| W nawiązaniu do Pani artykułu „Historia pomnika Sir P.E. Strzeleckiego w Jindabyne” Express Wieczorny 27 lipca 2008. Byłem Radiooficerem na polskim statku ro-ro MS „Katowice II”. Kapitanem statku był Kapitan Ż.W. Romuald Grzywaczyk. Statkiem tym przywieźliśmy pomnik P. Strzeleckiego do Sydney. Statek zacumował i wyładował w/w pomnik w Darling Harbour – przy Millers Point (wzdłuż Hickson Rd). Jeśli mnie pamięć nie myli, było to we wrześniu 1988 r.
Ponieważ statki ro-ro obsługujące linię australijską nie zawijały do portów polskich, pomnik został dostarczony do portu w Hamburgu i tam załadowany. Początkowo planowano przewóz pomnika statkiem bliźniaczym ms „Poznań” (wiadomo- rodzinne strony P. Strzeleckiego) – lecz terminowo był on opóźniony z przyjazdem do Sydney i ostatecznie pomnik załadowano na ms „Katowice II”.
Zachowałem sobie kopię artykułu i zdjęcie zamieszczone wówczas w „The Sydney Morning Herald” wyładowanego pomnika na nabrzeżu, na tle statku ms „Katowice II” i stojącego przy nim kapitana Romualda Grzywaczyka (pisownia w gezecie zniekształcona).
Hmmmmmmm, to już 20 lat minęło?!
Serdecznie pozdrawiam
Marian Gierak
Oto tekst artykułu autorstwa Wandy Jamrozik pt. The Pole who got Kosciuszko wrong is back, opublikowanego w The Sydney Morning Herald.
On a summer morn in early 1840 a Polish explorer found himself suddenly overwhelmed by emotion as he gazed at the peak of what turned out to be the highest mountain in Australia.
So moved was Paul (later Sir Paul de) Strzelecki that his grasp of the finer points of Polish spelling apparently deserted him – he made a historic error in the name he gave the mountain.
“The particular configuration of this eminence, “ Strzelecki recorded in his journal, “struck me so forcibly by the similarity it bears to a tumulus elevated in Krakow over the tomb of the patriot Tadeusz Kosciusko, although in a foreign country and on foreign ground but amongst free people who appreciate freedom and its votaries, that I could not refrain from giving the name of Mount Kosciusko”.
Twice in one sentence, and so it has remained – Kosciusko and not Kosciuszko. We are perhaps fortunate that Strzelecki didn’t attempt to name the peak after Kosciuszko’s birthplace – a small Polish town by the name Mereczowszczyzna.
At a reception last night to mark the second coming of Strzelecki – in the form of a four-metre bronze statue – spelling was a topic for debate.
The Polish Consul-General, Mr Kazimierz Ciaś, was polite enough not to mention it as he handed over the statue to Australia’s Strzelecki Committee, which will oversee the statue’s journey to its final resting place above Lake Jindabyne.
But the guests who met aboard the Polish Ocean Lines vessel “Katowice II”, which delivered Poland’s Bicentennial gift to Australia, discussed whether any Pole realy could have stumbled over the name of the nation’s most famous son.Looked at this way, the thesis seemed thin indeed. How many Australians would stuff up “Bradman”?
And Kosciuszko really does enjoy a reputation of at least that stature. Where Australians eulogise cricketers, the Poles remember revolutionaries and patriots, and Kosciuszko was a master at both. He took leading roles in the American Revolution, from 1776 to 1784, in an uprising at home, in 1792, and another one at home, in 1794. He is particularly noted for having led a victorious army of scythe-bearing peasants against the troops of the three occupying powers – Austria, Prussia and Russia.
“Made a mistake with his name? It’s just not possible”,were the concluding words of Stan Kaye, a Polish-Australian guest.
According to a spokesman for the Geographical Names Board, the years have seen a great deal of debate on the subject of Mt Kosciusko’s spelling. Gough Whitlam is only one of hundreds who have begged the Minister for Planning for a correction. Reluctance to do so has apparently turned on the inconvenience caused to thousands of atlas, map and encyclopaedia writers across the world.
A ministerial letter of reply, from 1986, sums up the official position: “To alter the spelling now would be at variance with history”. Another victory for the bureaucrats.
Wanda Jamrozik
Serdecznie dziękujemy Panu Marianowi Gierakowi za przysłanie cennego wycinka prasowego – i ufnie czekamy, że znajdą się również inne pamiątki dokumentujące polską obecność w Australii i wkład w jej kulturę.
W imieniu Fundacji Kulturalnej Pulsu Polonii
Ernestyna Skurjat-Kozek
ernestyna@pulspolonii.com
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