It was only 8000 Australian pounds. But then, in a sharp break from his usual rapid-fire delivery, he paused as he tried to find the words. Fuhrman said he had learnt that Moses Triguboff was worth $US3-4 million and had transferred much of it to the United States. Dad is fiercely passionate about all the family staying in Sydney, always saying it's the best place on earth. The few times I have seen Dad tear up were all to do with him remembering his parents not being allowed to be with us in Australia.

... Orna Triguboff. While it was regarded by some as a rich philanthropist, the $ 9 million he gave to charity in 2005 were only 0.69% of their net wealth.In 2006 Triguboff was ranked the 606th richest man in the world with a fortune of about $ 1.3 billion.He is married and has two daughters, Rhonda, Orna and Sharon.Triguboff caused controversy in October 2006 when he claimed that Sydney has too much land was locked up in national parks and reserves, and that the land must be cleared to make way for new residential developments. After Sun Yat-sen died, Two Gun continued to use his connections to run guns to various warlords and conduct business, often with Jewish merchants in the treaty ports of China.When Moshe Triguboff was arrested, associates in Shanghai recommended he seek Two Gun's assistance. He learned about real estate when he visited his father in the works in China.He emigrated to Australia at age 28.

If nothing else, the epic struggle had taught him the art of working the bureaucracy. It would be his first step into the bureaucratic labyrinth where his family was stuck for the next two decades.The immigration official told Joseph his parents could not come to Australia, but would not say why. Then six months later, in September 1946, the High Court of the province of Hebei arrested Moshe Triguboff and charged him with treason for collaborating with the Japanese.Harry, then 13, remembers the daily visits to take food to the fairly comfortable jail where his father was imprisoned.

Heyes floated and rejected the idea of deporting them as impractical. The postal clerk did not know either.As he read the telegram, Harry realised that Ramat Gan was a suburb of Tel Aviv. Even now, his closest friends in Sydney are Jews who fled from Tianjin, like him.

"The story arcs across the horrors of Japan's invasion of China, the Communist takeover, the creation of the state of Israel, the contradictions and prejudice of Australian immigration policy over two decades and an English-Canadian-Jewish adventurer who has inspired three Hollywood movies.

asks Harry.

"The family is now broken up which may mean the separation of the two sons from their parents for life as the former cannot return to China. Harry Triguboff. Having started his business at the age of 30 in 1963 with a block of eight units in Sydney's inner south, he has built more than 75,000 apartments, along with a fortune estimated at $11.4 billion.

"The reason he lost the big chunk [of his fortune] was because they made him problems straight after the war. To this day Harry deeply regrets that during that trip he took too much time out to see some of his old friends from his years in Israel. It is the one line in the 300-page dossier that even today visibly distresses Harry because he finds it so unfair.The Triguboffs were refused visas for Canada and the United States, which had strict quotas on Jewish immigrants.

When asked to reconsider and open up the whole file, David Bell, the acting assistant director of the National Archives, refused on grounds that disclosing the material could threaten Australia's access to intelligence from other countries and its release could cause distress to members of the family.Some of the Triguboff family files contained in a 300-page dossier from the Department of Immigration, held in the National Archives and recently released.The first part of that explanation – that disclosure might threaten intelligence from other countries – supports Harry's belief that Two Gun, who worked for British and Canadian intelligence during the war, was the source.

He had no relatives in Israel and was alone when he died.The reason they were refused visas remains hidden, but it almost certainly concerns allegations of wartime collaboration by Harry's father with the Japanese. This would be a particularly tragic blow for the younger son, (Harry) Oscar, who is aged only 14 and is missing his parents greatly," he wrote.In December, Joseph wrote again: "As you are aware the position in China is steadily becoming more desperate day by day and this separation may result in my younger brother (who is just 15 years of age) and myself never seeing our parents again as the previous decision reached well-nigh condemns my parents to death. In particular he has concentrated on the Gold Coast in Queensland, and Sydney central business district, bringing in thousands of new residents and creating a large number of property millionaires in the process. Harry remembers Two Gun coming to live with his family in their Tianjin home while his father was in jail. "We were scared of [our parents] getting stuck there.

"That is the first time I knew that they got out," Harry remembers. Age.

If not please advise all airlines that they should not be accepted as passengers and that if they come to Australia they may be restricted from landing," the telegram said. The family could not pay the sizeable reward that he believed he'd been promised upon Moshe's release.