‘The sea was rough, waves a few metres, falling on top of us. We were just waiting and hoping and praying that we were going to make it.’ – Taozen, proud Australian, proud Hazara

Smuggled offers a previously unseen glimpse into the dangerous and shadowy world of people smuggling. It shares harrowing true stories of those fleeing persecution to seek asylum and reshapes our idea of those – sometimes family, sometimes mafia – who help them find it.

People smugglers have such currency in Australian politics yet they remain unknowable figures in our migration history. But beyond the rhetoric lies a rich past that reaches far from the maritime borders of our island continent – to Jews escaping the Holocaust, Eastern Europeans slipping through the Iron Curtain, ‘boat people’ fleeing the Vietnam War, and refugees escaping unthinkable violence in the Middle East and Africa.

Based on revealing personal interviews, Smuggled provides a compelling insight into a defining yet unexplored part of Australian history.