Members of two Canberra families tearfully welcomed the second and third Vietnamese war orphans who arrived in the capital, The Canberra Times reported on this day 46 years ago.
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The very first Vietnamese refugees to reach Australia were the orphan infants evacuated by Operation Babylift in the weeks before the fall of Saigon in April 1975.
A front page photograph of Moira Smith, 16, of Narrabundah, shows her crying tears of joy as she greets her new Vietnamese orphan brother on his arrival at Canberra Airport.
Mr and Mrs Ian Smith, of Narrabundah, greeted their newest three-year-old son, Ian, with their five other children standing by.
The McKay family, of Weston, met for the first time their only seven-month-old daughter, Kiely, after a six-month wait.
Mr and Mrs Neil McKay and their four sons, were told only the day before that Kiely would be arriving.
Kiely, who was a twin, received a clean bill of health from the Sydney authorities and was allowed to come to her new home, but her sister Kim, was made to wait.
At the time of the article, it was unknown when Kim would arrive in Canberra.
See https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/116342552
