At the conference Archives, Libraries, Museums: Opportunities for Cooperation in the Environment of the Global Information Infrastructure, as part of the workshop Publishing in a new context, on November 24, 2022, a presentation Publishing Activity of Croats Outside Croatia was held.
Croatian pastoral care workers in Australia use various models of communication with the community, recognizing its information needs. In addition to books and brochures, serial publications (newspapers, newsletters, weekly parish leaflets) are published in the printed environment, and social networks are an important means of communication in the electronic environment.
The oldest newspaper is Dom (Home), published by the Croatian Pastoral Society of Australia from 1958 to 1962. The initiator and editor was Fr. Rok Romac. Part of the subtitle explains the purpose and frequency of publication: a monthly magazine for the religious and cultural life of Croats in Australia. In the first issue, the editor describes the goal of the newly launched newspaper:
… in the first place to raise our newly arrived fugitive, who left everything, to save the life and honor of man; will give him the warmth of religious instruction… memories of old Croatian customs… will revive his memories of the beauty of folk songs… will also give him an overview of events throughout the world and history… guide him to the customs of the new homeland, to the laws and spirit of the people in whose midst he moves , works and strives to become truly human again. A new and better man.
Since 1962, the publication Dom has been taken over by the Consortium of the Croatian Home in Clifton Hill (Melbourne), where the newspaper was published until 1975 under the title Hrvatski dom (Croatian Home), and the editor was Rev. Josip Kasic. Copies of Dom and Hrvatski dom are available in the National and University Libraries in Zagreb.
Another example of a newspaper is Južni križ (Southern Cross) which was published from 1981 to, probably, 1990 by the Croatian Catholic Center in Canberra. The first editor was Fr. Mato Bonić, and in the second year Fr. Tvrtko S. Gujić was listed as editor. Copies of Južni križ are not available in Croatian libraries, issues published in 1988, 1989 and 1990 are available in the National Library of Australia, and earlier issues in the Croatian Catholic Center in Canberra.
Croatian Catholic centers regularly publish weekly bulletins, which, in addition to printed form, are sometimes also published on social networks (on Facebook). Examples are Kristu ususret (Meeting Christ), published by the Croatian Catholic Center of St. Nikola Tavelić in St Johns Park (Sydney) and Crkva Gospe Velikog zavjeta (Church of Our Lady of the Great Testament), bulletin of the Croatian Catholic Center in Blacktown.
On Saturday, October 15th, 2022, Croatian Catholic Radio aired the program Živa veza (Live Connection) edited by Tuga Tarla, in which the latest activities within the Croatian emigrant press project were presented.
At the 47th elective Assembly of the Croatian Library Association “Libraries build new worlds” held from October 5 to 8, 2022 in Zadar, Ana Barbarić and Ivana Hebrang Grgić gave a presentation entitled “Bibliometric analysis of books by Australian Croats”.
In the library of the Croatian Catholic Center St Nikola Tavelić in St Johns Park in Sydney, a meeting was held with the head of the center Fr. Petar Horvat. The library holds mostly books published in Croatia and Australia, and uses the Metel library software.
On September 25th 2022, a meeting with president Vesna Žuro and members of the board of directors was held in the premises of the Croatian Archives of Australia. Consul General of Croatia in Sydney Ivica Glasnović also attended the meeting. At the meeting, it was agreed on the continuation of cooperation related to the creation of websites and digitization.
From 20 to 21 September 2022, research was carried out at the National Archives of Australia in Canberra, with the help of Renata Dyer from the Parliamentary Library in Canberra. Documents related to Croatian newspapers published during and immediately after the Second World War were reviewed. Valuable sources were found, important for research in the field of information science (eg. research on editorial policies and state censorship), but also for research in other fields such as history, political science and sociology. In addition to the documents, some issues of publications that are not available anywhere else were found, and one title was discovered that is not mentioned in the literature nor is it available in library collections.
On September 21st 2022, a working meeting was held at the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in Canberra with Her Excellency Betty Pavelich, the Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. Sandra Tvrtković also attended the meeting.
On September 19, 2022, a meeting was held with Jasna Novak Milić, the head of Croatian Studies at the Department of Media, Communication, Creative Arts, Languages and Literature of Macquarie University in Sydney. The meeting was also attended by Danijel Džino, lecturer at the Department of History and Archeology of the same university. After the meeting, the collection of the library of the Center of Croatian Studies was searched and valuable publications published in Australia and unavailable in other libraries were found. The publications are mostly published in small editions and by authors.
In the Croatian Catholic Centers Blacktown and Summer Hill in Sydney, research was conducted on the publications that these centers published or are still publishing. Publications that are not available in Croatian libraries were found and included in the bibliography. Contacts were made and further cooperation was agreed upon.
