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Thinh Vuong

Vessel numberHV000757

DimensionsVessel Dimensions: 16.64 m × 3.14 m (54.6 ft × 10.3 ft)

DescriptionTHINH VUONG was built in Rach Gia, Vietnam in 1977, near the Cambodian border. THINH VUONG is a 16.64m long beam-trawler, a typical fishing boat type and style of that region. It was used by refugees escaping Vietnam in the period after the fall of Saigon and South Vietnam. It left in March 1978 arrived as a Vietnamese refugee boat in Darwin in June 1978 with 9 people on board.

Following the end of the American – Vietnam War, thousands of political refugees fled their homeland in fishing boats and other small vessels. Many of these boats were overloaded and unseaworthy and the people on board suffered terrible hardships to reach Australia. A number were lost without trace. THINH VUONG was the 44th refugee boat to arrive in Australia after the Americans withdrew from Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) in April 1975. With the arrival of THINH VUONG, the total number of refugees arriving in Australia had reached 1548 people.

Most of the craft were abandoned or dismantled after their arrival, but a few such as THINH VUONG were taken over by local people and used as fishing boats for a period. It was eventually left in the mangroves until identified by Colin Jack-Hinton as a craft for the Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory (MAGNT) collection. In 1981 it was brought to the museum and spent a decade at least on display in the open near the waterfront.

THINH VUONG has the typical lines of a single chine Vietnamese fishing boat from its region Rach Gia, Vietnam. The bottom panel has a steeply veed section at the entry which quickly drops away to an almost flat bottom running aft the counter. The topsides are flat and almost vertical. It is an easy shape to build, appropriate for working offshore, and creates a big hold for fishing. This helped make it and other fishing craft suitable as a refugee boat in the late 1970s.

It is heavily built in some respects, and is carvel planked on frames with a keel, stem and stern framing, a large section sponson strake, a chine log and beam shelf. Some of the frame joints at the chine have brackets, but the structure was not exceptionally strong and now has the addition of s steel framed girder through the centreline to provide additional support along its length. The deck is planked over beams with an extensive line of hatches and related carlins down the middle of the deck. The cabin aft is framed up and fitted with panels, the cabin top is framed and covered in a fabric and tar compound. The vessel was powered by a 45hp Yanmar diesel engine which has been removed from the hull. It has largely original integrity.

THINH VUONG is a rare craft that can tell the story of the plight of the Vietnamese refugees in the 1970s and demonstrate how the fled the country in craft of simple construction that were never intended to go as far as they did in the open ocean. For any study of the refugees or ‘boat people’ of the period, this craft shows how they used their own resources and braved dangerous conditions to escape.

THINH VUONG is closely identified with the community of Vietnamese refugees throughout Australia, but in particular with those who came on the craft or are related to them. It has a very strong association with those people.

SignificanceTHINH VUONG is a Vietnamese fishing boat that was built in Vietnam in 1977. It was later used as a refugee boat. It has strong significance as it is one of very few examples extant of the many Vietnamese refugee vessels that came to Australia during the late 1970s period.