The Torch of Remembrance began its journey in Australia on 6 April and travelled to various cities around the country.
A leading newspaper, the Melbourne Age, compiled an excellent multimedia report on the Holodomor, including video material from Ukraine and survivor testimony.
The Torch Rally events in Australia provoked a furious reaction from the Russian Embassy, who denied that the Holodomor was genocide, and accused Ukrainians of turning the famine into a political issue. The Ukrainian Embassy and the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations (AFUO) were quick to respond, deploring the Russian Embassy’s attempt to create tensions between the Ukrainian and Russian communities and asking some key questions;
“If the Russian Embassy is, as it asserts, keen to ensure that the facts about the Holodomor are presented correctly in Australia, the AFUO challenges the Russian Embassy to answer two questions:
