multiculturalism

In October of 1951 the BLA founded the folk dance group “Senatne” (Olden Times) with 14 participants. Its leader was Gaida Stendere and pianist Maksimilians Sprīvulis. The number of dancers rapidly grew. “Senatne” participated in many events in Brisbane and whole Australia. With reducing of the number of participants “Senatne” ended its existence in 2000. Source: www.rlb.lv/latvian-organizations-and-schools-abroad/brisb...

St Luke's Church of England, Brisbane is a heritage-listed former church and now a restaurant at 18 Charlotte Street, Brisbane City, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by John Smith Murdoch and built-in by John Steward & Co. It is also known as Pancake Manor. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.[1] Description Building entrance, 2017 St Luke's is a finely detailed brick building in the Romanesque style whose predominant feature is the massive relieving archway containing vertical openings at the end of the chancel. It has a complicated roof form combining both hips and gables, along with a small octagonal tower near the entry. The roof sheeting is rolled iron. The plain brickwork is punctuated by bands of different colored brick and the occasional use of stone around windows and doors. The building has the unusual arrangement of having entries to both floor levels at the chancel end in an attempt to optimise the building's orientation. The major entry to the upper church level is defined by a recessed porch.[1] The exterior and interior finishes of the building are particularly intact, despite the building's change of use, installation of kitchen facilities, and inappropriate interior door and external signage.[1] Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Luke%27s_Church_of_England,_Bris...

Constructed in 1904, it served as the Pro-Cathedral between the closure of St John’s in William Street and the completion of the first stage of St John’s in Ann Street. It also hosted the enthronement of Archbishop Donaldson (up to this point, Donaldson and all the previous leaders of the Brisbane Diocese had been Bishops). From 1910, it was used as the main hub for all mission activities across the city, and there were also school rooms, club rooms, and kitchen facilities. After World War I, Canon Garland (the resident Chaplain of St Luke’s) directed the Soldiers Church of England Help Society from the church hall, and an Anzac Club was open daily for soldiers. The hall was also used by other religious communities, such as the Greek Orthodox Church. From 1922 to 1977 the hall was used for Diocesan Synod until it was sold, decommissioned, and converted for its current use. Source: anglicanfocus.org.au/2020/07/10/the-records-and-archives-...

The foundation stone of Townsville's Saints Theodores Greek Orthodox Church was laid on 16 March 1947. In June 1950 this Church was officially opened and dedicated, though the religious practice had commenced from 1948 while the building was still being completed.[1] It is named after three saints called Theodore.[2] Some of the earliest Greek migrants to Australia arrived in the 1850s. Many of these were sailors or deckhands who jumped ship after arriving aboard sailing vessels at the various Australian port cities. In the Australian Colonies, these early Greeks found employment generally in mining, seamen aboard coastal shipping, or as wharf laborers.[1] In Queensland, little evidence exists of a Greek presence during the greater part of the 19th century, but the first Greek to this Colony to be naturalised was Christopher Arsenios in 1868. Arsenios was a Greek Orthodox Priest who heralded from Corfu, who settled in Clermont.[1] The first real wave of Greek migration to Australia did not take place until the early part of the 20th century, in the years leading up to the commencement of World War I. By the turn of the 20th century, the number of Greeks in Australia was insignificant. Even in the major cities such as Sydney and Melbourne, Greeks only composed a very small group. By 1915 though, some 1000 Greeks were estimated as residing in Sydney alone, and in Queensland 400, with fifty in Brisbane. In Queensland evidence suggests that the major place of origin of these Greek migrants by 1915 was from Kythira.[1] One of the main reasons for these Greek arrivals in Australia was the political unrest at home in the period prior to World War I, as it was to occur again in the 1920s. The Balkan Wars took place during 1912 and 1913, involving Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Turkey. In order to escape the effects of this conflict many Greeks left Macedonia and other northern regions and came to places such as Australia.[1] After the end of World War I, another spur to Greek migration was a subsequent war between Greece and Turkey over Smyrna that broke out during 1921–1922. As a destination for Greek migrants, Australia was to become an even more obvious choice from 1924, due to the United States of America instituted a severe quota limit on migration into that country. The subsequent Greek arrivals in places such as Queensland accelerated the proliferation of Greek cafes and other eating places in Brisbane and the country. The new arrivals found that the path to success had already been carved out by the pioneers of the first two decades. One history of Greek migration to Queensland surmised:[1] In Townsville, Greeks began to arrive and settle in this locale in approximately 1916. Amongst the first arrivals recorded were Spyros and Vasilios Makris, Raftopoulos, Maltepes, John and Dimitrios Hondros, and Nicholas and George Voyatzis. Though these early Townsville Greeks did not establish a formal Greek Community until the 1940s, they nonetheless periodically organised social, cultural, and religious activities in celebration of their Greek origins. To meet the interim religious needs of this developing Townsville Greek community, a visiting priest from Innisfail conducted services in St James' Cathedral, as did Metropolitan of Australia Timotheos Evangelinidis when visiting this community. Metropolitan Timotheos was also to be instrumental in establishing the Greek Community in Townsville.[1] Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saints_Theodores_Greek_Orthodox_Church