Traveling around Australia, I ended up in a company very unexpected for the fifth continent - the Cossacks of the Trans-Baikal Military Society. These are the descendants of Russian emigrants of the second wave (1923-1947), who first went to China, and from there to Australia. To date, the number of the Australian branch - just over 150 people.

It was not easy to write this post: on the one hand, these are kind people who met me very cordially. On the other hand, military-patriotic volunteers are perceived today not as unambiguously as, say, ecological or social volunteers. Therefore, I will try to describe what I saw and heard as impartially as possible.

So, the Australian Embassy Department of the ZVKO holds cultural, national and patriotic holidays, as well as various actions in support of Russia. The Cossacks take a pro-Russian stance on all political issues, they say "they love Russia more than some Russians, because now there are many patriots, but few statesmen who support the authorities, Putin and Russia".

The Cossacks treat Putin very well. There are several reasons. First, according to the Cossacks "Russia returns to the Romanov period and grows with new territories (Crimea)". Secondly, "Putin stopped the collapse of the country", and thirdly, the President of Russia allocated $500,000 to renovate a Cossack center in Australia. This is no longer a quote, this is a statement of fact that happened several years ago.

The Cossacks say that there used to be unstable times in Russia, but today many look at our country with hope in their eyes and plans to return. There is only one problem: the Cossacks are offered to renounce Australian citizenship, which, as I understand from conversations, they are afraid to do. The events of 1954 are fresh in my memory, when several families who wished to return to Siberia were loaded onto wagons and sent to Kazakhstan to clear virgin soil.

Returning home, I briefly studied the issue: it turns out that since 2006 there has been a program to promote the voluntary resettlement of compatriots living abroad. It involves 42 subjects of the Russian Federation, including the Trans-Baikal Territory. Those wishing to return to their historical homeland are invited to settle in the Borzinsky district, 373 km from Chita - one of the richest areas in terms of explored reserves of raw materials:

"<...>There is one retail market on the territory of the Borzinsky district, which is located in the town of Borzya. There are officially registered retail outlets only in 6 rural settlements out of 15; there are no registered consumer services facilities in rural settlements of the Borzinsky district.

I think this is the main problem. There are warm, romanticized and, no doubt, sincere feelings for the lost homeland, but there is reality. I even agree that the Australian Cossacks love Russia more than many of our fellow citizens. Just because it is much easier to love Russia in a new office in Australia than in the old cultural center of the Borzinsky district...

The base of the Cossacks is located somewhere on the outskirts of Sydney. We traveled for a very long time, we had already entered some kind of forest belt, when suddenly a huge hangar appeared in front of us. Surrealism was added to what was happening by Russian flags at the entrance.

When the Cossacks occupied the building, it was not completed. The Cossacks wrote to the Russian Embassy and (I speak from the words of the host) Vladimir Putin allocated half a million dollars to complete the construction:

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The Cossacks have plans for expansion and a guarantee of further financial support from the Russian Federation. The territory is large. In addition to the hangar, there is a room where the office of the representative office of the Transbaikal Army is located:

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Initially, the hangar was planned as a volleyball center, but it is not used for its intended purpose. Inside, it looks more like a banquet hall. There is a field marking, but there is no grid, not even holes in the floor to install it:

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There are folding chairs and tables along the walls - as I understand it, the Cossacks make money by holding banquets and weddings:

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In the middle of the hall, Russian and Australian flags:

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Several stands telling about the activities of the Cossack center:

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The Cossacks were waiting for me. A table was set right in the middle of the hall, and the wife of one of the Cossacks prepared dinner for our company:

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Let me introduce our heroes:

Semyon Boykov - Ataman of the Trans-Baikal Military Cossack Society:

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Gennady Konstantinovich - Yesaul:

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Alexey Georgievich - cornet:

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Cossacks love not only Putin, but also like to be photographed.

