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The Polish Museum & Archives | |
8th Floor, 35 Elizabeth Street
Melbourne Vic 3000
tel/fax: (03) 9310 1025
First records of organised Polish community life in Victoria date back to 1863. In the wake of the November 1830 uprising in Poland a small number of people took refuge in Australia. Among them was Mr.Seweryn Rakowski, who was later the emissary of the Polish Government which was formed by the leaders of the January 1863 uprising. He formed the first Polish Association in Melbourne in 1863.
During World War I, a Polish Fund Committee was formed in Melbourne. With considerable help from Dame Nellie Melba and other prominent Australians, the Committee collected funds to assist the victims of war in Poland.
After World War I, a Polish Club was formed under the honorary presidency of Mr.T.M.Burke, the Honorary Consul of Poland in Victoria. The Club, which had about 100 members, helped to raise funds for the Red Cross; and in 1925-26 it ran a Polish Saturday School in Spotswood, Melbourne.
Only a small number of Poles resided in Victoria prior to the end of World War II.
When victory came in May 1945, Poland the staunchest and first ally of the Western powers, had little cause to celebrate. Due to the Yalta Agreement of February 1945, Poland was incorporated into the Soviet block. Unable to return to their own country for fear of reprisal and the reluctance to accept communist rule, many Poles chose
The end of World War II found thousands of people from Poland stranded in Europe. Soldiers from the large Polish Army, Air Force and Navy, who fought the Germans alongside their British allies, found their dream of liberating Poland shattered by the Yalta Agreement. They had the choice of either returning to Soviet occupied Poland, or making their home in the West.Many could not return to their homes, as the eastern part of Poland was forcibly annexed by the Soviet Union.
Another large group of displaced persons in West Germany consisted of former Polish prisoners of war and civilians forcibly deported to Germany during the war. These people qualified to migrate to Australia under the post-war (IRO) International Organisation for Refugees scheme.
1,457 Polish ex-servicemen, who had fought under British command, migrated to Australia in 194748. Most of the Polish Rats of Tobruk' went to Tasmania to work on the hydroelectric schemes and some ex-RAF Polish airmen settled in NSW and Victoria. Between 1948 and 1951, those who arrived from Displaced Persons camps in Europe were mainly young, single and childless couples. Others came from Poland, Africa, Lebanon, and India, under the Operation Family Reunion' program.
The men were mainly employed as labourers in road building, railways, factories, communications, power stations, dams, sewerage plants, forestry and other essential services. The women worked in hospitals, factories, as domestic help, etc. Their place of employment could not be changed without Commonwealth Employment Service approval. Due to housing shortages many migrant workers lived in tents and mobile camps away from their families and friends.
These conditions were not conducive to the formation of organised community life. Also, there was no encouragement from the Australian authorities, whose policy was aimed at speedy assimilation of non-AngloSaxon groups. Despite this, the Association of Poles in Victoria was established in 1949.
Easter Sunday 1949 saw the first large gathering of Poles in Melbourne for the traditional h - 'Swiecone'. It was proceeded by a meeting in the home of Prof. Stanislaw Tarczynski. The Association of Poles in Victoria was formed at a subsequent meeting in May 1949.
Meetings of the Association were held in private homes and restaurants, and later in the Roma Hose' at 238 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne. There was an obvious need for a permanent meeting place, where all the social and cultural events could take place. The Association, therefore, initiated a fund raising campaign to purchase a property for a Polish Centre in Melbourne. This then led to the formation of a non-profit organisation named Kosciusko Co-operative Society', which in 1955 purchased a property at 445 Royal Parade, Parkville. It served as the headquarters of the Association, and as a centre for most cultural and community activities until 1962, when the Centre was moved to 313 Latrobe Street in Melbourne.
The Association of Poles in Victoria established Saturday Polish ethnic schools in various Melbourne suburbs, where children were taught the language of their parents, the culture and history of Poland and its folklore, traditions and customs. In 1966 a secondary school level Polish language course was introduced, which was later incorporated within the Victorian School of Languages and recognised at the Higher School Certificate (HSC) level.
The Association established a community library. Its collection comprises over 4,000 books in the Polish language, including some very rare volumes, and in later years it was supplemented with books in English.
