Sydney, February 6, 2013
Cossack graves in Rookwood cemetery in Sydney, which have
not been looked after for a long time, will in part be
cared for by their descendants—Cossacks of the
Australian Embassy ‘stanitsa’ (section) of the
Trans-Ural Cossack army. The relevant agreement between
Cossack representatives and the cemetery management was
signed today.
Those present at the meeting examined the cemetery and
drew up a scheme of work for the immediate future. On the
same day, several graves were tidied up, including that of
the Colonel of the Orenburg Cossack army, Stepan Ivanovich
Nesterenko, born 1893.
Mark
Boondy, representing the cemetery administration, was
delighted at the Cossacks' initiative and noted
that a great many graves in the cemetery are seriously
neglected, even though some relatives are still alive.
"It would be better to have less talk and argue
about the various plans, and instead start carrying
them out straightaway. That is also a reflection of the
Cossack spirit— to put words into action
straightaway," said in turn the head of the
Australian Embassy stanitsa, Semion Boikov.
Thousands
of Russian soldiers and exiles are currently buried in
Australia: officers and soldiers of the Imperial Army,
engineers, pilots, doctors, scientists, and
representatives of nearly all the Cossack armies: the
Trans-Baikal, the Kuban, the Don, the Ussuriysk and the
Orenburg.