On the table is a portrait of Ataman Semyonov, whose rehabilitation the Cossacks have been seeking for many years:

Confirmation of national and family identification:

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The grandfather of Alexei Georgievich was a very famous Cossack:

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The Cossacks are proud of their relatives and are happy to show newspaper clippings, where it is written about them:

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Australian Registration Certificate Zabaykal Cossack Society Australia Incorporated:

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In addition to representatives of the older generation, there was also a young Cossack Yura. He showed the Cossack mastery of the saber:

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After the demonstration and photographing, we sat down at the table. Dinner began with "Our Father":

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After the prayer, everyone took off their caps, put them on a tray, where a minute earlier there was food, and sat down at the table:

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Dinner started with moonshine. None of my protests were accepted:

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They said that the form is received on the basis of a Cossack's certificate. Of course, I asked to see such a certificate. The item looks very funny: Village - SYDNEY:

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After moonshine got vodka. I even felt embarrassed: Alexei Georgievich had been saving this bottle for 26 years since the wedding. For a quarter of a century, at least something was opened to her like a new one:

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The conversation was very emotional:

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The meeting ended with a group photo. I want to thank the Cossacks of the Trans-Baikal Military Society for the warm welcome and wish you all the best!

The Russian "ataman" Mikhail Ovchinnikov, who never belonged to the Cossacks and is not a member of Cossack societies, came to the funeral of a Cossack, the son of a white officer, in the form of Orenburg Cossacks with general's shoulder straps. It is noteworthy that the general's epaulettes, the SKVRiZ chevron and other Cossack paraphernalia are considered especially honorable, because they can be obtained, like a document, only from the hands of the president.

A scandal arose in the Cossack and in the public environment of Australia. Cossack General Viktor Volodatsky has already called on the chieftain of the Australian Cossacks, Semyon Boykov, to remove the general's epaulettes from the fake Cossack.

This is indeed a very strange situation. And this is dishonorable behavior on the part of Ovchinnikov. To understand the whole situation, you need to go back to the time when Vodolatsky appointed this person to the post. Vodolatsky himself said that it was a mistake, that he had been misled. This man came to the State Duma, to Vodolatsky’s office and said that he had a whole Cossack museum in Australia: archives, relics, old medals, St. George orders of white officers, says Semyon Boikov, ataman of the Australian Embassy Department of the Transbaikal Cossack Host.

According to Boikov, the Australian chieftains were very outraged when they found out about this situation.

Vodolatsky, based on the results of a special expert review, decided to dismiss him from his post, and so on. Well, then Ovchinnikov appears in the uniform of a Cossack general. We all know that the rank of general, the rank of general, can only be given by the president personally. There are only 24 of them on the territory of the Russian Federation. There are others, but they receive ranks and shoulder straps on the basis of a presidential decree, Boykov says.

Ataman says that a person cannot appear in uniform if he has nothing to do with the army and the Cossacks.

He hung medals on himself from left to right, as in Anglo-Saxon, like on a Christmas tree. Nonsense. The Cossacks distance themselves from the disguised general. This is bullshit, this is a disgrace. And we, of course, condemn it. Victor Vodolatsky gave us the order to remove the chevron and shoulder straps. We are now developing the question of how we will do this. We are polite people, we will do everything in the right way, - said the ataman.

Semyon Boikov also said that such people dishonor themselves and the Cossack dignity. Ataman is sure that Ovchinnikov's shoulder straps will be removed.

Ataman of the Consolidated Cossack village of the state of New South Wales in Australia, Mikhail Ovchinnikov, denies the accusations against him. The man claims that there was a misunderstanding and he was mistakenly sent a uniform with similar shoulder straps. He said that he ordered the uniform last year.

When ordering, they asked me which army I belonged to. I answered that we have a Consolidated village, which included the Cossacks of various troops of Russia, including the Trans-Baikal and Orenburg, but I am the ataman of this village, - the man says.

According to Mikhail, he wore the uniform only once.

When my photo in this form appeared on the Internet, I was immediately bombarded with unfriendly and openly mocking comments. I would be an impostor if I publicly introduced myself as a general, signed my name as a general, included the rank of general in my title, but this was not, is not and will not be! - said the man.

Trans-Baikal Cossacks in Australia took part in a meeting of the Council of Russian Compatriots. They reported on the prospects for the development of the Cossacks on the mainland and talked about the activities already carried out.

The Australian Cossacks have been in touch with their homeland for a long time and maintain close contacts with the leadership of the Trans-Baikal Territory.

The meeting of the Council of Russian Compatriots was held in the Australian capital Canberra and was supported by the Russian trade mission.

