Carolina beat some tough odds

CAROLINA Goncalves is a survivor. Against all odds, she has lived through internment in a Japanese concentration camp, a civil war and the invasion of East Timor by Indonesian forces.

She was joined by hundreds of relatives from across the Torres Strait and Timor Sea when she celebrated her 90th birthday in Cairns recently.

Son Joao Goncalves travelled from East Timor for the occasion, held at Golden Boat Chinese Restaurant. He praised his mother’s bravery.

“She went through two wars. During the Japanese invasion of East Timor, she lived in a concentration camp for a long time,” he says.

She then married a businessman who ran a distillery before mothering nine children. Carolina’s husband, Joao, died in 1967.

“She had to help us grow up, then she went through the Indonesian invasion. At the time she was managing a hotel and they wanted to take the hotel away. She stood in front and they threatened to execute her. She always fronted them and never had any fear of them.

“One time, she had an Indonesian army major come to the hotel bar and he tried being smart with one of the girls and mum gave him a slap.

“He said ‘why did you give me a slap’ and she said ‘you are like my son and if he did that I would give him a slap, so that’s why I am giving you a slap as well’. The next day he came and apologised to my mum.”

Daughter Maria Fatima Soares says most of the family escaped in 1975 when Indonesia invaded East Timor, but her mother stayed behind.

“Two of my brothers were taken hostage and she didn’t want to leave. She was trying to save them. She was scared to leave the country and lose them,” Maria says.

After four years, she tracked down her sons and bribed Indonesian officials to gain their release. Later, they were smuggled out of East Timor.

Carolina arrived in Australia in 1985. She turned 90 on July 22 and has nine children, 28 grandchildren and 41 great grandchildren, many of whom were at the birthday party.