National Independence Day 2020 celebrations in Canberra
14.11.2020
Ceremony commemorating the 102nd anniversary of Poland’s independence took place on 14 November at the Polish Embassy in Canberra. This was a culmination of broader celebrations across Australia, including in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney.
Among the representatives of the Polish community who gathered at the Embassy were President of the Polish Community Council of Australia Małgorzata Kwiatkowska, President of the Council of Polish Organisations in the ACT Andrzej Alwast, as well as Fr. Tadeusz Przybylak, Provincial of the Society of Christ in Australia and New Zealand and Rector of the Polish Catholic Mission in Australia and New Zealand. Consul General in Sydney Dr Monika Kończyk was also present.
The National Independence Day celebrations were also an occasion to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union “Solidarity” in 1980, which constituted another, after the generation of 1918, pro-independence movement of Polish people in the 20th century. Ambassador Michał Kołodziejski decorated with the Cross of Freedom and Solidarity a merited oppositionist and a former member of the ‘’Solidarity’’ Mr Stefan Gajewski, who was interned in Poland during the martial law in 1981.
The ceremony was followed by a piano recital of Fryderyk Chopin’s music by distinguished Argentinian pianist Professor Marcela Fiorillo.
