Congrats Constantine!
ABOVE: The Right Honourable, the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Councillor Graham Quirk, congratulates our Events Co-ordinator, Constantine (“Con”) Drozdovskii, on being named a 2018 Australia Day Achievement Award recipient, in recognition of a half-century of dedicated volunteer service to the people of Brisbane, especially among the ethnic Russian-Slavic community, and on behalf of Canon Garland Memorial Society Incorporated. Photo courtesy of Peter Collins.
The Australia Day Achievement Award
citation for Constantine (Con) Drozdovskii
Born to a Russian father and Greek mother, Con moved to Brisbane as a child and has now become a spokesperson for the Ethnic Russian Community.
Proud of his Russian Orthodox Christian faith, over the past 50 years Con has become a dynamic spokesperson for community cohesion.
Con has encouraged Russian-Australians to immerse themselves in the rich cultural, artistic and musical life of Brisbane through choir singing, seminars, festivals or by devotion to their civic duties.
He also works closely with Brisbane’s ethnic communities through strong and continuous connections with the Brisbane Multicultural Arts Centre, communicating with the audience and the broader community about their culture and how it integrates into the City of Brisbane.
Through Con’s passion, the Canon Garland Memorial Society (CGMS) was incorporated in July 2013, with an attempt to raise a memorial and increase public awareness of Canon Garland’s role as the ‘Architect of Anzac Day’ and to build cultural heritage awareness.
As a committee and foundation member of the society, Con organised three major concerts.
Con also developed the ‘Coo-ee!’ online CGMS newsletter which now heads into its 22nd edition.
Con wears his ‘Russian heart’ on his sleeve and continues to be a selfless and passionate believer in sharing the Russian culture, and introducing an awareness of other cultures to the Brisbane Russian community.
– extracted from the Lord Mayor’s 2018 Australia Day Awards web page.
