Inauguration Festival of Brisbane Bhakti Yoga Centre

and ladies' traditional folk dances around the fire pit. Traditional sweets and food relating to Lohri were served. Mrs Usha Chandra was the chief guest; her husband, Umesh Chandra OAM, accompanied her. It was good to see the community sprint and all the volunteers coming tighter to put an event like this together.

BUrBANk, the inaugural Festival of Brisbane Bhakti Yoga Centre, took place on 26th January, on their new 8-acre centre is a unique facility for people who desire to take care of their body, mind and soul. It is rightly said that “the intention behind the action is what matters”, and they intend to serve people and the community. The organisation aims to make

Vedic wisdom (spiritual knowledge) accessible to the broader Brisbane community, distribute free plant-based food, hold major festivals and spread the benefits of Mantra Meditation.

The aim is to foster spiritual unity amongst our rich cultural diversity. We strongly believe that spiritual unity can act as the catalyst to bring about real and lasting social cohesion amongst the people of our nation. The opening ceremony occurred at 1157 Mount Cotton Road on Thursday, 26th January, from 11 am to 2 pm. The event included live soul music, inauguration purification fire sacrifice, and kid’s activities and concluded with a sumptuous plant-based feast.

Umesh Chandra OAM and Mrs Usha Chandra Attended the event as special guests; the project can be about progressive thinking and fast acting committee. The overall cost will be more than $3.5 Million, and $1.7 million has been pledged.

Everyone is invited to support the project financially and morally—a proud achievement of our community.

BrisBANE Australia Day

Citizenship Ceremony is a long-standing tradition at Brisbane City Hall; this year was no exception, and around six hundred and fifty candidates took up Australian citizenship at the ceremony.

The event features every popular girls’ choir and the Navy band, and Tribal Experiences conduct the welcome to country with the smoking ceremony. Guest of honour includes representatives from the Army, Navy, fire and emergency services, members of the Lord Mayor’s Multicultural round table and community leaders, who are invited to the preceremony reception and the after-ceremony refreshments.

Councillor David McLaughlin, chair of the council, is the MC, and Lord Mayor is the presiding Officer under the Act and conducts the ceremony. Every candidate gets a little tree as a token, and

Lord Mayor stresses that they look after the tree; he often relates to his own journey and how his father was a recipient at one of these ceremonies in City Hall.

During the ceremony, three representative families are called up on stage to receive their certificates, and one representative family member gets an opportunity to speak in response. The representative families join the postceremony refreshment and get an opportunity for photos with Lord Mayor and other dignitaries.

The girls’ Choir do two numbers, and the Navy

Band provide the music for the National anthem; a voluntary affirmation ceremony concludes the official ceremony. This was the first of a series of citizenship ceremonies that will be held at Brisbane City Council throughout the year; always a pleasure to attend.