Summary

Full-length black and white digital photograph of Alexander and John Alexander Kazuro wearing Belarussian shirts in readiness for attending the multi-national parade welcome Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip to Melbourne in 1954. The child's shirt is also part of the collection (HT57365).

Alexander had migrated to Australia with his parents Aleksandra and Dimitri Kazuro and his four siblings in 1949 (having survived the German occupation of Belarus, escaped Soviet invasion via an arduous journey, a Displaced Person's camp and three years in Belgium). The family settled in Reservoir in Melbourne's north and in 1956, one of the children, Mieczyslaw (Mick) was chosen to carry the Olympic torch along Collins Street and pass it to Australian athlete John Landy.This was a source of enormous pride for the Kazuro family and for the local Belarussian community.

Alex married Australian-born Marie (the donor) in 1952 and it was soon after their first child John was born that the shirt was made and he wore it (along with his father wearing a similar shirt) at the Royal Visit Parade in Melbourne in 1954.

Description of Content

Man holding child (toddler) both wearing white embroidered shirts, full length.

Physical Description

Black and white digital photograph

Significance

This object provides a significant representation of traditional Belarussian life, cultural practices subsequently transported to Australia through migration and practised here as part of the preservation and maintenance of cultural life. It demonstrates the diversity across cultures within the context of the museum's regional costume collection. It is a precious migration object which has had a life in the transplanted context and has played a role in the activities of community organisations which have tried to maintain culture in increasingly challenging circumstances as subsequent generations have become further distant from the original migrating generation. The connection of the family story to two significant public events in Melbourne from the 1950s - the 1954 Royal Vist and the 1956 Olympic Games - further increases the social and cultural value of the story and related items.

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