Timely warning on nuclear weapons
News
Peace Poles have been installed at Dominican colleges and the Sophia Ecumenical, Feminist, Spirituality centre at Cumberland Park as part of the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
A small group of Adelaide peace activists, including Dominican Sister Maureen O’Connell, have been organising activities and will attend a memorial event in Peace Park at 8am on August 6, the day the first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.
Led by Cabra Dominican College old scholar Léonie Ebert, the group will join with the Romero Community and the Graham F Smith Peace Foundation for the annual Hiroshima-Nagasaki Memorial event.
Every year a commemoration is held at Peace Park, Sir Edwin Smith Ave, opposite Memorial Hospital, to honour the more than 210,000 people killed and the many more injured by the US nuclear attacks on August 6 and 9, 1945.
At the beginning of the year Leonie called together a group of like-minded associates and friends to mark the 80th anniversary throughout the year. The group subsequently became known as the Peace Associates.
“Our mission is to honour the memory of those who suffered and perished in the devastating nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as the generations who continue to endure their lasting impact,” said Leonie, who founded The Graham F Smith Peace Foundation in the 80s.
“The unimaginable loss of life, widespread destruction and enduring suffering caused by these events serve as a solemn reminder of the catastrophic consequences of nuclear warfare and signalled the dawn of the nuclear age.
“By remembering these tragedies, we aim to foster global awareness, promote education about the dangers of nuclear weapons and advocate for their total elimination. Through acknowledgment and understanding, we commit to building a future of peace, ensuring that such devastation is never repeated.”
The Peace Associates came up with various activities including the installation of Peace Poles, with different translations of the message ‘May Peace Prevail on Earth’, authored by the late Masahisa Goi of Japan after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Peace Poles Oceania is managed in Adelaide by Rotarian Heidi Unferdorben who was inspired by the positive impact of Peace Poles in 2020 and became an authorised pole maker from her home in Prospect. Heidi is a member of the group convened by Leonie and together with Janine Pierce, a Cabra old scholar and Rotary member, donated one of the Peace Poles to the Dominican Peace Gardens at Sophia, Cumberland Park.
St Mary’s College and St Dominic’s Priory College have Peace Poles and Cabra Dominican College has ordered one. There are more than 300,000 poles in every country around the world, including 600 in Australia.
The Peace Associates also developed a Peace Pack comprising resources and ideas for school students to mark the
80th anniversary.
Discussions were held with some schools including the Adelaide Central School of Art about developing artworks such as posters to inform people about the bombings and the nuclear era.
A special commemorative topic was created for the Science Teachers of SA’s Oliphant Science Awards with students asked to write on: ‘If it happened here: the Impact of a nuclear bomb on Adelaide.’
Leonie said 58 submissions had been received and as one of the judges she was amazed by the standard of the entries, especially from primary school students.
A friend of Sr Maureen’s since 1964, Sydney Dominican Sister Helen Merrin, who is blind and deaf, is making 100 paper cranes to distribute at the ceremony on August 6 as a symbol of peace.
- This year’s Hiroshima-Nagasaki Memorial on August 6 is presented by the Graham F Smith Peace Foundation and the Romero Community in association with the Adelaide Rotary Club, the Medical Association for the Prevention of War SA and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.
