STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Dr RYAN (Kooyong) (13:32): Last weekend I attended three Mid-Autumn Festival events. On Saturday, I attended the Melbourne Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce's Moon Festival. The 34th anniversary of this popular community event attracted more than 25,000 people.

Thank you to Mr Terence See for organising a wonderful celebration. On Sunday, Mr Jimmy Ji and the Hubei Association of Australia presented a fantastic multicultural celebration in Box Hill, and Ms Julia Fu and the committee of the Chinese Seniors Cultural Association held a wonderful Mid-Autumn Festival event at the Hawthorn town hall. Falling on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese lunar calendar, when the moon is brightest and full, the Moon Festival celebrates harvest and family unity.

The round moon and the round mooncakes symbolise completeness. Wherever we are, we share the same moon. For families in Kooyong with relatives in Taipei, Shanghai, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur or Seoul, the moon that they see over Melbourne is the same that their parents and their relatives will observe.

It was a great privilege to join these mid-autumn celebrations with members of the Kooyong community—Zhongqiu Jie Kuaile.