“Solidarity” in Australia in the Archives of the National Commission of the Solidarity Trade Union
We will continue the fruitful cooperation between the National Commission of the Solidarity Trade Union and the Stanisław Flis “Pomerania Archives” Foundation in promoting valuable archival materials from the holdings of the Archives of the National Commission. The main goal of our agreement is to publish selected documents together with their description in Polish and English on the Foundation’s website on a regular basis.
Our nearest plans include presenting diverse collections, e.g. related to Belgium, Denmark, France and Japan, held in the Historical Archives of the National Commission of the Solidarity Trade Union. This time we would like to share with you materials connected with the Solidarity in Australia. These archival documents are particularly valuable. You can find them in three archival fonds: the National Coordinating Committee and the National Commission of the Solidarity Trade Union in Gdańsk (no. 3), the Coordinating Office Abroad of NSZZ “Solidarność” in Brussels (no. 24), and the General Committee of the NSZZ “Solidarność” Medicines and Medical Equipment Bank (no. 25).
Among the scans from the fond of the National Coordinating Committee and the National Commission of the Solidarity Trade Union in Gdańsk presented below, we would like to draw your attention to numerous telex messages from Australia, e.g. the request for an interview with Lech Walęsa, at that time the Chairman of the National Coordinating Committee. Attached are also selected pages from the October issue of “Orzeł Biały” from 1980, demonstrating solidarity with Polish workers participating in the strikes. Furthermore, we present “Wiadomości Polskie. Pismo Polaków w Australii i Nowej Zelandii”, as well as official correspondence, e.g. with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and the Federal Council of the Association of Free Poles in Australia.
The archival fond of the Coordinating Office Abroad of NSZZ “Solidarność” in Brussels contains correspondence with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and the Federated Clerks Union of Australia. Among the most interesting materials there is a notebook of the visit of Solidarity leaders in Australia in August and September 1982. It comprises such elements as the pronunciation of Polish names, chronology of modern Poland, history of the Solidarity Trade Union or the Gdańsk agreeement’s text. In the same fond we can find documents showing the history, organizational structure and accomplishments of the Australian Labor Party.
The archival fond of the General Committee of the NSZZ “Solidarność” Medicines and Medical Equipment Bank contains correspondence related to “Solidarity” – the Association of Free Poles in Australia.
It is worth mentioning, that in the Reading Room of the Archives of the National Commission of the Solidarity Trade Union there is an impressive collection of books. In the context of Solidarity in Australia, one publication is particularly interesing – Patryk Pleskot’s Solidarność na Antypodach. Inicjatywy solidarnościowe polskiej diaspory w Australii (1980-1989), Warsaw 2014 (no. 6636).
Visit us at the in the Archives of the National Commission of the Solidarity Trade Union
If you are interested in the attached documents and in our other archival materials in the Archives of the National Commission of the Solidarity Trade Union, please contact us first by email: .
/Łukasz Grochowski, the Archives of the National Commission of the Solidarity Trade Union,
Iwona Flis, Stanisław Flis Foundation “Pomerania Archives”/