From the embassy Australian department of the Transbaikal Cossack Host, the meeting was attended by the ataman of the department S.M. Boikov, who is a permanent member of the Council of Compatriots and the chairman of the council of the old people of the department G.K.

During the meeting, issues of the life of the Trans-Baikal Cossacks on the Australian mainland were raised, and a work plan for the Cossack society in the second half of 2015 was agreed upon. Ataman of the Australian Cossacks S. M. Boikov emphasized that in the first half of the year the Cossacks actively participated in the implementation of joint projects with the Council of Compatriots.

At the end of the meeting, S. M. Boikov noted the contribution of compatriots to the development of the Cossack culture in Australia and presented the author of books about the Cossacks, L. L. Larkina, with the medal "For Diligence".

Trans-Baikal Cossacks are actively involved in preserving the memory of Russian emigrants on the southern mainland. So, after vandals destroyed tombstones at the Russian cemetery in Sydney in 2014 and the burials of the Cossack row suffered more than others, the Cossacks promised to pay 5 thousand dollars for information about the destroyers.

At the same time, the Cossacks still do not leave the incident without attention. “Tombstones that were subject to restoration have now been repaired. Where the destruction is very severe, new crosses and monuments will be erected. The work is about 90% complete. It is planned that everything will be completed in the near future and we will invite a priest for consecration,” Ataman Boykov said.

Keeping in touch with their distant homeland, the Australian Cossacks on the Day of Russia sent a congratulatory letter to the Governor of Transbaikalia Konstantin

descendants of the Trans-Baikal Cossacks, who by the will of fate found themselves in a foreign land, this is a special holiday. Together with the entire Russian people, we are celebrating this day as Russia's return to its roots, as the rebirth of a powerful state that our ideological opponents once again reckon with. This is a celebration of our unity in the name of the prosperity of our Motherland.

The Cossacks have always been faithful to their faith, the tsar and the Fatherland. Today, we fully support the Supreme Ruler and Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, in his desire to achieve a strong government capable of ensuring a safe and prosperous life for Russians.”

Australian Cossacks are also participating in fundraising for the erection of a monument to Emperor Nicholas II in Chita on Cossack Square. The emperor visited Transbaikalia in 1891.

Currently, about 10 thousand Transbaikalian Cossacks live in Australia, whose ancestors emigrated after the Civil War, first to China and then to the Australian continent. The embassy department of the Trans-Baikal Cossack Host includes 150 people.

Valery Matytsin / Photo TASS

In 2013, Bobrov ceased to be the chieftain of the Transbaikal Cossack army. After that, the head of the Australian Cossacks, Boykov, began to have problems with his Russian colleagues. But still, Bobrov did not stop supporting the Australian chieftain.

“A letter came from [Chairman of the Commission on International Activities of Cossack Societies and Associations of the Council for Cossack Affairs under the President of the Russian Federation] Vasnetsov - to disband the villages and create offices instead. I read the paper and was stunned. What it is? I call Bobrov and complain - they say, what is it. And he says to me: “So, Mikhalych, listen to me carefully. You are Cossacks, you can do whatever you want. Send everyone *****” ” Boykov laughs.

According to Boikov, in Russia the attitude towards the Cossacks is much better in France and in the USA.

“But the German and French Cossacks were anti-Russian Cossacks. On the form of the Kuban was the flag of America. We are, they say, the Cossacks of America. And we immediately said: no, we are not the Cossacks of Australia, we are the Trans-Baikal Cossacks in Australia.

It's always like this in Russia - beat your own people so that strangers are afraid, right? For some reason, strangers are treated much better than their own. They know that their devotees are not going anywhere. As a foreign delegation arrives, everyone is covered, treated, big world-class performances. Olympics, football, etc. For foreigners, this is everything. And here they immediately realized that these were Russian guys in Australia, where they supposedly would go. ” Boykov says.

Conflicts with the new leadership of the Trans-Baikal Army eventually resulted in the "removal" of Semyon Boykov from the post of ataman of the Australian department. It happened in March last year at a meeting of the council of chieftains of the Transbaikal Cossack army. However, this decision had no legal force, because. Australians were not officially part of the structure of the Russian Cossacks, and their society functions according to the laws of their country.

