Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about a wonderful event I attended this last Saturday in my electorate. The event was at the Ethiopian orthodox church. They celebrated one of their feast days. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is one of the oldest religions in terms of Christianity, which has been operating for thousands of years. It's one of the very first forms of Christianity, and they proclaim to follow the exact teachings of Christ. They're a wonderful community in my electorate. Last Saturday, the Ethiopian orthodox church venerated St Mary. They celebrate 33 feasts of St Mary per year.

It was wonderful to also welcome the archbishop of Western Australia and South Australia, His Grace Abune Musie. We were hosted by Father Yohannes, who is also the administrator of the community; and Goitom Tekle, who is on the committee there. It was a wonderful day. They started the service at 2 am in the morning, and it went right through until about three or four in the afternoon the following day. Many of the people there were there from 2 am. I attended the church service earlier in the morning and then the feast in the afternoon, which was followed by lots of traditional Ethiopian food, music and wonderful, wonderful culture.

It was really pleasing to see the young children that were there—very young kids who were obviously born here and are going to school here—and to know that this wonderful tradition, one of the oldest forms of religion in Christianity, is being passed down to these kids, who will be the next generation of this particular church. The church is very important to the Ethiopian people. It is their centre of community; it's where they all gravitate to, where they meet, where they practise their Christian orthodoxy and where they get to assist and help one another. They do lots of good welfare work. We've been dealing with many in the Ethiopian community in my electorate. They've all gravitated to the western suburbs and are now moving further north. We've worked very closely with them. They are a wonderful people, and I look forward to attending many more of their services. As I said, there are 33 feast days per year for St Mary. I'll make sure I get to a few of them and enjoy their wonderful culture.

I congratulate them for their wonderful event. I congratulate them for putting on such a big event that day with 300 to 400 people and for being part of the community, especially in my electorate of Adelaide. They form part of that vibrant, wonderful tapestry that we call multiculturalism in Australia.