Institute for Slovenian Studies of Victoria Inc.

President's Report

1 January 2015 to 31 December 2015

Projects in Australia and Slovenia

In Slovenia - September to October 2015

In Ljubljana - I had meetings with Zvone igon, Minister Gorazd mavc, at The Office for Slovenians Abroad
of RS / Urad za Slovence v zamejstvu in po svetu discussing a more substantial financial support, and urging
promotion of Valvasor PhD studies at Monash University which has been on offer since 2012. My colleague
Bojan Aman and I also held discussions with the author Slavko Pregl, the donor of the facsimile Collection
of Graphic Art Iconotheca Valvasoriana to the State Library of Victoria in 2010, regarding the possibility of a
visiting lecturer on Valvasor at the State Library of Victoria.
I met with Andrej Roman Roza, Slovenian poet, performer, playwright, entertainer and puppeteer, and
attended his new play The Unknown Linhart, on the 18th century Slovenian historian and educator, known
principally as the author of the first two plays in Slovenian language, upanova Micka and Matiek se eni. I
was invited to another of his comedy productions and was greatly impressed by this incredibly talented and
creative artist. I thought it would be great if he came to Australia and took part in the Melbourne Fringe
Festival. He was interested and so we decided to submit a proposal to the Office for Slovenes Abroad to
finance his performances in Melbourne.

Field Trips in Slovenia

This time I visited a number of interesting exhibitions in Ljubljana, the work of Slovenian cartoonist Miki
Muster. A great exhibition of his work with some political satire. All his children's cartoon books have been
reprinted the previous year, and again sold out. With a group I visited the newly completed pilgrimage church
sv. Trojica on Lonce above Pivka Valley. The local community decided to rebuilt the church that was
completely ruined. This was the first visit of the restored ancient chapel, made of beautiful local stone.

Toplice Lako - Lako Spa was also an interesting experience. Toplice/spa are very much a tradition in
Slovenia. My three days at Lako Toplice were memorable. Set in a lovely landscape, about 90 minutes by
train from Ljubljana, they offer a haven from the bustle of the city. It is an ideal health resort for families with
children and older people.

In Australia
Public Lecture: European Union Centre, RMIT 19 June 2015
The major event in June 2015 was the visit in Australia, of the Minister for Slovenians Abroad, Gorazd
mavc, accompanied by Dr. Zvone igon. He met with Slovenian organizations and community in the major
cities of Australia. On 19th June there was a public launch of the Slovenian Australian Academic Association
held by the European Union Centre at RMIT in the Council Chamber of the Francis Ormond Building. It was a
public event referred to as Slovenian business in Australia? Charge d'affaires Jana Grilc organized the event
and the speakers. I agreed to speak about the bilateral relationship of our institute ISSV with The Office and
Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia. The speakers were: Minister Gorazd mavc, Sreko Kontelj,
Aleksandra L Ceferin, Kaja Antlej, Robert Walters.
I agreed to speak about the links with Slovenia in Victoria, and called it bilateral educational/cultural
relationship between Australia and Slovenia. In the speech I analyzed the financial support provided to ISSV
from 1999 to 2015. The crux of the speech was that it was an unequal bilateral partnership, where we were
totally dependent for project development on the amount of resources The Office was willing to provide. My
chief criticism was that It was a relationship between donor and recipient, rather than a partnership, as seen
by us.

We invited our members to the lecture and several were able to attend the event held from 10.00am to 12
noon. Among the attendants were businessmen, researchers and university students from Slovenia. On the

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whole the attendance was good, and a light lunch followed. We also organized an exhibition of contemporary
Slovenian literature and varied textbooks from ISSV library in the foyer of the heritage lecture hall.
Public lecture: https://www.rmit.edu.au/events/all-events/public-lectures/2015/june/slovenian-business-in-
australia/
Event flyer: https://www.scribd.com/doc/268311457/Slovenian-Business-in-Australia-EU-Centre-RMIT-19-06-
2015
SAAA details: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SlovenianAustralianAcademicAssociation

Projects: 2015 to 2016

Web Projects 1999 to 2015 - four web sites by Zavod Neuropolis

Four ISSV web sites are maintained and programmed annually by ZN:
Slovenian Language and Cultural Resources www.thezaurus.com (1999)
Archive of Slovene Migrant Handcrafts www.rocnadela.org (2008)
Life and Work of Johann Weichard von Valvasor www.valvasor.org (2010)
Online Cartography of Slovenian Migrant Communities www.sloveniana.com (2011)
Web Projects details: http://www.thezaurus.com/index8b4e.html?/issv/thezaurus_and_web_projects/

