I once associated the bloom of jacaranda trees with the coming of exams for university students. On the onset of Spring, purple Jacaranda flowers appear on the normally leafy green trees and cover the lawns of the Great Court of the University of Queensland.
But now I associate Jacaranda trees with the arrival of the Bui family in Australia by way of South Vietnam - thirty years ago, today. My parents every Spring speak of driving down Coronation Drive for the first time and marvelling at the purple that covered the trees along the riverbank.
I often think about how different my life would be if my family did not arrive as refugees after the war. We're lucky to have carved out the life we have right now. It makes you want to make the most of what you have for all the risks that your family have taken for you to be here.
All photos taken around the Bui family household.
