Newcastle Esperanto Society
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Newcastle Esperanto Society was created in March 2001, and is an organisation which promotes the international language Esperanto.
Newcastle is a port 160km north of Sydney, in Australia. NES is a local group in the Esperanto Federation of NSW and in the Australian Esperanto Association.
[edit] History
According to the book "Esperanto in Australia" by Ray Ross, Esperanto first appeared in Newcastle in 1923 with a class at WEA (Workers' Educational Association) with 30 students.
In 1980, there was a small group in Newcastle about which little is known.
In 2002, the Newcastle Esperanto Association was formed by the then 13-year-old Jonathan Moylan, and the group soon changed its name to Newcastle Esperanto Society. The group organised courses and stalls at local festivals such as Stomp, Fiesta, etc. In 2003, NES, together with the Hunter Region Branch of the United Nations Association of Australia and the Multifaith Association of Newcastle, organised a seminar about Esperanto at the University of Newcastle. Participants included the federal member for Newcastle, Sharon Grierson MP, and the then President of the Australian Esperanto Association, Matthew Maguire.
In 2004, WEA (see above) decided to again run a course about Esperanto taught by Mr. Moylan and the latter organised a later course at the Migrant Resource Centre in 2005. In 2004, NES also helped the aforementioned UNAA branch to organise a celebration at the city hall for Human Rights Day and the 50th anniversary of the Montevideo Resolution on Esperanto, which fell on the same date.
