HAVLIK PARK

11-12 2001 Ostatní English

Batchelor -- Nothern Territory
This park is dedicated to the memory of Bernie Havlik (1912--1990)
Bernie Havlik was born in Czechoslovakia and spent his younger years there and in Yugoslavia working in the Textile industry. Upon his arrival in Australia he worked in various industries in Victoria, and Queensland and was involved in the Forestry industry in South Australia. He tried his hand and prospecting in the Territory before commencing work at the Rum Jungle Uranium Mine 1954. In the beginning, he worked underground in the mine at Rum Jungle. When the mine converted to the open cut systém, Havlik transferred to become a process worker in the treatment plant. Following closure of the mine in 1971, Bernie became a member of the town gardening crew until his retirement in 1977.
Bernie, with his partner, Milan Vodička, established a large Cypres Pine plantation at the 24 mile on the Stuart Highway, close to the site of the current Darwin Crocodile Farm. From this enterprise, Bernie was able to establish most of Batchelor´s early pine and mango trees. Retirement did not mean the end of Bernie Havlik´s work; in fact it was a new beginning for him. In 1978 he commenced construction of the unique structure you see before you.
In his working years on the gardening crew, Bernie was frustrated by a large rocky outcrop on this site which was too large to move and was difficult to maintain in a tidy condition. He solved the problem by covering it with a replica of Karlstein Castle, the original of which still stands today in Bohemia.
Havlik worked on the project for five years to get it to its current form. Even in ill-health, Bernie was completing finishing touches and repairs, and on the day that he died, the water-wheel, which was required to complete the project, was under his death bed. This park is dedicated to the memory of the life and indomitable spirit of Bernie Havlik. He was a quiet, modest and unassuming man and the symbolic gift of this castle to the people of Batchelor reflects the deep feelings he held for his adopted country and community. Residents of Batchelor continue to hold him in fond memory.
This park is maintaind in Bernie Havlik´s memory by Coomalie Community Government Council on behalf of the citizens of this area.
Na pamětní desce zasazené do kamenného podstavce pak je jméno pana Bernarda Havlíka a verše Jaroslava Vrchlického v češtině i v anglickém překladu, s úvodem:

To the visiting Czechs and Slovaks
"Poutníče postůj, v dálku než
bludná tě zanese noha!
Kamenů poslouchej hlas,
vlasti ti jimi zní řeč!"


Děkujeme za informace k tomuto článku panu Milanu Vodičkovi, dlouholetému příteli a partneru pana Bernarda Havlíka.

Jana Rich