Month: February 2022
‘IN MEMORY OF JOHN PAUL NEWMAN.’
‘IN MEMORY OF JOHN PAUL NEWMAN’
(717 words) Written by Ken Hua
12th November 2010
Revised 18th December 2012
This afternoon as I was watering the greenhouse, I came across a pot of dark green cactus marked with a plaque “In memory of John Paul Newman”. My youngest son did the plaque some time ago the plaque reminds me of the strategic death of the outspoken courageous State Member for Cabramatta on 13-09-1994. It was the very first political assassination ever taken place in Australian history and what a shame for this free democratic country. For his strategic death, one of his colleagues had this to say: “The assassination Of Mr. John Newman, MP, was appalling … Franca Arena, I consider myself a friend of John Paul Newman.
John Paul Newman (8 December 1946 – 5 September 1994) was a member of the New South Wales parliament. He was of Yugoslavia origin and a strong Catholic believer. John Paul Newman was working hard as a union official before he became a member of parliament in the seat of Cabramatta. In the early and mid 80’s, Cabramatta was considered the “Capital of heroin in Australia”. I think he had made a lot of contributions in cleaning up the drug problems in his electorate that he had created some enemy.
His death really shocked Australian politics and overseas as well. John Newman’s death was one of the most tragic chapters in Australian political history. Former Fairfield City Councilor Phuong Ngo masterminded the assassination. I think Phuong Ngo was a power-greedy and weird person. Since he did not think the he could not be nominated by the Labor Party to run the seat of Cabramatta, so he had used the dirty method to get rid of John Newman so that there would not be rivals running for the seat of Cabramatta.
I had the opportunity to have a glance of councilor Phuong Ngo in a Labor party fundraising event. By just had a glance of him, I knew that he was a weird person and I had to say that I did not like him at all. I think the Labor party fundraising event was organized before John Paul Newman was assassinated and the lady called Reba, a union official from the North Shore was competing for the nomination of the seat of Cabramatta. In the fundraising event, Reba spoke highly of Phuong Ngo, who had helped her enthusiastically be nominated to run for the seat of Cabramatta.
I think at the beginning, Phuong Ngo did not intend to run but some how he changed his mind later. To win the nomination was not easy. John Paul Newman was just too strong, who had the strong support of the Asian migrants as well as the European migrants because he had made a lot of remarkable contributions at his electorate. In other words, he held the winning card.
Since Phuong Ngo did not think that he could not win the nomination, so his already tricky mind was thinking of the dirty plot to get rid of John Paul Newman. The plot was carried out in a heavy rainy night, as soon as John Paul Newmanstepped out his humble vehicle; he was gunned down at the driveway of his humble residence and he died instantly. The gunman and Phuong Ngo were arrested later. The shameful and nasty Phuong Ngo has been in custody ever since the assassination took place and he would spend the rest of his life in prison. Because of his power-greediness he killed his rival for his personal interest. I don’t think I will sympathize with him even one day he would face the death penalty.
The funeral was held one week after he was assassinated and when the funeral was in process in John Street, the main street at Cabramatta town centre, suddenly it was running cats and dogs. It seemed to me that his death has not only touched the hearts of people but also God. It was already 16 years after his strategic death, but the Australian people particularly the residents of Cabramatta town centre will never forget this courageous and hardworking State Member of Parliament of Cabramatta and his “legend lives on”.
Written by Ken Hua 12th November 2010
Revised 18th December 2012
‘IN MEMORY OF A SPECIAL FRIEMD, BETTY!’
‘IN MEMORY OF A SPECIAL FRIEND, BETTY.’
(339 words) Written by Ken Hua
Thursday, 18th January 2007
Revised 8th February 2014
The bad news of your departure touched the hearts of
Your friends, relatives and your loved ones who have known you throughout the years.
You were such a caring and lovely lady
And suddenly you disappeared and you were gone.
A lot of times, life is cruel, life is fragile,
From now on, we lost a special friend and a special neighbour.
We also lost a hardworking caring and friendly wife, mother, grandmother.
Your kindness, friendliness and caring will always be remembered.
Looking back 18 years ago when our family first moved to the area,
You and your husband’s kindness and friendliness have impressed our family.
Ever since then, we have become good neighbours, good friends,
And we always treasure the friendship we share.
You were raised in the orphanage; no wonder you were a tough lady,
In life, nothing was impossible for you.
As a housewife, you did beautiful housework and cooked delicious dishes.
In addition you always worked hard alongside with your husband to build your family home in this nice quiet neighborhood.
You had two younger sisters who passed away some years ago.
You had a younger brother living in Port Macquarie.
As older sister in the family, you always showed a lot of compassion with your sisters and brother when you were alive.
You were a model worker at work and were always ready to give your colleagues a hand when they needed.
You were a wonderful housewife and always kept your house nice and clean that your friends and relatives admired.
It was a regret that not too long after your retirement,
Your sickness came all of a sudden and unexpectedly.
You had been well looked after by your caring and patient husband, your children and grandchildren.
As special friends, special neighbours, we sincerely pray for you:
May God bless you!