The Association also organised cultural functions and public lectures, some of which were given by prominent scholars, writers and politicians. It also hosted the Polish Olympic team during the Melbourne Olympics in 1956.
After the thaw of 1956 in Poland, which resulted in a more liberal communist government after Mr. Wladyslaw Gomulka came to power, an agreement was struck with the Soviet Union in 1957 for the repatriation of Polish citizens still detained there. The Association of Poles in Victoria organised an appeal for funds and goods to help the repatriated people. The goods were sorted and packed by volunteers of the Polish Ladies' Auxiliary and shipped to Poland. Later, the Association assisted many Poles to migrate to Australia. They significantly increased the number of Polish migrants settled in Victoria, many of whom contributed greatly to the organised Polish community in Victoria as well as to the wider Australian community.
In the 1950's, the Association began providing voluntary welfare services to Polish migrants. These included visiting lonely people in hospitals and providing advice and assistance in legal, taxation, insurance and other welfare matters. The Association took an active part in the activities of the Good Neighbour Council, later renamed the Migrant Resource Centre.
As the Polish community diversified, in the latter 1950's different Polish organisations sprung up throughout Melbourne suburbs and in Victorian regional centres. Their interests and activities were very diverse. Today, they continue to concentrate on the welfare and interests of specific interest groups, e.g. ex-servicemen, cultural, educational, self help, professional, sporting, youth, scouting, senior citizens clubs, etc. Also, there are several folklorick dancing groups and choirs.
In 1962 some of the more established organisations decided to set up an umbrella structure, which resulted in the birth of the Federation of the Polish Organisations of Victoria (Federacja Polskich Organizacji w Wiktorii). Consequently the Polish Association in Victoria changed its name to Polish Association in Melbourne.
On 13 December 1983, this umbrella organisation was registered under the Associations Incorporation Act 1981 (No A423), and changed its English name to the Polish Community Council of Victoria Inc.
Of the approx. 50 Polish organisations in Victoria in 1992, 44 are members of the Polish Community Council of Victoria Inc., whose additional function is advocacy vis-a-vis all three tiers of government in Australia, its departments and other mainstream institutions.
Polish organisations in Victoria own six community centres. These are at Albion, Ardeer, Ballarat, Geelong, Kings ville and Rowville, as well the Marian Shrine at Essendon, Sodality House in Richmond, the youth centre and summer camp in Healesville and the Polish retirement home in Bayswater, Melbourne.
Seven Saturday Polish language schools in Victoria provide primary (about 600 students) and secondary (400 students) level language instruction. Polish youth are active in scouts, girl guides, folkloric dancing groups, choirs and sports clubs.
The Polish language newspaper, Polish Weekly' (Tygodnik Polski) with a national circulation, is owned by the Kosciuszko Co-operative Society. As well as the Polish Weekly', numerous bulletins, ethnic public radio stations and radio SBS3EA broadcasting in Polish, provide information and help to maintain community cohesion.
Poles are bound by a strong awareness and love of their national heritage. In Australia this common bond compels them to nurture and promote their Polish heritage, language, culture and customs.
The Polish community is the sixth largest ethnic group in Australia. The majority of Polish migrants arrived between 19471951. The second big wave of Polish immigrants came to Australia, under the family reunion and marriage categories after 1956. The imposition of martial law in Poland in December 1981 precipitated a wave of about 4,000 Polish refugees who settled in Victoria. 3,397 Poles arrived between 1986 1991.
The 1991 Australian Census provides the following profile of the community in Victoria: (Note: it does not include Australians of Polish descent):
A high percentage, particularly those in low educational and employment categories, had not mastered English to a level necessary for adequate access to services offered to Australian residents. In many instances the linguistic difficulties were compounded in old age with language regression.
Among people born in Poland aged over 15 years:
At the time of the 1991 Census:
Poles in Victoria are not high income earners:
The largest concentration of Polish born people in Victoria in 1991 lived in:
The majority of Poles are very nationalistic and anti-Communist. It is difficult to establish, however, whether the second generation share their parents' nationalistic feelings towards Poland.
