to reach them, but the boats disappeared. This is among the many questions yet to be answered about the tragedy.

Amal was desperate for Australians to understand why she had risked her life to make the journey.

Her troubles began in 1980, with the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war. Her husband, Abbas al-Shiakhly, was conscripted and Amal left her job in the Bank of Iraq in Baghdad to look after their three young children in his absence. The eight-year war claimed an estimated 1 million lives.

During the Gulf War, in 1991, Amal's 20-year-old brother was killed in an American air strike. A second brother was executed by Saddam Hussein because he refused to take part in the fighting and a brother-in-law was killed in southern Iraq for taking part in a Shiite revolt against Saddam.

Abbas and two of his brothers were jailed and tortured in 1995. In 1997, a brother-in-law was arrested and has not been heard of since. It was time to escape. Amal and her family found sanctuary in northern Iraq with Kurds and, in 1999, fled to Iran. At this time, Australia was seen as a potential haven. Abbas left first and arrived by boat on the north-western coast of Australia in January 2000. After eight months in the Woomera detention centre, he was granted a temporary protection visa and settled in Melbourne.

Amal was determined to join him as soon as possible. He phoned her in Iran and warned her that the journey was dangerous. Amal could not wait - under the conditions of Abbas' temporary visa, the family faced years of separation. Amal embarked on her fateful journey with her youngest son in July 2001.

The trauma of the seven Australian-based survivors of the sinking was compounded because, unlike those accepted in other countries, they did not receive permanent protection. Amal was finally granted a permanent visa last year. Her spirits soared. "I am a free woman in a free country," she said.

In November, she was able to travel to Iran and Jordan to see her ailing father, elder son, daughter and four grandchildren. Before she left for the Middle East, she expressed a wish to be buried in Iraq should something happen, but on her return in February she said she wanted to end her days in Australia. She had come to love the country, and those who had welcomed her.

Amal will not be forgotten. Her tale will live on and become an Australian legend. She was a woman of great humour and humanity who became a friend to people from many backgrounds. She was loved by her fellow survivors, and became their outspoken champion.

She bore witness to the most tragic maritime disaster off Australian waters since World War II. Her experience is a powerful counter to the collective amnesia that has so quickly developed about the SIEV-X.

Yet it is the story of our ancestors writ large. It reminds us that the country has been built on the perilous journeys of our forebears, and the wisdom of the indigenous peoples of this land. These are the two great forces that have shaped us.

Amal's final wish was for her elder son, daughter and grandchildren to be allowed to settle in Australia. Let us hope that the culture of the Immigration Department has truly changed, and her wish is granted.

Arnold Zable is a Melbourne writer.