Cirrus@Austlit

' These stories are edited extracts from Behind the Wire, an oral history project documenting the experiences of men, women and children who were in Australian mandatory detention over the past twen…-three years. Behind the Wire seeks to bring a new perspective to the public understandings of mandatory detention by sharing the realiƒ of the people who have lived it. rough in depth interviews with current and ex-detainees, the project captures narrators’ histories, experiences of seeking protection in Australia and the detailed realiƒ of mandatory detention. We hope to present a nuanced picture of seeking asylum and life in mandatory detention—showing a realiƒ that goes beyond queue jumpers on the one hand and passive victims on the other to reveal resilient, suffering human beings. We seek to place the voices, faces and perspectives of asylum seekers, which are rarely represented in public debates on regee issues, at the centre of the discussion. '