Adelaide’s secret Burmese royal family Sao Sai Long and Sao Noot

The story of how two children from a South East Asian royal family evacuated to South Australia has largely escaped history books – until now.

A local researcher is seeking information about some of Australia’s most auspicious, but little-known guests.

Adelaide and parts of the Barossa and Gawler were once host to royalty, in the form of two Burmese siblings seeking refuge in South Australia during WWII.

The story of how two children from a Burmese royal family evacuated to SA in 1941 to escape the war in both Burma, now Myanmar, and the UK has largely escaped history books, but official documents of the era confirm these origins.

The younger sister Sao Noom (alias Vera Noom Tai) (left), Sao Sai Long (alias Bill Long) (middle) and eldest sister Sao Noot (alias Marlene Tai) (right). Picture: Supplied

The youngest, Sao Sai Long, 13 – or Bill Long to his Australian friends – was next-in-line for the throne of a Burmese principality the size of Belgium.

After escaping the strife in then-Burma, he went to St Peter's College east of Adelaide’s CBD.

Asian economy consultant and budding historian Alice Dawkins has lived and worked in Myanmar and became fascinated with the link these historic figures had to her hometown in the Barossa.

“It’s such a fascinating story how these young people came to SA, what their daily lives looked like, and the political conditions back home they eventually returned to,” she said.

Alice Dawkins who has studied the trio. Picture: Supplied

Sao Sai Long or Bill Long in St Peters uniform with two friends and a dead kangaroo. Picture: Supplied

“The territory they once presided over takes up a lot of today‘s Shan state, a critical area in a transnational trading hub known as the Golden Triangle, complete with drug trafficking and military insurgency.

Sao Sai Long or Bill Long on a horse in the Barossa with his St Peters school uniform on. Picture: Supplied

After moving at age 13, Bill became heavily involved at St Peters, joining the rowing team and eventually becoming a house prefect, he enjoyed riding horses at Mt Crawford Station where he stayed on holidays.

His sister Sao Noot or Marlene Tai (an alias) was 18 when the pair moved, spending half a year at Woodlands High School and eventually completing a diploma in Social Work at Adelaide University.

Marlene spent her holidays in Gawler, with the ‘Law Smiths’ at Yaring, she eventually gained practical experience in her field, working at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

Bill and Marlene returned to Myanmar after WWII with Bill becoming the last ruler of their ancestral kingdom, as all the royal families were disbanded in 1962 with the young nation's first military coup.

Ms Dawkins is seeking information from anyone who knew the pair during their time in Adelaide and is asking for any information to be sent to her at: [e-mail]