Written by Ken Hua and his family
18th January 2007
Revised 8th February 2014
‘MR. CHAIRMAN, WELCOME TO AMERICA!’
‘MR. CHAIRMAN, WELCOME TO AMERICA!’
Written by Ken Hua (2,214 words)
Sunday, 3rd January, 2010
Revised November 2015
‘Mr. Chairman, welcome to America! America is people’s dream land and it is also a land of opportunities!’
‘Oh yes, it is nice to be here again. Since there are hundreds and thousands of vehicles in the big cities especially in Los Angeles, Houston and San Francisco, so therefore there are a lot of freeways and highways to control the traffic flow. My Master thinks America has more freeways and highways than any other countries in the world. The majority of people rely on them to travel from one area to another to go to work. If there were not so many freeways or highways, there will not be no ‘America’ and America would come to a complete ‘stand still’. In comparison with Australian freeways and highways, the latter are no match to their counterpart, American.
My dear friends, it is my Master’s 5th trip to America. The first trip was in 1992 not long after my mother, older brother and his family immigrated to America from Vietnam. The second trip was in 1998, the third trip in 2001. He made his 4th trip with his youngest son in 2003 when his mother was quite ill and she passed away during the period of his 4th trip. Our Master and his family were quite sad were quite sad over the loss of his Mother because she was such a remarkable lady. For more details regarding author’s mother, please visit his website: www.bloghuasungcang.wordpress.com to read A tribute to my mother he posted on his website last year. Thank you. In life, he often likes to keep in touch with his loved ones such as his mother, uncles and aunties, brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces, friends and relatives etc.
The Qantas QF 11 flight Boeing touched at Los Angels International Terminal at 9.10am, 19th November 2009 as scheduled. As soon as my Master entered the American territory, he already made headlines there because he went to the wrong section to pick up his luggage. Qantas Airways personnel had sent his luggage to the ‘Loss Luggage’ on the third floor. It took him 30 minutes to claim his luggage. Oh dear, what an old fragile Chairman of Country Cottage from Down Under!
Prior to that, my Master had already made silly headline at Sydney International Airport. He was checked in quite early but for some unknown reasons, he went to the wrong gate for departure. In the very last few minutes, he suddenly woke up and checked his boarding pass again, then here came a Qantas staff with his walkie-talkie on his hand and told my Master:
‘Mr. Chairman, you better hurry up! All the passengers on board are waiting for you!’
‘Come on, Mr. Chairman! You better hurry up! The plane would have left without you!’
What else could he do but kept on running, running and running like hell until he reached the airplane. Altogether he had run about 400 metres and as soon he rushed to his seat, all the passengers clapped their hands and said: ’Mr. Chairman, welcome aboard! You almost missed the flight, Sir! Oh dear, he felt quite frustrated because everybody was waiting for him to depart. He took a very deep breath and he could feel his heart was tumbling quite fast because he had run quite a distance.
In 2001, my Master flied to Houston from Los Angels to see some of his classmates whom he had not seen for years and it was also on the occasion of his old good buddy’s son wedding. It was a good ‘Friendship Reunion’ and he really enjoyed seeing his old good buddies there. Since they are old good buddies, so this time my Master stayed in Houston for 5 days to catch up each other. .
This time his older sister accompanied him because she also has some old good buddies during the time she studied in Chinese Middle High School years and years in Danag, my home city in Central Vietnam. As a matter of fact, 5 days were not really enough to recollect the past events have intimate conversation and talk about life and dining out because after this Friendship Reunion, they don’t know when will they meet each other again. Life is short; some of their friends had not seen one another for years so they treasured the valuable time they spent together. Nevertheless when the ‘Friend Reunion’ ended, everybody was feeling melancholy because they had to bid farewell one another and they just did not know when would they meet again.
It is worthwhile to mention that all my family members are living in America including my mother who passed away in Los Angels in 2003, older brother who passed away in 1998 in San Diego in 1998 and my older sister who passed away in 1996 in San Diego and my brother-in-law passed away a few years later May God & Buddha bless them!
It is worthwhile to mention that the immigration story our Master and his family to Australia. Our Master and a family of five were supposed to immigrate to America instead of Australia. It was really a coincidence that was an important turning point for our Master and his family. The coincidence happened like this: When the Australian representative was interviewing our Master’s sister-in-law, our Master asked the Australian representative whether he and his family would be accepted to immigrate to Australia and the latter accepted it straight away.
There is another point also worthwhile to mention is that, when our family immigrated to Australia, we were settled in a country town with another family consisting of two brother and one sister called ‘Temora.’ near Wagga Wagge and we received a big welcome from the local people and even the town mayor paid a special personal visit to our house that was very impressive. 37 years on, we still keep I touch with the town people because they have been so nice with us that really impressed us and we will always remember their gratitude.
I would like to take this opportunity to say a big ‘Thank you.’ to the former Town Mayor and the town people. I will also send this article to the editor of the local paper ‘Independent’ to show the appreciation of the two families when they first settled in Temora. May God bless you all!
