God bless all the Poles
After the end of World War II in 1945, Polish migration to Australia began on a large scale, although the majority of immigrants chose the USA. Those that wanted to fly as far away as possible from divided Europe chose Australia. At the time of Mr Chifley’s government, the minister of Immigration Mr Arthur Calwell put forward a proposal to accept refugees from Europe. Parliament approved this proposal and passed laws, which enabled European migration to Australia. The first Polish immigrants began arriving in St Albans in 1950. These were the Poles that decided not to return to Poland after the war. At this time St Albans was almost virgin land. It consisted of a few houses, 3 shops, railway station, primary school and open paddocks overgrown with grass and thistle. There were no roads, electricity, water or gas connected.
Suddenly, in a very short time many temporary bungalows and half houses sprung up everywhere like mushrooms. St Albans was becoming like the Bible Tower and many Poles seemed to be lost amongst all the nationalities there at the time. They felt alone without their own church and Polish priests, and they would travel to St Ignatius Church in Richmond every Sunday to celebrate Mass that was said in their native tongue. For many years there was no Catholic church in St Albans. Initially, all Catholics would travel to Sunshine to attend Mass. In approximately 1953, an English priest came to St Albans once a month to say Mass at the ‘Old Mechanics’ Hall’. It was an old dump. Some Poles would also attend that Mass, which were said by Fr Hariot who used to travel to St Albans from Sunshine. In 1952, Fr Joseph Krasocki also said Mass in the Polish language at the ‘Old Mechanics’ Hall’. In January 1953, the Sacred Heart parish was established and was separated from Sunshine. The Australian priest Fr Reis lived in a hotel in Deer Park and came every Sunday to say Mass at the ‘Old Mechanics’ Hall’. In a short time he organized the building of a presbytery, church hall, school and convent.
In August 1953, the presbytery was completed and Fr Reis moved in. All immigrants helped with the building, which cut down the costs. The Poles were the most prominent and willing helpers giving their weekends and free time to build the parish.
Poles, like most other immigrants, worked hard as labourers. With time they managed to achieve better positions, especially the younger generation, which was brought up here. At Christmas time in 1953, our first Christmas Eve Mass was celebrated at midnight in the temporary Church hall, which was at frame stage. It was great joy to Poles and all alike. In 1954, the St Albans Catholic Primary School was opened and run by the Sisters of St Joseph. Initially, they travelled from Footscray and resided in the convent built in St Albans. Most children of Polish parents attended the Catholic school; others went to the State School. The St Albans Polish Society organized a Polish Saturday School, which was held at the Sacred Heart Primary School. Sisters of the Resurrection in Essendon ran the school. In time lay people began teaching at the school and for quite some time the school was run by Jan Smolarek. Presently, Roman Sawko and Jan Smolarek run it together.
In August 1954, our temporary Church hall was opened by holding a gala ball with 800 people from all nationalities attending, including Poles. In October 1956, Archbishop Mannix blessed the completed Church hall. After the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, Mrs Kowalczyk, Adamczyk, Kipka and others organised a local soccer club called ‘Olympia’. They were a good team then, but at present are dissolved. The Polish Society took charge of the Polish School. They organised concerts at the end of each year. They also provided summer camps for the students in Healesville. The Polish Society did not build their own Polish House, as costs were very high.
St Albans grew rapidly in the 50's and 60's. Immigrants then built their own homes. Poles were able to buy new cars and other luxuries. New primary and secondary schools were in operation. Roads were built and sewerage was installed. In 1967, roads were built around the Parish Centre. Children could leisurely walk to school. Sacred Heart parish grew to the extent that new parishes had to be established. In 1968, a new parish in East St Albans was formed, called St Paul's. In 1972, Holy Eucharist parish was formed. In 1976, a new parish in West St Albans and Kealba was formed. In May 1973, after 20 years work, Fr Reis left the parish of the Sacred Heart and Fr John O'Reilly took over in 1977. The Catholic Regional College was built where many Polish students attended. On 7th May 1978, Archbishop F. Little consecrated our new Church of Sacred Heart built with financial and labour contributions from the Poles. Fr Krasocki was the Polish priest from 1952 to 1969. He introduced the tradition of the blessing of food on Easter Saturday and many Australians adopted this custom. Fr Krasocki later left for Ballarat. After several weeks, Fr Maciej arrived as our new parish priest and initiated choir practice. In 1970, Fr. Maciej left for New Guinea and Fr Marian Laban took his place and worked with the Polish people till 1984. Fr. Waldemar Szczepaniak then took over his position.
Over these years there were many priests such as: Fr Gamański, Feruga, Pajdak, Zaremba, Szura, Broniarczyk and Rakiej. Over all these years the Poles kept up the traditions of Lenten retreats, which were led by different Polish priests from around Victoria as well as other Polish missionaries from New Guinea and priests visiting from Poland.
When immigration began in Australia after WWII, Polish bishops visited Australia such as: Scharacki, Gawlina, Rubin, and Wesoły, however, none of these visited St Albans until the visit of Cardinal Karol Wojtyła in 1973. The Poles spent unforgettable moments singing and talking in the parish hall with the future Pope. Other parishioners had more respect for Poles after the visit. Cardinal Karol Wojtyła visited Australia as Pope in November 1986.
Many Polish refugees arrived in Australia in the later 1980’s and therefore our numbers were strengthened in St Albans. I wish that God would bless the new Polish immigrants so that they may continue on with the work that we began, so that they can leave something for the next generation.
