Poland in Australia

The ceremony began with the national anthems of Poland and Australia, performed by the Band of the Royal Military College, Duntroon, and raising toasts for both countries and their citizens by Ambassador Maciej Chmieliński and the Chief of Protocol. To mark the 20th anniversary of Poland’s accession to the European Union, the official Anthem of the EU “Ode to Joy” was also played. In his speech, Ambassador Chmieliński began with the brief history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, emphasizing the significance and innovation of the constitution adopted on 3 May 1971. Next he referred to this year’s anniversaries: 20th of Poland’s in the EU and 25th of our membership in NATO. Ambassador’s speech also stressed the support that Poland has been offering to Ukraine, our country’s effort to enhance defence capabilities, as well as mentioned examples of deep Polish-Australian connections and our contemporary cooperation. The official part was concluded by the remarks of H.E. Gabriele Visentin, Ambassador of the European Union in Australia, who gave his recollection of Poland’s path towards integration with the EU as well as elaborated on our country’s current role in the European structures, including in the context of the support provided by Europe to Ukraine.  

The celebration provided opportunity to present a story of prof. Jerzy “George” Zubrzycki, (1920-2009), Polish-Australian sociologist, lecturer at the Australian National University, who, as an adviser to the Edwarda Gough Whitlama, Malcolma Frasera and Johna Howard governments, is widely regarded as the father of Australian multiculturalism. The participants had also Chance to enjoy the paintings by Polish-Australian artist Ralph Podolski. Born as Rafał Podolski in 1927 in the eastern Polish city of Lublin, he joined the Polish resistance at the age of 15, during World War II. In 1944-45 he was prisoner of seven Nazi German concentration and labour camps and emigrated to Australia in 1951. Another element, aimed at displaying an example of flourishing Polish-Australian business cooperation was a stall by Australian company AICraft, oferring high performance computing systems, who is carrying out a joint project in the space sector with Polish leading manufacturer of advanced optical instruments – Scanway.