HELVETIA, AUSSIE-STYLE ON THE SOUTH COAST (vOLUNTEERS)

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 Without any encouragement from the Swiss Community Care Society, a fellow compatriot living on the South Coast has been doing her bit among other Swiss, to promote the pleasure of Swiss traditions and companionship from the old country.

Monica and partner Kurt have around 35 friends with a Swiss connection – either descendants, or married to Australians, who meet for the particular enjoyment of speaking Schwiizerdütsch – local Swiss dialects. Some like to meet throughout the year, and others on 1 August.

Whilst they used to gather for a first of August celebration at different places along the South Coast, Monica tells us that in recent years, she has hosted the event at her property as there was plenty of room for families, especially if the weather was bad. 

Naturally these celebrations included a delicious Swiss-Aussie buffet, decorations and traditional folk music. Now, due to the effort of organising such an event (and we can see from the photos how beautifully this was done) the friends are meeting once again in different restaurants in Tuross, like the seafood and Thai restaurant Pickled Octopus, on beautiful Tuross Lake.

'Some of us make the effort to keep Swiss traditions alive, because we enjoy it so much', says Monica. 

'At the customary time of year we bake Grittibänze, Wiehnachtsguetsli and we colour Easter eggs'. Monica does not have far to go to obtain her super fresh eggs. SCCS is fortunate to have such an enthusiastic and creative member. We thank Monica for sharing the photos on this page.