Portal Thezaurus.com
In 2014 Thezaurus portal required migration to another web hosting server in Slovenia and an upgrade in
technology. This was a large undertaking particularly for the rapidly expanding portal Thezaurus.com. First
published 1 January 1999, it had a major restructure in 2004-06. With issues of changing technology in 2014
it was essential to migrate and restructure the portal. One consequence was that Thezaurus Forums had to
be taken offline in August 2015. They were continuously spammed and were disabled by anonymous users.
During 2014 and 2015 the ISSV Inc. presence is heightened with the utilization of Social Media of three
accounts with regular posts on Facebook and Twitter. https://www.facebook.com/thezaurus.issv
https://www.facebook.com/aleksandra.ceferin https://twitter.com/Thezaurus_

The portal www.thezaurus.com is at present still in the process of redevelopment and upgrade. The Gallery
represents a particular technical problem, and requires a different structure. It is a demanding and time-
consuming matter. Financial support by the Urad za Slovence/ Office for Slovenes Abroad required for the
maintenance and readjustment of the large complex website falls short of an immediate resolution of the
problem. The gallery with its enormous collection of albums and photos represents a problem, because the
older technology is no longer appropriate. It will be probably necessary to greatly reduce the number and size
of photo albums.

Webclassroom E learning Link http://www.thezaurus.com/webclassroom.html

Contemporary Slovenia on the Web
One project in the Webclassroom is the expanding series of study units containing web resources named
"Slovenia on the Web" (Slovenija preko spleta) since 2001 on contemporary Slovenia (Sodobna Slovenija) in
four categories: Country (Deela), Society (Druba), Arts and Culture (Umetnost in kultura), Leisure and
Recreation (Prosti as in rekreacija). There are 32 units, two were completed in 2015; World War 1, and
Alpine Association of Slovenia.

Project 2016: Australia Performance Proposal - Andrej Rozman Roza Theatre

After seeing the Rozman performances in Ljubljana and meeting him, we thought it would be a splendid idea
to formally invite this extraordinarily talented Slovenian to Melbourne, to participate in the Melbourne Fringe
Festival in September 2016. He quite liked the idea and we decided to submit an application to the Office for
Slovenians Abroad to finance his trip to Melbourne and one week stay, to include a performance for
Slovenian community in September 2016.

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The Office for Slovenians provided a grant of 1,500 EUR, basically covering the airfare, but not allowing for
accommodation, transport fares, organisation and for other costs of a major tour.
We decided that the grant which was less than half of the proposed funding, insufficient for the amount of
work required for a major theatre tour and have advised the non-acceptance of this grant.

Translation and Publication work completed in 2015

- Valvasorjev Zbornik, a collection of academic papers prepared for a symposium in Ljubljana in 1989
published at the time of 300th anniversary of the publication of The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola, SAZU,
Ljubljana, 1990 (377 pages).
- Zlati cvet. Bajeslovje Slovencev by Joko avli, Studio RO-Humar, Bilje, 2008, The Golden Flower, A
Slovenian Mythology, by Joko avli (524 pages).

The publisher of Slovenian mythology The Golden Flower has not yet advised when it is to be published. In
the meantime sections of content have been published and promoted on www.Thezaurus.com.

ISSV Library New Reference Books in 2015

J.W. Valvasor Library Collection

We have continued to add to the collection of publications and facsimile editions of the works of Valvasor
since the launch of the gifting of Iconotheca Valvasoriana to the State Library of Victoria in 2010.
(See Attachment 1. J.W. Valvasor Library Collection. A reference list of all publications held. (2pages))

In 2015 I purchased a complete four-volume set of The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola - facsimile of 1689
edition held at NUK Ljubljana.
- Die Ehre dess Hertzogthums Crain, Theil 1., Theil 2., Theil 3., Theil 4., Laybach : Nrnberg, 1689.
Facsimile edition. Redaction and Afterword by Branko Reisp, Valvasorjev as, ivljenje in delo, Vol. 4.,
Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga; Mnchen: Dr. Rudolf Trofenik, 1970-1974.

