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Remembering Courage
in the Face of Tyranny
The 2004 Eureka Dawn Walk will assemble
from 3.30 am on Sunday 5 December 2004
at the Ballarat Mining Exchange
Lyddiard Street, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
It will be the seventh annual Dawn Walk and this year it will be just one event in the big program of events which have been funded by State and federal governments to the tune of $1.5 million, to celebrate the 150th anniversary. See the official, organised by Premiers Dept, from Melbourne, program at www.eureka150.vic.gov.au
Like previous years the home spun Dawn Walk will be an artful, lantern-lit, story telling procession that follows the 3.5 km route the British soldiers took on their dawn attack on the diggers' stockade on the Eureka gold field on Sunday 3 December 1854.
Like previous years it will be a meditation on courage in the face of tyranny and a deeply moving remembrance of the blood sacrifice which lit the bonfires for libertarian reform that established liberal democracy in Australia.
With lantern light and banners, with music and subtle theatre, we will create sacred space, tell the story and honour the courage of those that stood together truly on that Sunday morning long ago.
Each year someone who has been conspicuous and courageous in the defence of our liberties in present times, honours as Leading Light. This year we are grateful to have Terry Hicks, father of Australian Guantanamo Bay prisoner and torture victim, David Hicks, as our Leading Light.
Terry Hick's tenacious campaign to demand justice for his son is an inspiring Australian story of great love and great courage. In the face of the US tyranny, Terry stands tall and speaks truly for liberty and justice. Eureka spirit! In the name of the father, in the name of the son, he is an inspiration to us all. Father of the century!
When the Walkers arrive at the Eureka Memorial at dawn they will hear Terry speak and bring the Eureka story to here and now relevance. Then at the Memorial as guests of the Eureka Story Memorial Committee, they will hear a Dawn Oration, take the Eureka Oath and break bread together ... in the Eureka spirit.
Lot's of froth and bubble in the official program. Be assured, dear friends of Peacebus.com, this event tried and true and artful, is a nugget, a diamond, amongst the dross. Let it light up your heart for liberty.
The 2004 Eureka150 Dawn Walk will be hosted by the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery and funded by the City of Ballarat. It will be produced by Fraser MacKay, with Graeme Dunstan as Lantern Master and Peter Freund as story teller/script writer.
The lanterns are produced by volunteers in the two week lead up time. People wanting to help with the lantern making and other preparations (and we need lots of help!) should contact Graeme Dunstan on 0407 951 688 or email graemedunstan@peacebus.com or come on down to the Lantern Workshop in the Ballarat Mining Exchange, Lyddiard St, Ballarat.
Al Grassby, former Whitlam Minister for Immigration, father of multiculturalism in Australia, historian and social reformer, with Frank Williams, chair of the Eureka Stockade Memorial Association, the Ballarat Regional Mulitcultural Association and the Ballarat Regional (Australian Rules) Football League at the Eureka Memorial, dawn Sunday 7 December 2003
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