Migrant’s Voices 移民心声
哪是珀斯！ 文◎Kok Foo Chang 郑国扶 译◎Elvie Yap 叶俐廷
多年以前，在接获马来西亚教育局通知 保 送到珀斯时，我对珀斯这个地方完全陌 生，更没想到会在这里落地生根。
当年我在三打根华文小学毕业后，就转 入英语系的中学。凭 藉当时英国殖民地的 英校毕业证书，可在当地政府部门或外国企 业从事初级行政工作，而我却选择了继续升 学。
最后完成中五课程之时，政府给我一个 机会到珀斯上预科，进而到西澳大学上工程 系课程。我马上在地图上找寻珀斯所在处--一个孤独的城市，与所有的主要城市有一段 距离。 1962年2月22日晚，我乘搭飞机来到珀 斯。同一天晚上，也就是美国太空人John
Where was Perth!
I had no idea where Perth was before I was advised by the Education Department in Malaysia to come – absolutely no inkling that I would settle to live here.
After first finishing the Chinese primary school in Sandakan, I moved to an English school. An English School Leaving Certificate in those days of the British Colony, could mean a junior clerical job in a government department, or a western trading firm. Instead, I was picked to go for a Higher School Certificate (known as Form VI). Towards the end of this course, an opportunity arrived. I was offered to do matriculation, progressing to an engineering course at UWA in Perth. Obviously, I found Perth on a map book – isolated and far from other major cities.
22
I flew to Perth on the night of 22 February 1962 – the same night when the American astronaut Colonel John Glenn made his historical flight orbiting round the earth in a tiny capsule.
| Chung Wah Quaterly Bilingual Magaizne Autumn Issue
Glenn上校驾驶微型太空船成功环绕地球 一圈的历史性一刻。那个年代的珀斯就如同 一个小区，而不像一座城市，所谓的城市设 施都相当简陋。
1968年年底，我大学毕业、结婚，也开 始在Fremantle 码头管辖机构工作。1970 年年底，我带着妻子和两个儿子一个女儿回 到三打根定居，三个孩子还在当地华文小学 毕业。由于当年马来西亚的英语中学都改为 马来语系，孩子只能到新加坡上英校。我们 夫妻倆也意识到孩子最终只能在马来西亚 以外的国家上大学。 1989年，我们的选择就是举家回流到 珀斯。毕竟在 这 之前，我在珀斯曾居 住 九 年，有一定的人脉关系、朋友圈。相比于其 他澳大利亚城市悉尼墨尔本，珀斯最靠近马 Perth, in those days, was more of a suburban town than a city. Its infrastructure was crude. By the end of 1968, I graduated, got married and worked with the Fremantle Port Authority.
I returned to Sandakan with my wife at the end of 1970. We raised three children, a daughter and two sons. They finished the Chinese primary school in Sandakan. They had to complete their SLC in Singapore because the English schools in Malaysia had then been converted to Malay-medium. Consciously, and seriously, we realised that they would eventually have to pursue their tertiary education outside Malaysia.
Logically, the choice was simple – the whole family came to Perth in 1989. I had lived here for nine years previously – already familiar with it, had friends and connections here. Perth is closer,
来西亚，而且珀斯更宁静，犯罪率更低。
对我而言，在珀斯安居乐业似乎问题不 大，就如同回到原来的生活。对孩子来说， 却是新挑战。值得安慰的是他们都以辉煌的 成绩高中毕业，并都顺理成章在西澳大学上 本科。整体上，他们在适应和融合的过程中 没有太大的问题，毕竟马来西亚和澳大利亚 的共同点都是多元种族和多元文化。 至于我，也做 过税 务 代 理 和三年兼职 当口译员的工作，也曾在移民局当过行政助 理。1996年，我在一个司法单位就职华人联 络员兼行政助理的工作。目前的我在珀斯过 着既自在又充实的生活。由一个鲜为人知的 珀斯到现在成为一座现代科技发达的城市， 无疑是一个漫长的过程。
more tranquil than Sydney or Melbourne where incidences of crime are greater.
Settling in Perth was no big problem – it was like ‘coming back’ to live. To the children, it was a new challenge. They finished Year 12 with good grades and acquired their Bachelor’s Degree at UWA as scheduled. Overall, they had no major issues in adjusting and integrating – it was like from one multi-racial, multi-cultural society Malaysia to another - Australia.
As for myself, I found work as a tax-agent and as an interpreter, both part-time, for about three years. Then I became an administrative assistant with the Department of Immigration. In 1996, I gained a permanent position with a lawenforcement body as its Chinese Liaison Officer cum Administrative Assistant. Here I am, living leisurely in Perth, and rather contented. It was a long journey from not knowing where Perth was to this day of sophisticated modern city.
