Polish 'boat People' Found On Aust Island
The Sun Herald
Saturday May 23, 1992
TWELVE frightened Polish nationals have spent two days hiding up trees on crocodile-infested Saibai, Australia's most northerly island.
Immigration officials will decide today what to do with the group, which includes a pregnant woman and one-year-old twin boys.
Members of the group were interviewed yesterday by Immigration officials at a Cairns hotel. Interpreters were flown in from Brisbane and Townsville.
Officials said last night the Poles were covered in bites, cuts and scratches and were suffering severe sunburn after living rough for about two days on the remote Torres Strait island.
Incredibly, they were well-dressed and carrying luggage.
One member of the group, who spoke broken English, confirmed they had spent"two day up tree" on Saibai in fear of crocodile attacks.
Officials said the group appeared to have flown to Papua New Guinea from Indonesia and had later been transferred to Saibai Island by boat.
They had entered PNG on tourist visas and three of their passports were believed to have been stolen in Wewak.
Officials are still unsure how the Poles then travelled the few kilometres from PNG to Saibai Island, but believe it must have been by dinghy or dugout canoe.
Neil McCallister, Torres Strait Island regional manager for the Department of Immigration, said yesterday: "If it is found they are illegal entrants they can either leave under their own financing or be deported.
"But if they are deemed refugees then they'll probably go to the nearest processing centre at Port Headland."
He said all members of the group were in good health and had been checked by quarantine and Customs officials before being flown by charter plane from Saibai to Cairns.
"There are very low-lying swamps inland and it was very wet at the time,"Mr McCallister said. "And there are many crocodiles.
"But we don't know for certain how they came to be on the island, which is just as interesting to us as the people themselves."
Once on Saibai, two members of the group walked to a settlement on the island and the local community sent dinghies to return the remaining Poles to the village.
Coastwatch was then contacted and arrangements were made to return the group to Cairns.
Mr McCallister said it was rare for unknown persons to enter Torres Strait
"It is not necessary for us to liaise with the Polish Embassy at the moment," he said. "If the Poles want refugee status then they will have to approach us about that. They haven't approached the Polish Embassy."
Federal National Party leader Tim Fischer said last night the incursion of the group was another "disaster" for Australia's northern surveillance authorities.
"It's simply not good enough and there seems to be a continuing breakdown in co-ordination and liaison between various authorities."
© 1992 The Sun Herald