Reports from Canberra
On September 14, the signing ceremony for Beijing and Canberra becoming sister cities took place in the Canberra Legislative Council Building. Nearly 60 practitioners, including practitioners from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Sydney, Canberra, etc., who came to attend the Australia Dafa Conference, gathered in front of the Legislative Council Building. They appealed peacefully, by doing exercises, to let more people get to know Dafa as well as the real situation of the Falun Gong persecution in China.
It was a sunny day. The sight of the yellow T-shirts that became popular in New York drew a lot of attention.
Practitioners in the front row held up banners: "Why Are Peaceful Practitioners Persecuted?" and "China, Respect Human Rights" etc. Other practitioners did the exercises peacefully together with the exercise music. This harmonious scene and the brief English explanations attracted pedestrians, police, and even the attention of some protest groups.
In addition to the exercises, an appeal letter was handed to Kate Carnell, the governor of ACT (Australia Capital Territory) who attended the signing ceremony, so that she could forward it to the mayor of Beijing. Some media in Canberra including Prime Television, Ten Capital Television, Canberra Times, and Sydney Morning Herald interviewed the practitioners, videotaped and took photographs of them.
Chinese consulate in Sydney
On September 14, 50 or 60 practitioners, including practitioners from Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, etc. gathered again in front of the Chinese consulate in Sydney. They wore yellow T-shirts and held a peaceful appeal.
At 10 am, a man in his 40 or 50s walked out of the consulate with a camera. He seemed to be very angry and began to take pictures of the practitioners. This was not unusual since this not only threatened the practitioners, but also gathered some information that could be used to attempt later penalization. A practitioner who happened to be carrying a camera took a picture of this, which provided good evidence that the Chinese government officers interfered with the legal activities of Australian citizens.
A practitioner brought a small recorder and played the music of "Jishi" and "Pudu". Although the volume was not loud, the consulate officials insisted that the police urge us to lower it. The policeman said, "Personally, I like this wonderful music, but it seems they dont like it. Could you lower the volume further?" After hearing this, the practitioners were very cooperative and adjusted the volume to be very low.
As usual, the police were not worried about us at all, although three or four policemen were dispatched to be on duty. Now and then, the police would chat and laugh with us, and they enjoyed working this way.
Downtown Sydney
September 14 was also the date that the Olympic Torch passed through downtown Sydney. There were many people on the street watching this event. What was unusual was that there were many Falun Gong practitioners in the crowd. They wore yellow T-shirts printed with "China, Stop Persecution of Falun Gong", "Falun Dafa" or "Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance". The practitioners were all smiling, kindly answering questions and continuously handing out materials about the persecution of Falun Gong in China.
A Caucasian lady in her 60s or 70s came to us and said, "I understand you. The U.S. is very sympathetic and supportive of you. I wish you success!"
Although they had been busy all day, the practitioners were still very energetic and did not at all feel tired. All of them knew that they were doing this bit by bit for Dafa, and the human race.
Australian Practitioners
September 14, 2000
Reports on Dafa Conference in Sydney on September 14
--Dafa practitioners in Pingdong, Taiwan
On September 14, two buses left FI Motel in Sydney for Canberra carrying about 60 Falun Gong practitioners. After arriving at the Legislative Council practitioners held up white banners with blue words asking the Chinese government to release detained Falun Dafa practitioners. Another banner had thirty-nine 39 names of those practitioners who died as a consequence of severe abuse while in custody. In fact, fifty-three practitioners have died so far as a result of the persecution. Practitioners from both China and abroad stood in lines in front of the Legislative Council Building, commenced to do the exercises, and promote Dafa. All practitioners tried their best to validate that Dafa is righteous, and it is wrong for the Chinese government to persecute Falun Gong.
Twenty-three Taiwanese practitioners arrived in Sydney yesterday. Together with practitioners from Hong Kong, Melbourne, and elsewhere, they went to places near Macquarie University where people gathered together to wait for the Olympic Torch to pass by. Many tourists from all around the world and the local residents in Australia thus heard Falun Dafa music and saw these three words: Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance. Ten Capital Television, Prime Television, Canberra Times and Sydney Morning Herald interviewed us and gave reports on this.
After leaving the Legislative Council on September 14, we went to the Parliament House, then the Chinese Embassy . We were not allowed to enter the Chinese Embassy. Seeing more and more practitioners coming, the police suggested that we not do the exercises in front of the embassy or take group pictures. I saw Mr. Hong Jihong from Taiwan and another practitioner held an exercise pose (Holding Law Wheel on Both Sides) while being photographed. . The number of police increased up to 8 people, but our relationships with them became better and better. They even helped us by keeping traffic while we were taking pictures. I then realized the greatness (powerfulness) of Falun Dafa.
It took about three hours driving from Sydney to Canberra. We played the audio-tapes of our teachers lectures and Dafa music on the bus during the trip. The driver was very interested and asked many questions which were then answered with patience. A Taiwan practitioner gave a copy of Zhuan Falun in English to the driver as a gift.
The Olympic Torch would pass Chinatown at about 5:50 pm. There were so many people there that they had to jostle each other. A lot of celebrating activities, such as dragon or lion dances, were also going on. We wore yellow T-shirts printed with "Falun Dafa Is Good" and some suggestions for the Chinese government. We tried to make use of every opportunity to let people from all round the world get to know Dafa.
After leaving Chinatown, we planned to go to the Opera and Dance Theatre to meet people that came to see the Olympic Torch. However, there were too many people on the road for us to go, so we just stayed near the municipal buildings and handed out Dafa material to people attending the celebrating events.
In summary, what we did today was, do the exercises and promote Dafa. In doing so, we tried to validate Dafa and clarify the facts using our wisdom. Dafa Practitioners are displaying the spirit of benevolence and forbearance everywhere in their lives. We were very touched by the kindness and warmth of other practitioners, especially those from Sydney and Melbourne. I also discovered how I could improve on specific activities and attitude in promoting Dafa. By utilizing my privilege and vitality, I need to do better to truly "assist Teacher in this human world" and "follow Teacher closely and cultivate Dafa steadfastly".
Taiwan Dafa practitioners
September 14, 2000
More than 300 practitioners are doing the exercises at Manly Oval at the 15th of September, 2000. Australian TV Station Channel 9 came to interview practitioners and record the events for an hour.
Practitioner in Yellow T-shirt
Practitioners from Australia and other countries are doing the Hong Fa in the Penrith Valley Multicultural Festival, just one day before the Dafa Conference (September 16, 2000)
Practitioners from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia are doing the exercises in the morning of the Conference day (8:30AM - 9:30AM, September 17, 2000)
Hong Fa at the Famous Scenic Site: the "Tree Sisters" in Blue Mountain
During the Conference
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Category: April 25 Events
