"Justice Evatt calls for eternal vigilance against racial discrimination"
The President of the Australian Law Reform Commission, Justice Elizabeth Evatt, has warned Australians to maintain vigilance to ensure that discrimination is removed from our society for ever.
Justice Evatt was launching a book about the life a Hungarian Jewish immigrant, Catherine Gluck, who came to Australia in the '50s.
She told a gatherine at the Community Centre of the Ethnic Affairs Commision: "There's much in this book that ought to arouse our own indignation and make us reaffirm our intention to work for a world of tolerance and freedom from discrimination, a world in which such things can never happen again. Australia is as good a place to start as any, because we learn in Mrs Gluck's book that having survived the appalling events of Europe she found herself in Australia and encountered discirmination which was certainly unlooked-for and uncalled-for int he circumstances. Although that was many years ago we can never let up on our vigilance to ensure that these things are removed from out society for ever".
Justice Evatt presented a careful analysis of the book in her speech. Below are the key points of her address.
"What we have here is a very revealing and frank account of Catherine Gluck's life, one which lets us share the challenge, the adversities, the tragedies, that she's met and the indomitable and resourceful spirit that she's shown int he face of danger and hardship
"We need to considere this book as an account of how the shattering evetns that shocked the world in Nazi Europe affected the individual lives of the author and those close to her. She lived through times which we in Australia knew little of. She has endured a great deal for more than she has committed to paper.
"But it is a reminder to us that these world shattering events are very much the story of the many individual lives that they affect.
"This story is also a reminder to us that what makes Australia today is the collection, the accumulation of individual stories like this. So many of our fellow citizens have turned to Australia as a haven from unendurable hardships and miseries, to an opportunity to better themselves in the world.
"When people leave behind their own countries, their own people, and come to Australia, they bring with them enormous reservoirs of courage and determination. They've brought great diversity of experience and skills and although out own history, the history of Euorpean settlement in Australia, has many unfortunate aspects - much that we would wish had been otherwise and that we would wish to put right, there is no doubt that amongst the many hundreds of thousands who have immigrated to Australia over the years there are stories such as this of hardship and determination and this has contributed to our national make-up as both a practical and tolerant people.
The title of this book refers to the fact that after the first world war, Catherine Gluck wanted to cut her hair and sell it to provide relief for children who were victims of the war, evidence of her youthful spontaneity and generosity of spirit, which are enduring traits of Catherine Gluck.
The sickly child has indeed proved to be a stayer."
Copies of The Girl with Long Hair can be ordered from the author by telephoning (02) 9358 6623 or writing to PO BOX 212 Potts Point NSW 2011. Also, by the same author, A Man and His Art, the story of Catherine Gluck's brother, Freddy Lamberger.
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Project Coordinator: Verithe Luxley
