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For over 88 years the Russian Club has been the centre of cultural life of Sydney’s
Russian community. We started by renting the premises in George Street in the city, currently
the club occupies the new building next to Strathfield station. There is nobody left
who would remember the club in the pre-war years. For the first six years its first chairman
was Starshinov, then for 11 years the club was managed by Davidenko. During the war and
in the postwar years, for more than 20 years, the club was headed by Khokhlov. There isn’t
much information left about the early years of the club. The history of the club is, first
of all, the story of the people who gave a lot of energy to keep the club open and, this
is where the Russian diaspora’s activities were held .
Now there are two rooms here, a small library, a bar-restaurant and a Russian shop. In honor
of the holiday, the club held a gala dinner. Old friends and guests gathered in the halI.
Seven years ago, the club’s new management was headed by Nikolai Agishev.
The club was founded in 1924 by a small group of Russian immigrants. As befits our immigration,
the first people come and open the church and after that, they open something for their
cultural needs. This also happened with our club. This business was started by a small
group. Something little was transformed into something big then. The club first was held
in a small room on George st. in the city, and then it changed its location a couple
of times. This was a room on the same plot of land but it was a small two-story house.
And the time came for all the people to move understand that we need move to a bigger place,
we found investors who wanted to build a large building, so the place where it is now was
allocated to it. The club has about 400 active members. It serves not only the Russian community,
but also other people who wish to hold an event.... Of course, mostly this club is for
our people. I regret that our people may not be the club type, and visit the club less
than we would like them to, but we still need a club. We hold all our important events here,
because there is no other room in Sydney for our community. I think that 88 years have
passed; I don’t want to guess about what will happen in the future. But I think that
for the coming years, this club will save its face and preserve the identity for which
it exists. What had an impact on the Diaspora’s cultural life is that today there are so many
opportunities to reach the culture which comes from Russia. Here we have guests. I think
that maybe we really need to spread around the information about our existence. I have
met many people who came from Russia who lived here for several years. And they were very
surprised; they said they did not know that there was a Russian club. How do we reach
them? We will take some kind of measures. We certainly have a website where you can
see what is happening here. All the information is displayed on our bulletin board in the
club. New Year is always a big event, people love
this holiday, a lot of people always gather, and they usually have a good time. In addition,
we celebrate other holidays too. Such as St. Nicholas Day in December.
We keep the doors open in the club in order for people to come and find out something
new, start a new beginning. Different concerts are very popular. Recently we had a “Balalaika”
orchestra concert. A lot of people come and they have a lot of fun.
Recently, we had a concert performed by Sydney Independent opera . These people have a great
talent and wonderful singers. Here at the Russian club, we have always been
involved, and we have always organized concerts, or we rented a hall for school concerts. There
are many Russian schools in Sydney. I have taught singing in Russian schools for about
50 years. In the Russian club, we have always performed, have had very successful concerts,
we have been active in the Russian club. There are very few of such active people left.
So many years have passed since this Russian club was established, much has been done by
people who came here after the war and wanted to have a place to meet. They founded the
Russian club. A Russian person has soul, which needs to feel a unity, he needs to express
his thoughts, wants to hear someone else’s opinion. They used to talk about what they
achieved after arriving in Australia. I have been in this club for many years. Today I
am glad to say that people come here with pleasure because they know that they can have
fun, share a few jokes. If there is music we can have a dance .... It is very nice and
it brings us joy to know that we have this club. I only have one sad thought – there
aren’t enough young people. It would be nice to see young people here, who are happy
and smiling. Young people, please come here, enjoy yourselves, bringing us joy as well.
Our forces were replenished somewhere in the late 50's, when mainly Russian people were
coming from Harbin. In Harbin they lived a Russian life, they studied in Russian schools,
there were 25 Russian churches, it was a small Russia, and we lived a Russian life. When
we came here, we continued, we joined the Australian life but we continued to live and
keep all these traditions, we went to church, and in Sydney there are 12 Orthodox churches,
we observed fasts, all the holidays. For our life as community we needed a Russian club,
where we could have Tomsky’s theatre, stage plays, perform in an operetta, lead a full
and interesting life. We arrived when we were little, but after
we had grown up, we had a longing for it, because we grew up on the Russian culture.
We continued all the traditions. It is important for us, it is part of our lives. We also created
Russian schools. And all these traditions were passed to our children. Some people became
assimilated, others are still interested, but this is the next generation. But for our
generation, it's all very important. We go to Russia and is part of our lives, even though
we are worthy members of the Australian community. In honour of the holiday, long-term members
and the club’s management gathered together. Holiday dinner, traditional Russian dishes
and a good atmosphere filled the halls of the Russian Club.
In honour of the holiday, the club’s Russian restaurant has prepared a traditional Russian
dish – pelmeni, it is very popular among the people of other nations as well as among
the Russians.