| Od Redakcji. Dokładnie 21 lat temu członek Parlamentu Federalnego, senator Tierney wygłosił piękną mowę - wspomnienie o wybitnym działaczu polonijnym, Feliksie Dangel znanym nie tylko w Maitland i Newcastle, ale w całej Australii. Z jego to inicjatywy stanął w 1988 roku w Maitland pomnik ku czci Strzeleckiego - odkrywcy, badacza, filantropa, organizatora emigracji do Australii. Los chciał, abym własnie dzisiaj natknęła się na mowę Tierneya. Warto przypomnieć sylwetkę wybitnego Polaka.
Australia has always had a very rich migrant history. People from all kinds of diverse ethnic backgrounds have come to Australia and prospered, and the tradition continues today. I rise tonight to talk about a man who came to Australia from Poland in 1949. His name is Feliks Dangel. He became one of the best known members of the Polish community not only in the Hunter Valley but throughout Australia. Feliks unfortunately passed away recently. Tonight I want to remember him and the work he did for the Polish community and the town of Maitland, which became his home.
At the end of the Second World War, 170,000 people came to Australia from all over the world. Most were displaced from their country and were looking for a better life and new opportunities for their families. Of those people who came to Australia between 1947 and 1954, 60,000 were Polish. Feliks Dangel was one of those people. In 1949 the minister for immigration, the Hon. Arthur Calwell, greeted many migrants who had come to Australia during those years, including a 12-year-old Polish girl. In a speech to the minister in August 1949 in Fremantle, when the ship Fairsea arrived in that city, this Polish girl captured the feelings of the many migrants who had come to a new land with these words:
I have the honour of greeting you in the name of the Poles arriving in Australia. Our way to freedom was long and very hard. It led us from being oppressed by the invaders of Poland, through concentration camps, captivity, slave labour and long waiting in DP camps. But we are happy to see a free country and its citizens as we were 10 years ago. We are thankful to you, Sir, and to the Australian Government for putting an end to our homeless life. On our side we are promising to do our best when living in Australia and working for Australia, a country for freedom.
With the massive influx of migrants, camps were set up around the country where people could learn English and eventually move on to settle in various parts of Australia. Feliks Dangel was part of the Greta Migrant Camp near Maitland. There was a movie made about this camp, called Silver City. It was named as such because it was made up of army Nissen huts that were painted silver. At that camp, Feliks had a job with the department of immigration as arts and amenities director. The arts were a passion and interest for Feliks for all of his life. He carried out this job between 1949 and 1951. It did not take him long to settle in the Hunter Valley. He moved to Lochinvar near Maitland with his wife, Aleksandra, in 1952. Four years later he was naturalised.
Throughout his life, Feliks Dangel was a man who worked tirelessly for the city of Maitland and the Polish community, holding many positions in both spheres. He was elected president of the Polish Association and was an alderman on the Maitland City Council, where he had a keen interest in the arts. He was vice-president of the Federal Council of Polish Associations in Australia. Feliks gave new meaning to the phrase community leader. I will not go through all the groups he was involved with, but they did include the Maitland Bicentennial Committee, the Maitland Cultural Committee, the Heritage Committee and the Maitland Hospital Ethnic Advisory Committee.
Felix Molski, thank you so much for having supplied this historic photo |
Feliks was also given numerous awards throughout his lifetime, giving credit to his community work and passion for life. These awards included the Silver Jubilee medal; the British Empire medal; the Polish Gold Cross of Merit, which he was awarded twice; and the Commanders Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland. In 1999, he was awarded Freeman of the City of Maitland during the 50th anniversary of the Polish arrival in Australia.
Feliks Dangel's work in the community and work for the Polish community will always be respected and appreciated. To travel to a faraway country and start a new life must be one of the most difficult endeavours to undertake, but to do it with such honour, pride and appreciation of his new home and to give back to Australia in such a tremendous way are signs of a remarkable man. He was proud of heritage and his background. He was also proud to call Australia home. He called himself a Polish Australian and a dinky-di Aussie. To Feliks's wife, Aleksandra Dangel; their children, Danuta, Feliks, Rosemary and Louise; and to the grandchildren I offer my condolences. You can be proud of the life that Feliks Dangel had and the work he did for the Polish and the Maitland communities. He will long be remembered for the community leadership that he displayed throughout his lifetime.
Od Redakcji. W kolekcji archiwalnych nagrań (The Margaret Henry Oral History Archive) udało mi się odnaleźć wywiad z Panem Feliksem na temat Greta Migrant Hostel.Nagranie pochodzi z 1987 roku. Miłego słuchania. I prośba: wyślij linka przyjaciołom.
https://soundcloud.com/uoncc/greta-migrant-hostel-felix-dangel?in=uoncc/sets/margaret-henry-oral-history
Kliknij, posłuchaj
| 
