From refugee to community leader: Htun Htun Oo’s life of service in Coffs Harbour
From saving lives in the jungles of Myanmar to helping create a community on NSW’s Mid North Coast, Htun Htun Oo’s life has been shaped by resilience, service and a belief in the power of people to come together.
Today, Htun Htun – or H2O, as he loves to be called – is a familiar face around the Coffs Harbour area. He’s a healthcare professional, businessman and passionate advocate for our multicultural society. He’s spent more than two decades contributing to the area he now calls home.
Originally from Mandalay in Myanmar (then known as Burma), Htun Htun was studying geology when nationwide pro-democracy demonstrations began in 1988. His involvement in the student protest movement led to him leaving Myanmar.
He spent the following 15 years in the border regions between Myanmar and Thailand, working alongside Burmese and overseas doctors to provide medical aid to wounded soldiers and villagers, including landmine victims.
The experience shaped Htun’s understanding of leadership and service.
“If you are in a leadership role, you always do what is the hardest thing,” he said. “As a leader, you do the heavy lifting and you take less benefit – you give more benefit to the people.”
A new beginning in Coffs Harbour
Htun Htun arrived in the Coffs Harbour area as a refugee in 2003. He completed a Bachelor of Nursing at Southern Cross University and went on to work in Bellingen and Coffs Harbour hospitals for 16 years.
For someone who had spent years living amid conflict and uncertainty, one of his strongest memories of arriving in Australia was the feeling of safety.
In the jungle, Htun Htun recalls sometimes having to move “three to six times a night” to sleep safely. In Australia, he could go to bed knowing he would wake the next morning.
“I felt very safe,” he said, describing a newfound sense of security “both in the physical, and also in my mind.”
He also remembers the welcome he received from local people, including strangers who offered help and support.
“There’s a lot of good Aussies who love to help others, love to care for others who they’ve never met,” he said.
As Coffs Harbour’s Myanmar community grew, Htun Htun became an important link between refugee families and their new home, including working as a ‘cultural middleman’ and interpreter for the documentary The Last Refuge: Food Stories from Myanmar to Coffs Harbour.
Building a community
Over time, Htun Htun’s advocacy expanded beyond the Myanmar community, with a focus on strengthening relationships between Coffs Harbour’s cultural communities.
That vision helped inspire the International Food and Dance Festival, first held in November 2023, bringing communities together through traditional food and culture.
Htun Htun also contributed to establishing the Coffs Coast Multicultural Society (CCMS), becoming its President and helping give diverse communities a stronger voice.
Coffs Harbour itself has changed considerably since Htun Htun arrived.
“Twenty-three years ago, my son and I were the fourth Burmese family in Coffs Harbour, and you hardly saw people like me,” he said.
Today, he describes the region as “very diverse and very multicultural”, giving people opportunities to experience and understand cultures, religions and backgrounds different from their own.
For Htun Htun, the relationships that diversity has created are particularly powerful.
“Our day-to-day interaction and relationships are like we are all one,” he said.
Taking regional voices to government
Htun Htun has also dedicated his time to ensuring diverse communities outside Australia’s major cities are heard by decision-makers.
In 2025, he joined community leaders, service providers and residents at a Multicultural NSW consultation in Grafton, contributing a regional perspective on multicultural policy and services in NSW.
His approach to advocacy is influenced by advice from his father about the importance of leaders understanding the people they represent.
“You go see how your people are doing, what’s happening in their life. Go study, go learn, live with them, understand them,” Htun said.
Listening, he says, means more than simply hearing someone: “Hear from your heart, from your mind.”
It is a message he continues to share with government.
“I’d like to see policy people come to the regional areas, come and see us, meet us, understand us, listen to us,” he said. “Then we establish a greater connection between us.”
From finding safety to creating belonging
More than 20 years after arriving as a refugee, Htun Htun continues working towards a community where people from different cultures, religions and backgrounds know and support one another.
When asked about the legacy he hopes to leave, his answer reflects a life built around service.
“My focus is how I can do the best for myself and others,” he said.
“Whatever I am doing today in the multicultural community, for the broader community, is to be known as a useful person… a helpful person.”
For Htun Htun, the principle underpinning it all is simple.
“I see absolute power in giving. I see absolute power in kindness… in loving and compassion,” he said, describing these qualities as the “greatest glue” for bringing people and communities together.