Most of the tourists must have the same points of view like my Master. Everything in America is big and huge, not only the freeways and highways are big, buildings are big, fast food outlets, restaurants etc. are big. The burgers in America are bigger then those in Australia, almost everything you see is big and huge. The vehicles are bigger and even the toilet seats are bigger than in Australia. Usually people have to travel a long way to go to work and the distance from one area to another area is far away. It seems that the American people are used to it but not my Master from Down Under.
In Australia, in the big cities like Sydney and Melbourne, we don’t have as many freeways and highways like America and people don’t have to travel a long way to go to work In addition, we have quite a good railway and bus systems whereas in America there are insufficient railway and bus systems. In addition, Australia only has a small population and it does have so many vehicles on the road like America.
In America, there are no roundabouts on the quiet streets. They only have ‘Stop’ signs at the cross streets, whoever comes first, go first and the drivers must stop at the ‘Stop’ signs because there are highway patrol every where at every moment. Drivers’ seat is on the left and drivers drive on the right hand side of the road while we are just opposite. In America, if you are booked, you can appeal to the court and if you have been booked wrongly and have the mercy of the judge, then he will dismiss the case. Unlike Australia, once the penalty ticket is issued, that is it. You can’t appeal to the court because the court gets some other important court cases to deal with.
In the big cities such in Los Angeles and Houston, the cities are not as green and bushy like most of our cities, regional centres and suburbs. They don’t have nice green front yard and backyards like us. In California, houses are built with special materials because it is earthquake-affected area. Our Master recon San Diego is a better city to live than Los Angeles because there are mot as many freeways and highways like Los Angeles and Houston and the climate is better because it is situated next to the Pacific Ocean.
During this trip to America, my Master enjoyed a 5-day fabulous ‘Carnival Cruise’ with his brother-in-law, who was the Gentleman in Hong Kong and originally come from Hong Kong. There were approximately 400 people on board and there were a lot of activities on board such as swimming, gymnasium, live show every night musical café, musical bar and a little casino. The decoration on the ship was very beautiful and the service was said to be excellent. The ship provided buffer breakfast, lunch and dinner, different types of deserts, coffee, tea, and soft drinks etc. It was the very first time for my Master to join the cruise; his brother-in-law and he enjoyed moment of it.
The ship anchored at Santa Catalina Island of Avalon, California, 90704 on the third day of the trip. The island is a tourist attraction and the population is around 3,000 people. There are tree-lined streets along the coastal line and the souvenir shops, café etc set in nice peaceful relaxing environment. Like other tourists, my Master and his brother-in-law strolled leisurely along the coast. Before reaching the casino, which was no longer in operation. There was also a theatre, which was opened on certain days. My Master and his brother-in-law had quite a few photos taken for memory.
At Catalina Island, there were diving gears for the tourists to hire if they had taken diving as their sport. Divers could search under the crystal clear water and above them it was the beautiful sunny sky. People in the island used small engine vehicles and some use bicycles to go around the island. Unlike people in the big cities, people in the island are quite friendly and helpful. The shop owners provided old-fashioned service. My Master came across a shop owner and they had an intimate conversation. The shop owner was born in the island. My Master even had a photo taken with her for memory. Life style in Catalina Island was just so peaceful, tranquil and relaxing so contrast to the busy life style like Los Angeles and Houston.
There was a very impressive spectacular building built on the hill called ‘Holly Hill House’ overlooking the island. At night, you could also have a breath-taking view of the island from the ship; the view was just so fantastic to look at. The island is just like ‘A paradise on earth’.
On the fourth day the ship stopped at Ensenada Island of Mexico and my Master and his brother-in-law joined with other tourists on the ship went to watch ‘The Blowhole’ which was about 45 minutes’ drive from the bus stop where the passengers dropped off. ‘The Blowhole’ was a tourist attraction of Ensenada Island. Tourists could have a good view of the waves of tides when they reached the end of the cliff and created a ‘Big flash’ towards the sky. My Master bought a pairs of sandals and a pairs of slippers at one of the shops nearby the ‘Blowhole’ because they were genuine leather at very good price.
Afterwards, tourists could visit the quite nice tidy shopping centres at Essenda Island where the travelers could purchase Mexican products, jewelry at quite cheap prices in comparison with those in America.
The Cruise was from 14th December to 18th December 2009. After a few days’ rest, my Master was scheduled to return to Los Angeles on 21st December 2009. After arrived at Los Angeles, there were activities of visiting relatives and eating out taking place again that had made my Master feel tired.
Finally the day of departure for home arrived. A few days prior to his departure, he was feeling quite missing his friends, relatives and family members in America and missing his loved ones Down Under including his loyal companion, Fluffy Sam. My Master caught the Qantas QF12 flight at 22.20pm, 29th December (Los Angeles time) and because of the previous experience, my Master made sure he arrived at the terminal early and came to the right gate.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard Qantas QF12, I am Captain Kenny and all crewmembers welcome you aboard! Please sit back, relax and enjoy our flight!
My old fragile Master finally arrived home on New Year’s Eve, Thursday, 31st December 2009. It was just so nice to be home again. Home, sweet home!
Oh, what a wonderful feeling, America!
Written by Ken Hua.
Sunday 3rd January 2010
Revised November 2015
Ken's Blog 