Key Points
- Priya Nadesalingam will be sharing her family's story in a memoir.
- It's scheduled for publication in late 2023.
Since 2018, Australia has watched as the Nadesalingam family - affectionately known as the Biloela family -
In 2018, the Tamil family was removed from the small central Queensland town they had made their home after fleeing Sri Lanka.
Parents Priya and Nades, along with their daughters Kopika and Tharnicaa, spent the next four years in and out of detention in Melbourne, Perth and Christmas Island, were almost deported, and became one of the country's highest-profile asylum seeker cases.
In August they were granted permanent residency.
Now, Priya is sharing their story in her own words.
She will be working on the book with journalist Rebekah Holt, who has covered their story from the beginning and has developed a close relationship with the family.
"Priya has always wanted to tell her story," Ms Holt said.
"And I've always thought a full record of what was done to the children and to this family is the only fair and just way forward for them."
Priya Nadesalingam will be working on her memoir with journalist Rebekah Holt, who has been covering the Biloela family's story for years. Source: Supplied / Rebekah Holt
Ms Holt said she hoped the book would provide readers with a full picture of the family's experiences all in one place, and give Priya the opportunity to take control of their story.
"I was often interviewing them at times when something catastrophic had happened ... extremely heavy duty traumatic events were going on," she said.
"A book gives us the opportunity for her to tell her story, and I can do the other bits around explaining what was going on legally and politically at the same time, so it's an opportunity to pull all of that together."
"These kinds of stories must be told."
The memoir is scheduled to be published by Allen & Unwin in late 2023.
Who is Priya Nadesalingam?
Priya is a Tamil asylum seeker who fled Sri Lanka in 2001 due to war and her family being targeted.
After initially going to India, in 2013 she arrived in Australia by boat, where she met her now-husband Nadesalingam Murugappan.
Nades had also fled persecution in Sri Lanka, and arrived via a people smuggler boat in 2012.
The couple married and settled in Biloela, and later had two daughters.
In March 2018, Australian Border Force officials removed the family from their Biloela home because Priya's visa had expired.
While the family spent the next few years in detention centres, the Biloela community and numerous social justice advocacy groups with more than 190,000 Australians signing a petition urging then-Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton to return the family to Biloela.
In the lead-up to the 2022 federal election, the Labor Party made the promise that if elected, they would allow the family to return to Biloela.
In June, Priya, Nades, Kopika and Tharnicaa arrived home, and in August, they were granted permanent visas by the federal government.
"At last we feel peace. I am so grateful to [Immigration] Minister [Andrew] Giles for granting us this permanency," Priya said at the time.
"Now I know my daughters will get to grow up safely in Australia. Now my husband and I can live without fear. This is a very happy day for our family and for all the people of Biloela and Australia who have supported us."
