Melbourne

Melbourne. See Map. The state capital (2020 pop 5,159,211) of Victoria, in southeastern Australia. The Ukrainian community in Melbourne, about 9,000 strong, consists of postwar emigrants and their descendants. Melbourne is the seat of a Ukrainian Catholic eparchy and its former exarchate (1958–82) as well as of the Australian eparchies of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada. The state branch of the Federation of Ukrainian Organizations in Australia is centered there, and the local branch of the Shevchenko Scientific Society is the most active one in Australia. The city’s cultural life is enriched by the Chaika male choir (and its affiliated Korali female quartet and Akord male quartet), the Kurbas theater (est 1950), the Soniashnyi Promin dance group, and the Vasyl Symonenko Literary-Artistic Club. In addition to Ukrainian Saturday schools, the youth organizations Plast Ukrainian Youth Association and Ukrainian Youth Association (SUM) are active there. The Levy Sports Association fields a soccer team. The semimonthly Ukraïnets’ v Avstraliï has been published there since 1956. The Catholic eparchy publishes Tserkva i zhyttia (1960–), and the Lastivka publishers have Novyi obrii, an almanac devoted to literature, art, and culture (six issues by 1980). The economic strength of the community is illustrated by the Dnister credit union (est 1951), with 2,500 members and assets of five million pounds; the Odesa building co-operative, with 400 members and assets of two million pounds; and the Postup trade co-operative, with 370 members and assets of 800,000 pounds. In 1983 the first university-level Ukrainian courses in Australia were initiated at the city’s Monash University, and in 1988 the Mykola Zerov Lectureship in Ukrainian Studies was established at the university through a permanent endowment. The initial holder was Marko Pavlyshyn.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]