At a launch gathering at Armagh Centre, LIV Executive Director Trịnh Hữu Long spoke online about preserving history, bridging generations, and seeking truth beyond the divides of 1975.
More than 20 people gathered in Melbourne on Sunday, October 4, for the launch of The 1975 Truth-Telling Internship. Most were Vietnamese Australians who had fled communist rule, alongside other international attendees. Long joined the event online.
The gathering took place at Armagh Centre, a century-old house in Toorak that serves as the Australia-Pacific Centre for Initiatives of Change and a venue for community programs and events. It was organized by Trịnh Quỳnh-Trâm, Nguyễn Thiên Giang, Arthur Nguyễn, and LIV’s friends and supporters.
The internship is tailored for young Vietnamese Australians from refugee families, for whom exploring their heritage can mean confronting displacement, political division, and intergenerational trauma. During a six-week residency in Taipei, participants will study Vietnamese history from multiple perspectives and explore contemporary Vietnam through reporting, writing, and filmmaking.
In addition to recording stories from Vietnamese refugees and diaspora communities, they will also collect and catalogue books, newspapers, and other materials related to the Republic of Vietnam for public access through the Luật Khoa Library. The program equips participants with practical media and research skills while strengthening their confidence, cultural identity, and mutual connections.
“Truth is the anchor for all of us,” Long said. “We seek truth as a shared human value, regardless of which side any of us belongs to – whether the winning side, the losing side, the neutral side, or any other side. Independent journalism and the internship program are ways for us to seek and preserve truth for ourselves and for future generations.”
The event invited attendees to listen to one another and engage in a dialogue about the Vietnamese diaspora’s stories and history since 1975.
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