Gaming and the community
2010/11
The Club is pleased to announce that last financial year (2010/11) it provided community contributions to four organisations. The contributions were equivalent to over 37% of 2010/11 revenue from the Club's gaming machines. The organisations included:
- Leukaemia Foundation
- O'Connor Knights
- Croatian Ethnic School
- Croatian Catholic Centre (Cardinal Aloysius Stepinac statue)
For those organisations seeking assistance from the Club, a reminder the Australian Croatian Club has a policy that before any community-based club or association is eligible to receive any form of sponsorship from the Club (financial or in-kind) every member of that organisation must first become a member of the Australian Croatian Club. Where members of that organisation are under the age of 18, this requirement extends to their immediate guardian.
The Club supports responsible gambling. If you have a gambling problem please contact Clubcare on 6247 0655 or 13 11 14.
7 AUGUST 2011 Croatian Victory Day - Community Celebrations
On a wild and windy Sunday afternoon, the Croatian community in Canberra celebrated Croatian Victory Day with a traditional lunch at the Australian Croatian Club (O’Connor).
In celebrating the largest European military operation since World War 2 which liberated a third of the Republic of Croatia’s territory, humiliated the Mladić forces in Bosnia and saved the inhabitants of the Bihac pocket from a Srebrenica type fate, the members of the revitalised Club demonstrated once again their support for all truly Croatian celebrations and/or commemorations.
This is no surprise coming so soon after the Club and its members played such an important role in the successful peace rally for Croatian General’s Gotovina and Markac, further demonstrating they will never forget the sacrifices by those that helped established the century’s old dream of an Independent Croatian state.
But of course the action does not stop there for the good folk in the Nation’s Capital with the Club’s Father’s Day celebrations just around the corner, the recent announcement that the Club will have a marque at the Canberra Racecourse on Melbourne Cup day and ZAKON set to rock the Club on New Year’s Eve.
And that, just like Croatian Victory Day itself, is well worth celebrating.
Australian Croatian's Unite for Croatian Generals Gotovina and Markač
By Šime Lisica
On a sunny Sunday afternoon in Canberra marked the day the Croatians from all over Australia came out in force united as one (or so you would think with one particular Canberra club deciding that soccer was more important than the freedom of our Generals, the question should be was is really that hard to postpone the game a few hours? seriously, you had over a months’ notice, you really have shown your true colours) despite that the turnout of 2000+ individuals was impressive and as the spokesperson for the Croatian Youth Association Incorporated I would first of all like to thank all of you for coming together and supporting such a pivotal event in the history of the Croatian community of Australia.
Secondly I would also like to sincerely thank all the speakers on the day, Tomislav Beram who represents the Croatian Intercomittee Council of NSW, Anđa Luburić from Croatian Television and representing the Brisbane Croatian Community, Fabian Lovoković representative of H.O.P, Evica Dumančić representing the Croatian Community of Western Australia, I would also like to thank Zvonko Bušić who provided an exclusive audio clip that specifically addressing the Canberra crowd, and Mr Jack Barić director of the documentary “Searching for a Storm” for his statement and his on-going support with both protests that have been held in Sydney and now Canberra.
Finally and most importantly I must thank both the Hrvatski Dom O’Connor for the endless amount of support they have given, especially with organising all the food and drinks both before and after the event, the club was chocked full of guests, it was an absolute honour to see everyone sitting together sharing a meal and socialising, so to O’Connor without them this day would not have happened. For those of you wondering if more protests have been planned down the track, the answer is yes and you will be advised in the very near future, the Croatian Youth Association has earmarked a date near the Croatian elections in December as a possibility.
Some memorable quotes of the day: in a statement prepared by Mr Jack Barić, director of the documentary Searching for a Storm said “The greatest failure of the West since the 1930’s” is how former United States Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke described the United Nations efforts to stop the war in Croatia and in Bosnia & Herzegovina. It can be easily argued that the greatest failure among a mind-boggling list of UN failures occurred eleven years ago this month in Srebrenica. At that time, thousands of terrified people gathered in desperation at the UN gates after Serb forces had overrun the Bosnian safe haven town.
Šime Lisica, spokesperson for the Croatian Youth Association said, “These outrageous policies of the international court has been a major milestone for the ultra-nationalist Serbian revanchists who are already claiming that the conviction and ruling against our Generals enables Croatia’s international borders to be altered, the restoration of a Greater Serbia is what they are fighting for, we cannot and must not allow this to happen”
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