After World War II, the Polish National Party (Stronnictwo Narodowe) had approximately 50 financial members in Victoria. Also, the anti-Communist Polish Socialist Party (Polska Partia Socjalityczna) had some influence among Polish migrants. Representatives of the Polish Peasants' Party (P olskie Stronnictwo Ludowe) and the Independence and Democracy Party (Niepodleglosc i Demokracja) were organised for many years in Melbourne. After 1945 the official representatives of the Polish Government in Exile, particularly Mr. Stefan Nowicki and Mr. Stanislaw Rózycki, had a strong political influence on the Victorian Polish community.
The participation of Poles in the Australian and Victorian political life is limited. In the 1950's Mr.Tadeusz Godlewski attempted to organise Poles in Melbourne to participate in the formation of the anti-Communist Democratic Labor Party (DLP); his attempt, however, was unsuccessful.
At that time some first generation Poles were active in several trade unions and in the Australian Labor Party (ALP). A few stood for pre-selection within the ALP, DLP and the Liberal Party. Their success at the party level did not win them any seats in parliament. A number of Polish migrants are employed in the public service or as political advisers.
Only one federal government politician in Australia is of Polish descent and there are none at the Victorian state level. A small number of Polish-born people hold positions as municipal councillors in Melbourne. In the western suburbs of Melbourne two councillors have Polish ancestry, while the others serve on Heidelberg and Nunawading Councils.
In the 1992 election to the Victorian Parliament, two recently arrived Polish migrants stood as Independents in the Sunshine and Bundoora electorates and two second generation Poles (one a member of the Natural Law Party, the other a member of the Liberal Party) stood in the Toorak and Doutta Galla electorates. None was elected to parliament.
Research opinion about the division of Polish votes is varied. In 1988, 45% of Poles tended to support the Liberal/National coalition and 23% were Labour supporters. One quarter of Polish voters has no particular party loyalty. Even among the 28% of those who declared their particular party preference, there was not a strong party affiliation. In the Melbourne metropolitan area, the Polish community lives mostly in the safe ALP se ats of Calwell and Gellibrand, in the marginal seats of Corio, Hotham and Melbourne Ports and in the safe Liberal seat of Higgins. The Australian Labour Party appears to be most influential among Poles in the western suburbs of Melbourne.
The Victorian Polish community does not constitute a strong political lobby at either the Federal or State level.
The 1991 Australian Census shows that the vast majority of Poles in Victoria are Roman Catholic (16,341). Other religions practised by Poles in Victoria include: believers of Judaism (3,567 born in Poland), Seventh Day Adventists (approx. 750, of whom 363 were born in Poland), Orthodox (approx. 300), Lutherans (243), Jehovah's Witnesses (207), Baptist (58) and members of the Church of Christ (15). According to the 1991 Census, 1,116 Polish-born people did not practice any religion, while 1,479 did not state their religion.
There are eleven Polish chaplains (3 Jesuits, 5 Society of Christ Fathers, 2 Dominican thathers and 1 Society of Divine Word Father) working among the Polish Catholics in Victoria at 15 Polish Mass centres. The centres are situated in Ardeer, Dandenong, Essendon, Geelong, North Sunshine, Oakleigh, Richmond, Ringwood, St. Albans, Yarraville, Hoppers Crossing, Ballarat, Yallourn North, Benalla and Wodonga/Albury. The Polish Marian Shrine in Essendon is the only church built by and cared for solely by Polish Catholics. The other centres are part of local parishes, with the oldest at St. Ignatius in Richmond started over 40 years ago.
Close to 6,000 people attend Polish Mass every Sunday, of whom over 50% do not know of any other church or feel at home in their local parish. The rest attend the Polish centres sporadically; while some are involved in their local parishes others have no transportation to the Polish centres. At Christmas, Easter and other important occasions in the church calendar, attendance at Polish Mass is close to 12,000.
The Polish priests command a high respect among the Polish community and most organisations welcome their involvement in community life.
For Poles, the priest and the parish have roles and functions which differ from many other Catholic communities in Australia. For Polish people the priest is a leader, confessor, catechist, teacher. social worker, adviser and authority.
