A PLAQUE recording the expedition from the Upper Murray that led to Australia's highest peak being named Mount Kosciuszko will be launched next week.The member for Albury and the Polish ambassador to Australia will unveil the tablet on Tuesday, the 181st anniversary of when the exploration party departed Welaregang station between Tintaldra and Tooma.

It had been slated for the 180th milestone last year but COVID complications scuttled the commemoration. The colonial trek was helmed by Polish-born Paul Strzelecki and included an Upper Murray Aboriginal guide Jackey who helped guide the party through the Alps. "On the afternoon of Thursday 12 March 1840 Strzelecki climbed the highest peak and named it Mount Kosciuszko in honour of Thaddeus Kosciuskzo, Polish and American national hero, champion of human rights and freedom for all," the plaque will state.

The marker is the brainchild of Kosciuszko Heritage Inc. president Ernestyna Skurjat-Kozek who visited Welaregang from her Sydney home in December 2019. "I said (to my husband) you can see the Snowy Mountains from here and why don't we acknowledge the place somehow and and have another tourist attraction in the area," Dr Skurjat-Kozek said.

Snowy Valleys Council mayor James Hayes welcomed the focus. "Some of these explorers need a bit more recognition and Strzelecki is certainly one of those," Cr Hayes said. "He's a bit underdone and it's very worthwhile unveiling this plaque as it will be in three years time when we've got the bicentenary of Hume and Hovell." "The fact the expedition started at Adelong and then went up on this side, not a lot of people know about that."

Tumbarumba Historical Society president Ron Frew lauded the plaque's wise approach in mentioning convict and Indigenous members of the travelling party. "It recognises the truth of the thing and all those people that assisted them and it's a very good historical account," Mr Frew said. "It preserves the history of what happened."

Original story with photos just here in The Border Mail

Journey that saw Mount Kosciuszko named after a Polish hero marked with new plaque

A PIECE of Poland came to the Upper Murray yesterday, marking 181 years to the day one of its sons began a trek that saw him name Australia's highest mountain. Costumed Polish dancers and Poland's ambassador to Australia Michal Kolodziejski joined a throng for the celebration of Paul Strzelecki who set off from Welaregang Station on March 9, 1840, on a journey that resulted in him labelling Mount Kosciuszko. A plaque commemorating that moment and acknowledging the assistance of convict servants and an Aboriginal guide was unveiled by Mr Kolodziejski and member for Albury Justin Clancy.

The ambassador told The Border Mail that while diplomatic ties between Australia and Poland only date to 1972, the deeds of Strzelecki demonstrate a more enduring connection."Events like this emphasise that it is not only about having embassies in two countries, our relations started 180 years ago, not 50," Mr Kolodziejski said. "Diplomatic relations are not everything, it is really important people to people relations."

Underlining that point, Mr Kolodziejski told how 20 volunteer firefighters from the village of Poreba Spytkowska in mountain country in the south of Poland had raised $150,000 to help with bushfire relief in Australia following the Black Summer. A long banner behind the plaque, with written thanks, or dziekuje in Polish, to the firefighters was unfurled with the help of NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service also on Tuesday.

Mr Kolodziejski said Strzelecki was a household name in Poland and Mount Kosciuszko's titling was one of three things his compatriots readily knew of Australia. "If you ask the average person in the street or children in Poland what they know about Australia, they say 'kangaroo, koala and Kosciuszko mountain'," he said."The Polish community feels very much emotionally attached to the mountain."

The peak honours Thaddeus Kosciuszko, a Polish hero who was involved in the American War of Independence. Mr Clancy said the event was a great cultural intersection and noted traditional owners the Ngarigo had been acknowledged and the Irish ambassador to Australia Breandn O Caollai was also a witness to the unveiling. Strzelecki in 1846-47 played a crucial role in providing sustenance to those left starving through the Great Famine in Ireland.

The original illustrated story found just here in The Border Mail