immigrants

You can think of modern bowling as a distant cousin of bocce. The Latin word bottia (ball) is the root of the Italian word boccia or bocce. During a game a ball is either rolled or tossed underhanded down a long lane with the aim of coming to rest near a smaller target ball called a pallino or boccino. Many people, such as Galileo and DaVinci, played bocce during the Renaissance, seeing its benefits to mind and body. It was also played by emperors, admirals, generals, poets, sculptors and scientists. Bocce was also exported to many countries by Italian migrants, and remains popular with bocce courts and clubs throughout the world. No one really knows how old bocce is. There were stone balls found in Turkey that date to 9,000 B.C. Some say bocce dates back to ancient Egypt (5,200 B.C.), but others argue that Greece was its birthplace around 600 B.C. When you really think about the simplest game a child can play – tossing a stone – you might think of bocce as the very first game man ever played. Even the child’s game of Marbles is based on bocce. Source: orderisda.org/culture/sports/italian-sport-the-history-of...

Brisbane was a centre of early Russian immigration, receiving some of the very first Russians to Australia. Queensland’s café scene was brought to life by Basil Naggih who installed Brisbane’s first espresso machine in his café, which itself was one of the first cafés in Brisbane. A few years later he founded Brisbane’s first coffee roastery. The State Library of Queensland boasts a number of historical items related to Russian history in Queensland. Gowns designed by one of Australia’s most significant fashion designers of the 50s and 60s, Paula Gubar, a Russian immigrant to Brisbane, are held in the Queensland Museum, and many buildings relating to early Russian immigration in Queensland are heritage protected by the Queensland Government, including St Nicholas Cathedral and the famous Mikonoshin “Fairy House”. These are just a few of the ways that Brisbane’s history is dotted with Russianness. Source: www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/brisbane-australias-most-russian-...

Vassily Grigorievich Voskresensky (16 September 1888 – 27 July 1951), usually referred to as Colonel Wassily de Basil, was a Russian ballet impresario. De Basil brought the Original Ballet Russe on a tour of Australia in 1939–1940,[6] travelling there aboard the P&O ocean liner RMS Maloja in September 1938. He had earlier organised tours to Australia in 1936–1937 and 1938–1939, although he did not travel with the company. During his visit to Australia, de Basil commissioned work from Australians, especially from designers, who included Sidney Nolan and Kathleen and Florence Martin. He also instigated a design competition for an original Australian ballet, which was won by Donald Friend with designs for a ballet based on a fictitious event in the life of Ned Kelly. Source en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassily_de_Basil

The writing is in Cyrillic alphabet meaning: "God Save Russia".