Journeys of Hope launch, Melbourne Holocaust Museum
ABC Chair Kim Williams AM
12 February
I acknowledge the co-Presidents of the Melbourne Holocaust Museum - Sue Hampel OAM & Michael Debinski OAM; Dr Steven Cooke The Museuem’s CEO; Professor Braitberg AM; and last but by no means least Mrs Nina Basset AM and her fellow survivors Andre, Charles, Eve and Peter featured in these beautiful films.
I also acknowledge the Traditional Owners on these ancestral lands and waterways of the Kulin nation, on which we gather tonight. I pay my respects to Elders past and present and to the Elders of other Indigenous communities in Australia.
I also pay my respect to Jewish elders and their wisdom, which has graced this nation and immeasurably improved it, in countless aspects of Australia’s modern evolution.
It is fitting also to acknowledge the wide diversity of other peoples and cultures who have been welcomed to Australia through its modern history, along with the rights, faiths, and aspirations they have brought or represent.
Now more than ever we must remind ourselves of this core backbone to our national experience for all who live in contemporary Australia.
The First Nations stories which underpin our land across millenia and the modern duality of the immigrant and multicultural experience of Australia, are all to be embraced and celebrated as unique defining elements of this nation. These core ramparts to the experience of Australian society should never be used as a source of division, an outcome which, regrettably, is seen far too much today, often for ignoble purposes.
Tonight, we launch an important project, the result of a strong creative partnership between ABC Education and the Melbourne Holocaust Museum.
The education resource we officially launch tonight - Journeys of Hope - provides a valuable tool for students and teachers in learning about the heroic survivors of the Holocaust who settled in Australia, invariably as refugees.
Their stories are striking reminders of the remarkable journeys so many people have made to establish better lives here.
Their stories remind us of the challenges, hardships, struggles and successes that are common in the history of migration to Australia and the sanctuary our nation has provided.
We mark with respect and recall, as we must, the horror and suffering that connects the people in these remarkable stories - those who survived the Holocaust and sought to rebuild good lives here. They are all inspirational figures.
The shared stories seen in Journeys of Hope, including those of close family members, offer unique insights and bear witness to remarkable resilience, persistence and in some instances good fortune from a time in which challenge to the most basic core decency and morality in humanity was jettisoned.
The Melbourne Holocaust Museum and its Sydney counterpart are vital institutions in this ongoing devotion to mark an indelible stain in modern human history, teaching current and future generations about that which we must never forget. Never.
The testimonies here are a vital link to those historical events, and we are fortunate to have such a durable resource available.
As so many here tonight know all to well, the Holocaust teaches us not only about the evil which populated Europe at that time, but also of the dangers in taking the institutions that protect us, for granted. It reminds us that democracy itself is forever fragile and that catastrophic results can follow if we do not protect and defend it.
I cannot help but feel presently we all would benefit from visiting this Museum and the history and wisdom it provides.
Elie Wiesel, the Romanian-born American writer, political activist, Nobel Laureate and survivor of both Auschwitz and Buchenwald, characterised the struggle against the oppression and hatred he had witnessed as a warning against indifference.
“The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference,” Wiesel wrote.
“The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.”
Journeys of Hope and future collaborations between the ABC and the Melbourne Holocaust Museum will provide a useful framework in the struggle against indifference.
By studying and respecting past experiences, we will hopefully learn about that which matters in the conduct of our lives and build a greater understanding of our common humanity and the value of diversity.
And by teaching younger generations about the experiences of those who have come here for a better life, we can hopefully encourage a community anchored in tolerance, respect, and knowledge; and not division and hate.
In closing let me thank Annabel Astbury and her remarkable team at ABC Education Studios for their singular efforts in producing these important programs in the service of the edification of next generation Australians – they make me, as ABC chair, truly proud.
Thank you again for being here tonight.