The Croatian community and Croatian language school in Sydney have lost a long-time dedicated member who for over thirty years worked as a Croatian language teacher—first with the youngest attendees of the Croatian ethnic schools and then with secondary school children at Saturday supplementary schools.
The Croatian community and Croatian language school in Sydney have lost their long-time dedicated member Zlata Radakovich, who passed away last night at St. George Hospital.
For over thirty years Mrs Zlata Radaković worked as a Croatian language teacher—first with the youngest attendees of the Croatian ethnic schools and then with secondary school children at Saturday supplementary schools.
It was with a group of secondary school pupils that she visited Croatia for the first time in twenty-five years in 2003 during a study trip organised by the Croatian Heritage Foundation. Fuelled by this wonderful experience she organised a second study trip to Croatia in 2006, when Zlata Radaković was joined by the then director of Saturday Schools Marjory Ellsnore.
“Those of us here in Australia, while far from the Croatian homeland, teach our children that they not forget their roots, to learn the language of their parents, their culture and to endeavour to preserve their Croatian national identity,” Mrs Radaković wrote after a visit by Croatian teachers to Australia in 2009 in the frame of Croatian Days, when she demonstrated her own skills as an excellent organiser and host.
The nobility, dedication and patriotism of Mrs Zlata Radaković will remain indelibly in our memory. May dear God reward her with eternal peace for all of the good deeds she has achieved for the Croatian community in Sydney and for the love of the Croatian language she has disseminated to generations of pupils.
Text by: Lada Kanajet Šimić