Poland in Australia

As every year, the event was also attended by the participants of the Katyń 1940 – Smolensk 2010, Australia rally, who travelled the route from Sydney to the summit of Mount Kosciuszko for the seventh time, to commemorate the victims of the Katyń massacre of 1940 and the crash of the government plane near Smoleńsk in 2010.

Ambassador Kołodziejski focused in his speech on Russian aggression against Ukraine. He stressed the importance of a joint response and unity of both governments and societies against the challenges arising from Kremlin’s neo-imperial policy. Chargé d’Affaires of Hungary Diana Haszonics and Chargé d'Affaires of Ukraine Volodymyr Shalkivskyi referred to humanitarian aspects of the current situation and underlined close people-to-people relations and friendships between the three nations, which is reflected in the support given to those fleeing the war in Ukraine.

The Polish-Hungarian Friendship Day celebration was accompanied by official unveiling of the sculpture “Thaddeus Kosciuszko and Agrippa Hull” by American artist Tracy H. Sugg. The original sculpture depicting General Tadeusz Kościuszko, the patron of the highest mountain in continental Australia, along with his adjutant Agrippa Hull, in the American military college West Point. A copy of this work was handed over to the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Canberra by the organization Kosciuszko Heritage Inc. as part of this year’s celebrations of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Poland and Australia.

Earlier that day, Ambassador Michał Kołodziejski and the participants of the 7th Katyn 1940 – Smolensk 2010, Australia rally paid tribute to the victims of the Katyn Massacre and the crash of the government plane near Smoleńsk by laying wreaths at the Australian War Memorial.