Remembrance Day in Australia
By Dr Bede Muller, Sydney, Australia
On November 11th 2007, the day of Remembrance a wreath was placed on the cenotaph at 11am by the Governor of Victoria Prof David de Kretser. This solemn function was attended by the Prime Minister and other dignitaries and given full TV coverage.
At the same time in Brisbane in the 1st test match Sri Lanka struggling to avoid the follow on. A young man Michael Vandort was defying the Australian bowlers for several hours, scoring 82 runs in the process.
Of noteworthy interest is that these two persons were born in Sri Lanka and belong to a small community called Dutch Burghers and are descendants from the Dutch and Portuguese who inhabited the maritime provinces of Sri Lanka from 1500 to 1815. Firstly the Portuguese then the Dutch who ceded to the British who then governed the country till independence in 1948. Most of the Burghers remain in Sri Lanka and we are their descendants.
In recent times with Sri Lanka gaining independence and having one national language i.e. Sinhalese and because of vast political instability most of the Burghers elected to emigrate to countries like to US, UK, Canada and Australia, often at great financial loss to themselves. The Burghers were a quiet diligent community and occupied positions of distinction and high office. They also excelled in sport and belonged to all the national teams of the era.
They settled very well in their new countries as evidenced by Prof David de Kretser coming here as a young boy of 11 and reaching the high position possible in Australia, as Governor of Victoria. We are very proud of both of them and are a big credit to a small community here and have achieved no small measure of recognition on this day of Remembrance 2007.
