The activities of Poles in Australia are most often associated with the achievements of Bronisław Malinowski and Paweł Edmund Strzelecki. Their undoubtedly great merits (the latter owes the name of Mount Kosciuszko to the highest peak of the Great Dividing Mountains) somewhat overshadow other episodes of our compatriots' presence on the Australian continent. Such is, for example, the story of the Polish Hill River settlement located in the south of the country, near the city of Adelaide, in the Clare Valley region known for its wine-growing. For more than half a century, Polish Hill River was a centre of concentration for Polish emigrants and the cultivation of their native traditions. Traces of these events remain to this day.
Emigration of Poles to Australia

The emigration of Poles to Australia differs significantly from the familiar 19th century waves of mass exodus to the United States or Brazil. Both its scale and degree of organisation meant that it remains a fairly little-known episode of Polish history. It lacked a compact group of settlers and a guiding force, and the sheer distance of Australia meant that it was not the most attractive destination for potential emigrants.

The origins of the Poles' departure for Australia can be traced to transports of German settlers. They began to emigrate there on a larger scale in the late 1830s. These were mostly Lutherans from Prussia and Pomerania, opposed to the religious policy of Friedrich Wilhelm III. This emigration, originating from the borderland between the German and Polish ethnic areas, in later years began to reach further and further into the Prussian partition, including Wielkopolska in addition to the Lubuskie Land and Silesia. In 1856, Polish pioneers from Dąbrówka Wielkopolska and Zbąszynek travelled to Australia via the port of Hamburg. Their port of destination was the city of Adelaide in South Australia, from which they then moved to the vicinity of Sevenhill - some 130 km to the north. Sevenhill was a very young town at the time - it was founded in 1850 by Jesuit missionaries from Austria, the name referring to the location of Rome. The eastern part of the town called Hill River, after the Polish colonists who settled there, earned the nickname Polish Hill River, which is still used today.

Priest Leon Rogalski
Polish settlers arriving in South Australia from the beginning gathered around the Catholic parish. It was on their own initiative that the Polish priest Leon Rogalski (1830-1906) was brought to the village, and in the following years he became the driving force behind the development and consolidation of the expatriate community. Father Rogalski arrived in Melbourn, Australia, in March 1870. The then less than 40-year-old Jesuit priest was born in the village of Kupchynce (now the Ternopil region of Ukraine) and educated in Lvov. In 1861 he entered the Jesuit order in Stara Wieś. Before being sent to Australia he was a pastor in Ternopil, parish administrator in Stara Wieś and people's missionary in Łańcut.

Fr Rogalski began his ministry in Sevenhill by getting to know the parishioners and touring nearby villages where Poles also resided. He visited the settlements of Tanunda, Mintaro and Clare noting the existence of 40 Polish families. Under his dynamic leadership, the possibility of Polish emigrants building their first own church and school began to materialise. The land for the investment was donated by one of the colonists, Jan Nykiel. The work progressed very quickly and already on 30 November 1871, the St. Stanislaus Kostka chapel and the adjacent school building were solemnly consecrated. The church is a single-space rectangular building with a small porch, built of stone blocks. The painting of St Stanislaus Kostka was probably brought by Fr Rogalski from Krakow. Today it is housed in St Aloysius Church in Sevenhill. Masses were held at Polish Hill River every Sunday and public holiday and on the occasion of all the feasts of the patron saints of Poland.

Father Rogalski organised the life of the local community not only religiously, but also socially and culturally. The church school was attended by 29 children in 1884, who were taught reading, writing, arithmetic, Polish, music and singing. There was also a reading room in Polish Hill River well stocked with Polish magazines and books. Father Rogalski strove to unite Polish emigrants around Sevenhill and make the area a "Little Poland".

Development and decline of the Polish colony in Sevenhill
In 1876 there was still a recorded influx of Polish settlers in Australia. They came again from the Lubusz Land (Zbąszynek and Babimost communes). Outside the Sevenhill district they settled in Adelaide, Clare, Tanunda and Blyth. Over time, however, the number of new arrivals began to decline. South Australia also became increasingly unpopular, giving way to the states of Victoria and New South Wales, where gold deposits had been discovered. In June 1906, Fr Leon Rogalski died. The clergyman was buried among the religious brothers in the basement of Sevenhill Church. From then on, services at Polish Hill River became less frequent and the knowledge of the Polish language among the Polish community there became increasingly poor. As early as 1925, the school was closed and the early 1950s saw the desacralisation of St Stanislaus Kostka Church, which was then used as a shop by local farmers. Over time, the Polish group in Sevenhill and Hill River began to lose its national character, slowly assimilating into Australian society. As recalled by Father Jozef Janus, a Jesuit priest who arrived in Australia as early as the 1950s, at that time it was difficult to find someone communicating in Polish. The fact that the Polish settlement has survived for more than half a century is still a good result and the only such example on the Australian continent.

Museum in Polish Hill River
A significant wave of Polish migrants arrived in Australia after the Second World War. Their interest was sparked by the ruins of a church and school in Hill River, which they decided to restore and develop. Work was undertaken in 1971. Representatives of the Polish community, organised in the Federation of Polish Organisations in South Australia, established in 1968. Federation of Polish Organisations in South Australia, established in 1968, obtained the right to the land on which the church and school are located and acquired a further few acres of adjoining land. In 1980, the renovated St Stanislaus Kostka Church was listed as a heritage site. Since 1988, it has officially housed the Polish Hill River Church Museum.

More memorabilia of the Polish settlers can be found in Sevenhill. In addition to the aforementioned painting from St Stanislaus Kostka Church and the grave of Fr Rogalski, it is worth remembering the cemetery near the Jesuit monastery, where Polish names can be found on many of the burials.