National Plast Museum – 40th Anniversary Celebration

On 27th May 2023, the Plast Adelaide branch, together with the Plast National Executive, celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Australian Plast Museum, which is located at the Ukrainian Community Centre in Adelaide.
The National Plast Museum was established in Australia in 1981 to collect, preserve, archive and display Ukrainian Plast material in Australia. We were finally able to celebrate this important milestone, now that the pandemic delays are over and we have the occasion to come together.
The Adelaide branch welcomed guests, local and from interstate, who represented the various facets of our Ukrainian community, and also our neighbouring European and scouting communities, including:
· Representatives from the Armenian Cultural Association of South Australia; Belarusian Community; Adelaide Estonian Society; Latvian Association of South Australia; and Federation of Polish Organisations in SA,
· Co-Chair from the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations,
· Chair and additional representatives of the Plast National Executive and Board,
· Representatives, including the President and Chairs from our Queensland, New South Wales and Victorian branches,
· President of the Association of Ukrainians in SA,
· Principal of the Ukrainian School in Adelaide,
· Sons of the first museum collector and caretaker Omelian Slobodian,
· Previous and current museum collectors and caretakers,
· Representatives of many of our kureni, fraternities and sororities, and
· Adelaide plastuny and the Adelaide Ukrainian community.
Four excited junior members also received their yellow scarves, marking their entry into Novatstvo.
We took the time to acknowledge the hard work and time that various members of the Adelaide branch over many years have put in, and continue to put into, the Australian Plast Museum, especially:
· our first collector and caretaker, pl. sen. Omeliyan Slobodian BM, who is no longer with us,
· pl. sen. George Fedyk ChM, who was caretaker for many years, and
· our current caretakers pl. sen. Sonia Schepetiuk SV, pl. sen. Olenka Dzunko SV and pl. sen. Irene Dnistransky SV.
The museum plays an important role in documenting the history of Plast in Australia.
All those who attended enjoyed perusing the museum exhibition throughout the afternoon, reminiscing through Australian Plast time and history via photos, videos, previous badges of past camps and other events!