There’s no substitute for hard work for Endeavour Hills resident Hector De Santos.
When he landed from Burma with his young family in 1969, he worked three jobs for about 70 hours a week.
During weekdays, he was a factory clerk. Weeknights, a kitchen hand. And weekends, a wedding photographer.
He didn’t have executive qualifications, but he could earn an executive’s wage, he says.
“There were plenty of jobs in those days – as much work as you wanted.”
In between, he ran from Clayton to his Moorabbin workplace in training for marathons.
His and many other migrant success stories feature in a multi-media exhibition Heartlands 2018: What Makes An Australian.
The photographic exhibition is deepened by a series of web-based stories on the subjects such as Mr De Santos.
“It’s important for the general public to realise the atrocities that migrants have been through,” he said.
“Before, migrants came here for a better life. Now they don’t often have a choice.”
Mr De Santos wanted to make the most of his opportunities after fleeing abject conditions under a military government in Burma.
In retirement, the 72-year-old granddad still believes in not wasting a second.
He volunteers as an English tutor at migrant and refugee settlement agency AMES Australia, helps at a Burmese community garden at Springvale and joins plantings at the lush Frog Hollow Reserve near his home.
“I just want to give back to the community because from the start, everyone helped me.”
The new arrivals that he helps at AMES face harder challenges to find work than in the past, especially due to language barriers.
Some of his middle-aged students tell him they’re too old to learn English. Well, Mr De Santos has just started learning Mandarin, ahead of his backpacking trip to China.
He’s no stranger to world travel and undaunted as the oldest person in backpack hostels – it’s the best way to meet people, he says.
A mosaic map of Australia – including Tasmania – has been installed just inside his home’s front door.
“Australia welcomed me, now I welcome people to Australia each day.”
The ‘Heartlands 2018: What Makes an Australian’ exhibition is at Walker Street Gallery, corner Walker and Robinson streets, Dandenong. The stories are at: www.ames.net.au/australianmade/australian-made-migrant-stories
