FOUND: Nadesalingams - You Need To See This

Back to Bilo review – the remarkable story of the Nadesalingams and Biloela makes for compelling theatre

Bille Brown theatre, Brisbane festivalThe refugee family’s fight against deportation to Sri Lanka and the successful grassroots campaign to bring them home made headlines for years – but this play widens a story often focused on trauma

The Guardian - AU · Sep 8, 2025

Priya Nadesalingam hits out at migration bill, saying Biloela return ‘impossible’ without mobile phone

As Albanese government’s prohibiting items bill looks to include mobile phones, Nadesalingam says it would worsen mental health of detainees

The Guardian - AU · Nov 27, 2024

‘Fight for every other refugee’: Priya Nadesalingam on what Australia can learn from Biloela

In her first memoir, Nadesalingam revisited painful memories to tell her family’s story. Now happily settled in Biloela, she’s urging the country to keep fighting

The Guardian - AU · Oct 2, 2023

Nadesalingam family: the ‘jolt to Australia’s conscience’ back in Biloela’s embrace

The family have returned to the town they were taken from in an early morning raid four years ago, with hopes of changing the system for others

The Guardian - AU · Jun 11, 2022

The Nadesalingams are back in Biloela, but Australia’s unjust immigration system endures

It should not have taken four years of campaigning, community vigils and online petitions to achieve a fair, transparent and reasonable process

The Guardian - AU · Jun 10, 2022

The Loop: The Nadesalingams are home, new Capitol riot evidence, Rebel Wilson reveals she's dating Ramona Agruma

Finish your week in The Loop.

ABC News · Jun 10, 2022

Biloela Tamil asylum seeker family make tearful return home after four-year struggle against deportation

Supporters wept, chanted and danced as the Nadesalingams got off the plane from Brisbane after four long and hard years away from home.

ABC News · Jun 10, 2022

Tamil asylum seeker family return to Biloela — as it happened

Priya, Nades and their daughters Kopica and Tharnicaa have returned to their adopted hometown. See how the day unfolded in our blog.

ABC News · Jun 10, 2022

Morning mail: Nadesalingams release gives hope, Britons sentenced to death, the ‘triple La Niña’

Friday: Biloela to welcome family of Tamil asylum seekers as others look for an end to indefinite detention. Plus: tips to revive your social life

The Guardian - AU · Jun 9, 2022

The Biloela Tamil asylum seeker family and their fight for protection in Australia

The Nadesalingam family became the public face of Australia's strict stance on boat arrivals when they were removed from their home in central Queensland and placed in immigration detention in 2018. They are finally set to return to Biloela today. Here is how their saga unfolded.

ABC News · Jun 9, 2022