The oldest document in the Polish literature is a hymn to Mary, the Mother of God; and churches, not castles, are the oldest architectural monuments in Poland. Polish culture and religion have been interwoven with each other for over a thousand years and form an insoluble bond. For Polish people the Church is not only a spiritual centre, but also a cultural one, the shelter for freedom and the shrine of truth.
InAustralia, the Polish priests help migrants to reconcile their differences and problems associated with adapting to their new homeland. They also work with families to help bridge the cultural gap between migrants and their children.
The post-war cultural life of the Victorian Polish community was exceptionally rich. Being far from their homeland, Poles created their own local theatrical and musical circle s in Melbourne.
As early as 1950, the first folkloric dance group 'Krakowiacy' was formed, followed by a theatrical group, and later a second dance group 'Zacheta', the Polish Scouts Dance Group and the Polish Folkloric Ensemble. There were Chopin recitals, masquerade balls, as well as painting and folkloric exhibitions, poetry evenings etc.
In 1954 as a consequence of all these activities, the Polish Cultural and Artistic Club was formed. Also at about this time Poles started to join in the local mainstream activities such as Moomba, the festival organised by the Wool Corporation, Red Cross concerts, etc. A Miss Polonia' contest for held annually up to the early 1970's.
Polish cultural and artistic life flourished in Victoria in the 1950's and 1960's. The local Polish theatres 'Ogniwo', 'Zacheta' and the theatre of the Polish Cultural and Artistic Club staged many plays to large audiences in Melbourne, other Australian cities and New Zealand. The satirical cabaret Kookaburra' drew both artistic and literary talent from among the Polish community. In the early 1960's 'Evenings by the Microphone' ( 'Wieczorki przy Mikrofonie') were also very popular. Festivals of 'Weeks of Polish Theatre' were organised.
The theatre and dance group Zacheta' was dissolved in 1965 and many of its members formed a new Song and Dance Ensemble 'Polonez'. At the same time a cabaret 'Metronom' with a vocal quartet was formed and performed for 10 years.
The 1000th anniversary of the introduction of Christianity to Poland was celebrated in 1966. Many functions were held, including an exhibition at the Architecture Department of the University of Melbourne, a philatelic exhibition at Kingsville, a concert at the Melbourne Town Hall, and the Chopin Society held a recital and its first piano competition.
Among the more noteworthy cultural activities in the 1970's were Polish film festivals, and concerts by the two largest local Song and Dance Ensemble 'Polonez' and 'Pawie Pióra'. Philatelic exhibitions were held to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the birth of Nicholas Copernicus. The Polish Art Foundation was formed to help artists of Polish origin working in Australia. Largely due to the influx of the post-Solidarity migration in the early 1980's, Australia became a favourite place for many visiting artists from Poland, and throughout this time local artists and ensembles continued their activities. Thus, there were many cabarets, and festivals of religious songs Sacrosong' were held; the Polish Arts Festival PolArt'84' was held in Melbourne in 1984, in which 730 young people participated from all Australian states. (The first PolArt Festival was organised in Sydney in 1975 and is held every four years, rotating between the eastern States.) The numerous cultural events included public lectures given by local and international speakers and covering disparate topics such as politics, science, art, etc.
In 1962, the Federation of Polish Organisations of Victoria established a Polish Welfare Committee to provide welfare services for the Polish community in Melbourne. Services were provided on a totally voluntary basis up until 1980. The Polish Welfare Committee co-operated closely with the Good Neighbourhood Council of Victoria and other government and non-government organisations.
Throughout the 1970's welfare services were provided on a regular basis at the Polish Community Centre Kosciuszko House' in Melbourne, and a friendly visiting scheme was implemented to give support to the sick and lonely, aged people.
By the late 1970's the Polish community started to age and many Poles had retired as income earners. There was a desperate need to provide additional welfare services to the Polish community. Its human and financial resources were decreasing while the long standing welfare needs had not been adequately met and new ones had started to emerge. However, the Polish community lacks the financial resources to provide professional services to handle the mounting welfare problems within its community. It, therefore, became necessary to seek financial assistance from relevant government departments and mainstream institutions.
