These pages are reproduced from the parish history book, published in 2006 for the church's 20th anniversary. It tells the story of the Serbian Orthodox Church of St John the Baptist in Dapto and Wollongong, in English and in Serbian. The book's prologue, dated 28 August 2005, also marks 30 years of the parish folklore group Ravna Gora.
What is in it
The book's chapters are listed here as they are named in its 2005 working drafts:
- History of the church
- St John the Baptist
- The folklore group
- The Serbs and the Church
- The Serbs in Wollongong
- An address by Fr Ljupko Cubrilovic
- An introduction by the bishop
In the book's account, the history of the church begins with a committee that first met on 27 March 1960, and follows the chapel, the hall and the church at Dale Street, up to the children's park opened in 2004.
Corrections to the printed text
The PDF is unchanged. These points in the printed text have been corrected:
- The chapel was blessed on 28 June 1976 (Vidovdan). The English text says 28 July.
- The president elected at the general meeting of 6 February 1982 was Ljubomir Zlojutro. The Serbian text names Rajko Đukić.
- The 25th anniversary of the church community was on 17 November 1985. The Serbian text places it in 1984.
- The Circle of Serbian Sisters gave $22,000 for the iconostasis. The English text calls it the major contributor to the construction.
- Mr Boško Tešanović was a kum (godparent) of the church and a major contributor. The English sentence about him is garbled.
For a short history built from these confirmed facts, see the history of the parish.
Download
Download the church history pages (PDF, 1.5 MB). This is pages 36 to 45 of the book, with the English and Serbian pages alternating as in print. It also has the photographs from page 44, which are shown in the photo gallery.
Editor's note: the PDF is reproduced as published. The rest of the book is not on this site.