Angela Crawford
A celebration of the 105th anniversary of Estonia’s first-gained independence was hosted at the home of Kyneton resident, Lembit Marder, last month.
Lembit was born in Melbourne to Estonian immigrant parents who fled their homeland towards the end of WWII when the Russians began to occupy the country.
They came to Melbourne at the invitation of an uncle and settled into a sizeable community of Estonians who felt Australia was far enough from the war-torn ravages of Europe that they felt safe here.
“In those days it was almost impossible to think that Estonia would ever get its freedom again,” Lembit told the Express.
“It was very set under Soviet rule and that was it, but of course towards the late 1980s when Gorbachev came into power and Glasnost and Perestroika began to happen, there was a glimmer of hope that not only Estonia but the other Baltic states and former Soviet republics would gain their freedom again.
“And of course that occurred as we all know.”
Soon after Estonia gained its second independence, Lembit took out an Estonian passport and some years later met the Consul General for Estonia in Melbourne, who offered Lembit the role of Honorary Consul for Estonia in Victoria. In this role, he assists Estonian travellers with various needs, facilitates business connections between Estonia and Victoria, and liaises with Estonian dignitaries and others.
“It’s an honorary role so I don’t get paid for it, but I do it for the love of the country and the people,” he said.
“There’s people in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Estonia that I’ve got to know and they’ve stayed with me in Melbourne.
“I’ve had the ambassador stay with me overnight … you do make good connections and people value the work that you do.”
Lembit began his career as a qualified meteorologist and worked at airports issuing aviation forecasts. He later drifted into information technology and worked in Silicon Valley in the US, managing corporate websites for two networking companies, Cisco Systems and Juniper Networks.
He has also worked as a systems analyst, a senior business analyst and most recently completed a systems transition contract with Services Australia.
Lembit is the former chairman of the Council of Estonian Societies in Australia and treasurer of the Estonian House Cooperative in West Brunswick, a former picture theatre.
“In the heyday of Estonian activity in Melbourne, we’d have hundreds of people there, we’d have multiple events during the year, Independence Day, Mother’s Day, Christmas Eve, folk dancing classes, language classes, craft classes … but with diminishing numbers of Estonians wanting to get involved in that, the need has fallen right off,” he said.
“The Estonians that are out here travelling, backpackers and the like, they don’t need that Estonian fix, they’re here to enjoy the Australian way of life, mixing with Australians, getting to know Australians.
“The Estonian House in Melbourne is now really too big for any function these days, it was fine in the 1970s and 80s, but those days have gone.”
Lembit and his partner Jo made the treechange to Kyneton six months ago and found a five-acre property on Bald Hill Road with sweeping views of the countryside.
“We’d been looking around for the last year or so and we came across this property and as soon as I saw it I thought ‘yes, the view is something to really treasure’,” he said.