The Polish Welfare Committee changed its name to the Polish Welfare and Information Bureau' when Grant-in-Aid funding was obtained in July 1980 from the Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs. A full-time social welfare worker was employed under this grant and is supported by a volunteer network. The Bureau provides a 'case work' service to Polish migrants, with emphasis on the newly arrived as well as providing assistance to the aged within thecommunity.
After the declaration of martial law in Poland on 13 December 1981, an additional program was set up to provide urgent assistance to about 4,000 Polish refugees who began arriving in Victoria, in groups of about 200 persons per week.
In May 1982, the first Polish Senior Citizens' Club was formed and in 1992 there were twenty such clubs throughout Melbourne. The Bureau's volunteers continue to visit aged people in hospitals, nursing and private homes. At Christmas time they organise the distribution of parcels to the lonely and isolated members of the Polish community, particularly women, children and the elderly.
In the 1980's settlement services and assistance were provided by the Bureau to thousands of Polish refugees accepted by the Australian Government. Regular information sessions were organised at the Migrant Hostels (Midway, Enterprise and Wiltona) and the Bureau worked closely with the Dept. of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs (DIEA), Victorian Advisory Committee on Migrant Multicultural Education, Migrant Resources Centres Melbourne, Footscray, Geelong, Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria, Senior Citizens Association, Citizens Advice Bureau, federal, state and local government bodies and other community organisations. The Bureau's workers also worked at the Footscray Migrant Resource Centre. In addition, in 1983 a Polish Community Sponsorship Scheme was established and about 2,000 Poles in refugees camps in Europe were given advice about migration issues and hundreds were sponsored to Victoria.
Poles arriving in the 1990's within the skilled and family reunion categories are also assisted.
Funded by Federal and State government grants and supported by many volunteer workers and the Polish Community Council of Victoria, the Bureau provides the following welfare services: two Adult Day Activity Centres for the aged, Social Support and Monitoring Services, Children Services, Settlement and Community Development Services, English Language Services, Tenancy Advice, Legal Services (Australian and Polish Law) and Job Search Services.
In a book Communal Endeavours Migrant Organisations in Melbourne (Australian University el Unikowski thus describes the Annual Polish Sports Festival: This yearly event, described as the Festival of Youth, Beauty, Strength' is undoubtedly the highlight on the Polish community calendar. Since 1963 the Polish Sports Festival has been organised by the Federation of Polish Organisations of Victoria, under the auspices of the Federal Council of Polish Associations in Australia and the Victorian Minister for Sports and Recreation.
In 1990, for the first time the Polish Sports Festival was held at the grounds of the proposed Polish Community Centre in Albion. The spirit of that Festival encouraged the Polish S porting Recreation and Community Association to commence building facilities. In March 1993, this largest Polish Sport and Recreation Centre in Australia was officially opened by the Premier of Victoria, Mr. Jeff Kennett.
Organised by the Polish Community Council of Victoria, and since 1990 under the patronage of the Premier of Victoria, the annual Polish Debutante Ball has become the highlig ht on the Polish annual social calendar. It was first held in 1966 at the Royal Ballroom, Exhibition Building in Melbourne. Later the Ball was held at the St. Kilda Town Hall, and more recently, due to the destruction by fire of the St.Kilda Town Hall ballroom, it is held at the Melbourne Town Hall.
Over the years, the Polish Debutante Ball has become a vehicle for bringing together Polish youth from all over Victoria.
Since its inception, every year about 2030 debutantes and their partners' debut is prepared and choreographed under the supervision of Mrs. Janina Czech, director of the Polish Dance & Song Ensemble Polonez', and in later years with the assistance of Ms. Barbara Czech, the Ensemble's choreographer..
The 500th anniversary of the birth of the Polish scholar and astronomer, Nicholas Copernicus was celebrated in 1973. A national organising committee was formed in Melbourne to organise functions to celebrate this anniversary and Copernicus' major work, the De Revolutionises erbium celestial. The organising committee also wished to promote knowledge about Poland and its culture in Australia, which would strengthen the ties between Australians and Poles.
