Refugee Regatta

English

Etymology

From refugee + regatta (“boat race”), referring to the fact that the influxes tend to be seasonal, occurring normally during the cooler months.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

Refugee Regatta (plural Refugee Regattas)

1. (Australia, Darwin, colloquial, slang, offensive) An influx of illegal immigrants or refugees attempting to enter the country by sea; an influx of boat people.
   • 1983, Redgum, Caught In The Act, song, on the album Caught in the Act,

     Get an Esky, fill it full of cans, get your dope, go down to the beach, roll a big spliff about that long sit on the beach at sunset, have a few cans, and watch what they call up in Darwin the Refugee Regatta.

   • 2011 April 9, Government Shill #2, “A Vietnam veteran phone 2UE today upset”, in aus.politics (Usenet):

     We grew up in a household where every Asian was a Gook. Dad served in Vietnam. We went to school with Dagos, boat loads of Slopes arrived in Darwin in the "Refugee Regatta", and when I was in Malaysia the locals were known to us as Bongos, or Rock Apes.