A gift to the Parliament of the state of New South Wales

Peace Times 10

A pole carrying the inscription «May peace prevail on earth» was presented to the New South Wales Parliament in Sydney, Australia by local school children, on the Nov 19th 1998. The pole inscribed in English and Japanese was blessed by Lama Gangchen, before being accepted - during a Peace Pole and World Flag Ceremony - on Parliament’s behalf by Speaker John Murray. The Pole was placed in the rooftop garden after the ceremony in the Chambers Room hosted by Members of Parliament Mr Murray, Dr Peter Macdonald and Mr Markham.

Mr Murray told the children who presented the Pole: «Parliament is honored to accept your gift and cherishes your desire for peace». Mr Markham who describes himself as ‘peacemonger’ commented: «I hope other nations will learn from Australia’s reconciliation process and work towards peace between indigenous and non-indigenous people». Dr Macdonald said: «I hope you children will carry the message of peace to adults». Also present was Henry Kawada, a Japanese delegate who promotes world peace through a UN peace program. Pleased by the number of children present from diverse cultural backgrounds - he was inspired to write a report of the event to send to the UN in New York.

The ceremony organised by the World Peace Prayer Society and Lama Gangchen World Peace Foundation was so successful that the idea to incorporate a Peace Prayer Ceremony in the Team Welcome Ceremony at the Olympic Village has been proposed to the organisers by the Society.