The national organising committee organised art, sculpture and graphics exhibitions, a sculptor's competition for a Copernicus torso commemorative medallion and a competition for school children. An international philatelic exhibition, with a special miniature sheet consisting of six stamps, was also organised and a commemorative book, Nicholas Copernicus Heritage, was published, comprising five scientific publications illustrating Copernicus' scholarship.
In February 1973, a Copernicus Symposium was organised at the Dallas Brooks Hall in East Melbourne and was attended by the Australian Prime Minister, Mr. Gough Whitlam, the Chief Justice of Victoria, Sir Henry Winneke (later Governor of Victoria), and other distinguished guests.
In the late 1970's nearly 150 Victorian students successfully completed the Polish language subject at VCE level, and would have continued Polish language studies at university level had they been available. For many years, the Polish community lo bbied to have the Polish language introduced as a university subject.
The Melbourne writer and teacher, Mr. Andrzej Gawronski, encouraged the Federation of Polish Organisations of Victoria to lobby the Australian Prime Mini ster, Mr. Malcolm Fraser, and other government ministers to act on the Polish community's petition to provide government funding for provision of the Polish language course at university.
In 1981, the Faculty of Arts at Monash University in Melbourne introduced the Polish language course, on the condition that it be partially subsidised by the Polish community. The Federation of Polish Organisations of Victoria collected a total of $6,500 through donations, fund raising functions and appeals. Also, in 1981 books valued at $800 were donated to the Monash University Library.
However, the course was discontinued in 1988 due to lack of government funding and partially due to dwindling interest in the course among students.
Currently in Australia, the only Polish language tertiary course is offered at the Macquarie University in Sydney. It is partially subsidised by the Polish community and Polish organisations in Australia, among them the Polish Community Council of Victoria.
The Free World Polonia Co-ordinating Council in Toronto, Canada, declared the Year 1980 as The Katyn Memorial Year. The Council appealed to all Polish communities in the Free World to commemorate the murder of 15,000 Polish Officers in the prisoner of war camps at Kozielsk, Starobelsk and Ostashkow in 1940. The Federation of Polish Organisations of Victoria set up the Katyn Memorial Building Committee in 1979, under the chairmanship of Mr. Zenon ebrowski, to erect a Katyn monument in Melbourne. The Melbourne sculptor, Mr. Tadeusz Tomaszewski won the design competition for the monument, for which $20,000 was donated by the Victorian Polish community, of which $3,000 was set aside for future maintenance.
The monument was unveiled at a ceremony on 14 September 1980. Among the 5,000 people pre sent were members of the Australian Federal and State Parliaments, military and religious leaders and community representatives from almost every Eastern European nation.
Since the mid1970's, economic conditions in Poland steadily deteriorated. Enormous loans from Western countries were squandered on ill-conceived industrial projects, while exports fell making it progressively harder to service these loans. Government spending on health and other essential social services was cut drastically causing unbelievable hardship to all, but especially to the poorest sectors of the community.
The Polish community in Australia was gravely concerned about the deteriorating conditions in Poland. The Help Poland Committee of Victoria was formed in December 1980. In conjunction with the Red Cross Society, several forms of assistance were implemented by the Committee. The Help Poland Fund Committee organised the collection of donations, sales of specially designed Solidarity' T-shirts and various fund raising functions. A total of $15,000 was collected. Additionally, an extremely successful radiothon, conducted by SBS3EA Ethnic Radio Station over two weekends in 1981, raised $24,836. $17,900 was sent to the Free World Polonia Co-ordinating Council in Canada, for the bulk purchase of medical supplies to Poland. These were freighted directly to Bishop C. Domin of the R.C. Episc opate of Poland, who distributed them to the most needy in Poland. The balance of collected funds was transferred to the Australian National Committee for Relief to Poland, Help Poland Live'.
This National Committee for Relief to Poland was formed in October 1981 by the Federal Council of Polish Associations in Australia, under the patronage of the Prime Minister of Australia, Mr.Malcolm Fraser and Mr. Frank Gallbally as its chairman, to conduct the collection of funds throughout Australia. Over the next few years the National Committee for Relief to Poland Help Poland Live' despatched food and medical supplies to the value of $2.2 million, including $1m. donated by the Australian Federal Government.
