Tonight's Guest Speaker
I was born in the regional city of Geelong, about 75km from Melbourne in the State of Victoria (Australia).
My father, Roman – is from Ivano-Frankivsk (once Stanyslaviv), from the village of Klubivtsi, in the region of Tysmennytsia.
My mother, Maria – was born outside of Ukraine, Bosnia, after my maternal grandparents left the Ternopil region of Ukraine in the late 1920’s to seek a better life for themselves…
My parents migrated to Australia in the early 1950’s, and met at the Migrant camp in Bonegilla, which borders Victoria and New South Wales. They married in early 1953 in Geelong, and I was their first child, born in January 1954.
I have two siblings – a sister Olga, and a brother Peter.
I met my wife Mary in Newcaste, at a Ukrainian youth function celebrating 25 years of the branch of the Ukrainian Youth Association (UYA) in late 1979, and we married in January 1981, at which time I then moved to Sydney, as it was easier for me to transfer with my job as a Public Servant in the Australian Taxation Office. My wife is a teacher by profession – and currently is the Deputy Principal of the International Grammar School in Sydney. We have two sons – Stephen (a Neurologist by profession), who is also married and has three children of his own. My younger son – Andrew (a pilot by profession), is also married and has a baby daughter.
Our family has always been active in the Ukrainian community – both my parents throughout their lives were active in the UYA, their local Church, and the local Community organisation (Association of Ukrainians in Geelong) and Ukrainian Women’s Association, with my father having leadership roles in all the organisations (except UWA).
I too, became an active participant in UYA – starting my “career” as a Dance Instructor at the age of 15, followed by President (at age 18) in 2 branches over a period of about 12 – 15 years – as well as numerous other positions (Educator, Secretary, and so on)… Effectively our whole family have been very active in the area of UYA… My sister was President of the Geelong branch, as was my brother, who also became the President of the National Executive in Australia as well as the World Executive of UYA. Both my sons have also been Presidents of the National Executive of UYA in Australia.
Community, became a very important part of my being – not just UYA, but over the decades I also Chaired the Ukrainian Council of New South Wales (the umbrella body for the Ukrainian community in the state of NSW), Chair of: the St Andrews Ukrainian Catholic Parish Council, and Parent’s Committee of the local Ukrainian (Saturday) School, and was on the Boards of the Ukrainian Cultural & Social Club and the Karpaty Ukrainian Credit Union, as well as chairing numerous committees and so on.
From a career perspective, I worked at the Australian Taxation Office – mostly in the Inspectorate Section, followed by some time in the NSW Department of Finance, and the final years of my working life I spent as the Chief Executive Officer of the Karpaty Ukrainian Credit Union in Sydney. After the merger of Karpaty with the Sydney Credit Union (now Australian Mutual Bank) in 2010, I retired and undertook some consulting work in various “management” type fields as well as being an accredited translator of Ukrainian to English… I am qualified in Financial Services, and studied Law (albeit I did not complete the course).
In June 2006. I was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the Ukrainian community and to Credit Unions presented by the then Governor of NSW.
Throughout my life, I have always been active in the Ukrainian community, and in 2013 I also joined Rotary, expanding my community volunteerism to the mainstream community… I was President of my local Rotary branch (the Rotary Club of Holroyd) in 2014-2015.
In 2017, after being nominated by His Excellency Dr Mykola Kulinich, the then Ambassador of Ukraine in Australia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (and approved by the Department of Foreign Affairs of Australia) I was named as the Honorary Consul of Ukraine in Sydney. In that role I represent Ukraine at official consular functions and represent the Head of Mission at functions where he is unable to attend in the State of NSW and support Ukrainian citizens when there is a call to do so.
Currently, although “retired”, I spend my time helping out in any way possible in the community, and enjoy looking after my grandsons, two who are at school – all three boys are under 8, as well as my only granddaughter who has just turned 1. I try and instil in them a sense of community, a sense of (Ukrainian) heritage, and spoil them as most grandparents do to the disdain of their parents.