- Compendium of Valvasor Study Resources, Ljubljana, Zavod Deela Kranjska, 2014.

Bidovec, Marija, et. al., Studia Valvasoriana : zbornik spremnih studi ob prvem integralnem prevodu
Die Ehre Des Hertzogthums Crain v slovenski jezik, Ljubljana, Zavod deela Kranjska, 2009-2014.

Details of works: http://www.valvasor.org/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Weikhard_von_Valvasor

Publication: iko, Andrej, Anton Vramec in Slovenci; Maribor, Lipa, 2014.

I acquired the book after I met the author Andrej iko at a book launch at the Slovenski svetovni kongres
(SSK) on 1 Cankarjeva in Ljubljana. It is a tremendous work of detailed analysis on the Chronicles of
Vramec, written in Slovenian language of the Porabje region, across the river Mura, which he called
Slovenieh. He was a learned Catholic priest and was writing at the time when Primo Trubar was publishing
his Katechismus (1550), the New Testament, etc. His Chronicles written in Slovenian were printed in 1578,
one original in Zagreb, one in Ljubljana. He was initially from tajerska, but he wrote in the language of the
Pannonian Slovenia, while Trubar wrote in the dialect of Dolenjska. This book is particularly significant,
because it provides linguistic evidence that it is written in Slovenian language of the time and not in Croatian,
as maintained by Croats. They even changed the author's name from Anton to Antun to make it sound
Croatian. While Trubar addresses Kranjce, tajerce, etc., Vramec uses concepts Slovenci, Sloveni,
Slovenijeh and slovenski. Also slovenska zemla, slovenski kral. He also mentions Veneti, that are "also
known as Sloveni".

New References purchased in Ljubljana in 2015 are:

Bevk, Franc; Bohanec, Franek (ed.), Izbrano delo III, Ljubljana, Mladinska knjiga, 1974.
Campbell, Joseph; ertali, Vera (transl.), Miti, po katerih ivimo, Nova Gorica, Eno, 2007.
Fatur, Lea, V Burji in Strasti, Zagorje, Kulturno prosvetno drutvo Miroslav Vilhar, 2015.
Glavan, Michael, Prve Slovenske Knjige, Slovenski reformacijski tiski Ljubljana, NUK, 2000.

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Glavan Mihael (ed.), Stiki rokopisi iz 12. Stoletja, Ljubljana, Mladinska knjiga, 1994.
Glavan Mihael, Trubarjev Album, Romanje z Trubarjev, Ljubljana, Mladinska knijiga. 2008.
Istani, Jaka, Roman Stories From the Crossroads, Ljubljana, Narodni Muzej, 2015.
Jana, Janez, Norisko kraljestvo. Beli Panter, Ljubljana, Nova obzorja, 2014.
anda, Janko, Kralj Samo, epos v desetih spevih, Ljubljana, Amalietti & Amalietti, 2011.
ael Kos, Marjeta, The Disappearing Tombstone and Other Stories, Ljubljana, ZRC, SAZU, 2015.

Language classes in Victoria

Two organisations in Victoria are providing regular Slovenian language sessions in Victoria, and information
about them online.

Slovenian Association Geelong

https://www.facebook.com/AustralianSlovenianAssociationGeelong/
News about the class, time and dates of sessions, two hours every fortnight, is provided on Facebook in the
Associations Monthly Newsletter. Roland Mrak related that there is one class for adults operating as a study
group. Facilitators are members of the club on a voluntary basis. At present there is no primary level class.

Slomek Primary School, Slovenian Religious Centre, Kew.

http://www.glasslovenije.com.au/versko-melbourneOznanila_2016.html
A class at primary level is held every first and third Sunday at the Centre, from 11.10am to 1.00pm. Regular
announcements about the class is in Slovenian language at www.Glasslovenije.com.au

Language classes in Queensland

Slovenian Language and Culture Association, Queensland

Slovenian language lessons in Brisbane, Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast
Link: http://learnslovenian.azurewebsites.net/
Jerneja Svetii the president of this Association wrote to me in December about the new association and its
aims. I responded with congratulations, let her know that we have already published information about their
initiative in the Community Category www.Thezaurus.com I also sent her a complete updated list of learning
materials for all ages published in Slovenia.

Aleksandra L. Ceferin
President
Institute for Slovenian Studies of Victoria

14 May 2016