Rallies and Public Meetings after declaration of Martial Law in Poland After the declaration of martial law in Poland on 13 December 1981, rallies and public meetings were held to demonstrate opposition of the Polish community in Victoria to the suppression of human rights by the Jaruzelski regime in Poland and to support the banned trade union Solidarity' (Solidarnosc), which personified the aspirations of the Polish people to freedom and democracy.
Guest speakers at these rallies and meetings included politicians and trade union leaders, among them Sir Billy Sneden MHR, Robert Hawke M.P.(later Prime Minister of Australia), Barry Jones M.P., Roger Shipton M.P., Senator David Hamer D.S.C., Bill Templeto n M.P., Peter RossEdwards M.P., Jeff Kennett M.P.(later Premier of Victoria), Bruce Ruxton O.B.E., Cliff Dollan President A.C.T.U., John Maynes Victorian & National President of the Federated Clerks Union and Joe de Bruyn National Secretary of Shop Distributors & Allied Employees Association.
In February 1983, in response to the appeal by the Federal Council of Polish Associations in Australia, the Polish Community Council of Victoria organised a collection within the Polish community which raised $6,322 for the victims and families of the tragic Ash Wednesday fires in Victoria, which took the lives of 71 people and destroyed 2,100 homes.
Mr. Lech Zondek, Polish Australian, went to Afghanistan as a volunteer to fight alongside fighters against their Soviet oppressors, and after a year there in July 1985 was found dead near the city of Norristan. On 7 December 1985 a memorial service at the Polish Marian Shrine in Essendon was attended by approx. 1,000 people representing both the Afghan and Polish communities in Melbourne.
Prior to the Papal visit in November 1986 at the invitation of the Federal Government and the Australian Catholic Church, a committee was formed to organise the Meeting in Melbourne at the MCG Stadium of Australian Poles with their great compatriot.
The committee consisted of eleven subcommittees responsible for different aspects of the preparations for the Meeting and involved over 300 volunteer workers.
Approx. 50,000 Poles from all over Australia participated in this historic event.
The Polish Community participated in fund raising organised by the Catholic Church of Australia to cover the national cost of the Papal Pilgrimage. In addition, the Polish community covered all costs associated with organising their Meeting with the Pope at the MCG Stadi um. All over Australia funds were raised through donations and fund raising functions, organised by various Polish organisations. Even children from the Saturday Polish Language Schools donated the proceeds from their discos and concerts. A 100 page, four colour Polish/English program, as well as souvenirs were distributed free of charge.
As a consequence of the collapse of the communist regime and the shedding of the Soviet yoke by Poland in 1989, the staff of the Polish Embassy and Consulate General in Australia were gradually replaced. As a consequence of this, normal relations were established between them and the Polish ethnic organisations in this country.
Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Sydney, Dr. Grzegorz Pienkowski was the first new replacement. At the invitation of the Polish Community Council of Victoria, Dr. Pienkowski met with the Victorian Polish community in March 1991 and visited all the Polish centres throughout the State.
In September 1991, at the invitation of the Australian Parliament, the leader of the Polish Senate, Prof. Andrzej Stelmachowski visited Australia. During his visit, at the invitation of the Polish Community Council of Victoria, Prof. Stelmachowski met with the Victorian Polish community in Melbourne.
Dr. Agnieszka Morawinska was appointed as Ambassador to Australia in March 1993. The Polish Community Council of Victoria hosted her first official visit outside Canberra in July 1993 in Melbourne where she met with representatives of the Polish community.
1962 - 64 Kazimierz Nowicki (resigned 1964)
1964 - 65 Zdzislaw Drzymulski
(acting)
1965 - 66 Zbigniew Czech
1966 - Stanislaw LukKozika (resigned)
1966 - 68 Zbigniew Czech (acting)
1968 - 70 Stanislaw Rozycki
1970 - 74 Marian Bialowieyski
1974 - 75 Zdzislaw Drzymulski (resigned)
1975 - Bruno Grzebyta (acting)
1975 - 79 Krzysztof Lancu
cki, AM
1979 - 88 Zygfryd Piotr Koziell, OBE
1988 - 94 Jozef Kuszell
1994 - Andrzej W. Kaszubski
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