From left: Prof. M.Kwiatkowski & H.E.Ambassador Ian Forsyth

The exhibition “Eagles in the Land of Kangaroos” which opened on Thursday 20 July at the Museum of Polish Emigration in Warsaw, presents a fascinating and visually dramatic account of the contribution that Poles have made to the development of Australia, and of the circumstances of their emigration.

It presents a history of which all Poles, and particularly Australians of Polish heritage, can be justly proud.

It is an exhibition which helps consolidate the strong bonds between Australia and Poland.

Photo Ryszard Opechowski

It is a timely exhibition, as there is I believe a resurgence of interest among Poles and Australians in their historic roots. It coincides with celebrations in Australia commemorating the 150th anniversary of the first Polish settlement in Australia, at Polish Hill in South Australia, and with reciprocal Parliamentary visits between Australia and Poland.

Following a Parliamentary visit to Poland last month, led by Senator Ian MacDonald, I am delighted that a Polish Parliamentary delegation will visit Australia in October, led by the Speaker of the Senate, Senator Bogdan Borusewicz.

The exhibition includes many interesting accounts of some of the emigrants and personalities from Poland who left their mark on the early development of Australia. Many of the accounts are based on the excellent book by Mr Lech Paszkowski “Poles in Australia and Oceania 1790-1940”.

Just a few of these stories that particularly caught my eye include:

• Sir Isaac Isaacs, our first Australian born Governor General;
• Sir John Monash, Chief of Australia’s Armed Forces in World War I;
• Pawel Strzelecki, who as a pioneering explorer has left his name on many places on the map of Australia, who named Mt Kosciuszko, and who is thought to be the first to discover gold in Australia;
• Helena Rubenstein, from Cracow, whose cosmetics empire had its beginnings in Melbourne, based on her mother’s face cream;
• Gracjan Brojnowski who published a book on his illustrations of Australia’s unique birdlife in 1890 and contributed significantly to Australia’s wildlife protection legislation
• Wilhelm Blandowski, who established the first museum of natural history in Melbourne, and who founded both the Geological Society of Victoria and the Philosophical Society of Victoria.
• One Zymut Romaszkiewicz, who somehow migrated to Australia via Manchuria, formed an association of Polish Emigrants in Brisbane, and who joined the Australian Army in 1916 to fight under the Australian flag for the independence of Poland, his homeland.

The exhibition also charts the difficult passage of the early emigrants to Australia and draws a time line showing conjunctions between Australia’s very colourful early settlement and key points in Poland’s history. It highlights the messages of support that came from our young country for Poland’s struggle for nationhood and independence.

Photo Ryszard Opechowski

It includes some interesting exhibits, including part of a collection of Aboriginal artifacts that were collected in the 19th century by Dr Lukowicz when he was treating Aborigines in South Australia, loaned by the Museum of Ethnography in Warsaw.

The exhibition owes its realisation to a great team effort by its voluntary curators, two active members of the Australian-Polish community, Mark Krawczkynski and Jola Wolska, together with the staff (and resources) of the Museum of Polish Emigration, headed by Professor Kwiatkowski. We owe a special thanks to Mark, who also initiated the idea of the exhibition with both Professor Kwiatkowski and myself, and Jola, who also produced a splendid catalogue of the exhibition. They both put in enormous efforts to make the exhibition a great success.

The exhibition also received contributions from many individuals and organisations in both Poland and Australia, for which we are very grateful. As a sponsor and patron of the exhibition, the Australian Embassy is delighted with the very positive reception it has received here. We are using it to promote a better understanding of the depth of the Australian-Polish relationship in Poland.

I hope that the exhibition will be followed up next year by a presentation on Polish emigration to Australia in the period after 1918. The number of Polish emigrants since 1918 is, of course, much greater than in the pre-war period, and it will take considerable effort, research and creative imagination to bring that exhibition to life. I hope that members of the Australian Polish community will again give generous support to that effort.

Ian Forsyth