“How can I be removed from the post of ataman if I am an Australian citizen and I am not officially in the army?” Boykov asks.

The new chieftain of the Trans-Baikal Cossacks, Gennady Chupin, explained Boikov's "removal" as follows: “We are not satisfied with the format of international activities that Semyon carries out with our army, and therefore, for the systematic violation of the Charter, for improper interaction with the board and for interaction with the media, Semyon was relieved of his post”. Earlier, Chupin also spoke negatively about the activities of the ex-ataman of the Transbaikalians Bobrov, who actively interacted with Boykov: “The format of Bobrov’s work leads to any distortion, and our task is to ensure that there is discipline in the army and a vertical of power is built, so that there is understanding between all the Cossacks. We decided to admit that the international activities carried out by the Cossack General Bobrov led to the creation of negative moods and disagreements not only among the Trans-Baikal Cossacks, but also among the Cossacks of Australia.

"Soft political power"

The Australian Cossack society, headed by Boikov, consists of about 150 people. Despite the fact that the society is historical and cultural, the Cossacks look outwardly militarized, walk in uniform, in banners, with epaulets, conduct Cossack circles. According to Ataman Boikov, the main task of the Australian Cossack society is the implementation of the so-called. public diplomacy.

“This is exactly the kind of people's diplomacy that many are now talking about, even our president [Putin]. Soft political power. If in all countries of the Western world the Cossack diasporas are as active as the Cossacks in Australia, then this will be a huge resource. You see, we are holding actions here in support of the return of Crimea, in support of the actions of our army in Syria, in support of the DNR, LNR. We publish a very tough pro-Russian newspaper "Rubezh", where we fully educate Western politicians, we criticize the lies that are pouring towards Russia. After all, there is constantly on TV - Russian hackers, Russian bombs, Russian spies, Russian interference, Russian missiles. 24 hour brainwashing Boykov says.

The ataman also says that they do not have the opportunity to use checkers, three-rulers and machine guns in battle, as his grandfathers did. Now, according to Boikov, we need to wage another war - information.

“I consider myself a statesman, we will always support the line of the state, the president of the country, we respect our commander-in-chief Putin very much. And we have a unique opportunity to support Russia from within an enemy state. Even the FSB or special forces battalions cannot do this, because, unlike them, we are citizens of this state. And foreign Cossacks can, within the framework of the laws of France, the United States, Australia and other countries, pursue a pro-Russian position, lobby politicians, deputies of parliament, oppose when they lie against Russia, run over, impose sanctions. In general, wage an information war. Only then will they not be mummers. Unfortunately, now Russians abroad are doing this work poorly,” Boikov says and, as an example, offers to look at the Jews and Ukrainians, who, in his opinion, have a very strong lobby everywhere.

Boikov's active pro-Russian stance sometimes makes him the subject of stories in the local press. For example, in November 2014, the G20 summit was held in Brisbane, Australia. Boykov and his Cossack colleagues marched through the streets of the city with a demonstration in support of the Russian leader. “I explained to them all that our president is God's anointed. They agreed, I think. Well, they didn’t argue.” he says.

Among the actions “in defense of interests” was a telegram to Boris Nemtsov accusing him of betraying the Russian people, and the solemn delivery of a copy of the Victory Banner to Sydney, and the fight against “local banderlogs” - as Boikov calls the Ukrainians. So, for example, at the beginning of this year, several Australian Cossacks, led by Boykov, attended a rally of local Ukrainians dedicated to the annexation of Crimea. “Yes, we went, checked them a little, so that they would not speak too loudly about their Bandera heroes. Remind them whose Crimea really is” Boykov recalls.

However, sometimes Boikov's activity also leads to problems with local authorities.

Ural Cossacks in Australia The beginning of the last century was marked by huge changes in the lives of not only millions of Russian people, but also a break in the fate of entire communities that had been formed on the territory of Russia for centuries. One of these communities were the Ural Cossacks, a significant part of which left their homes in the Ural River region and moved to other countries, mainly to Australia. Far from their homeland, for the most part, they managed to preserve traditions and habits and, in spite of everything, good feelings for their abandoned native places, for their native people. During the Second World War, many foreign Ural Cossacks as part of the allied armies took part in the struggle against Japanese militarism, thereby providing, albeit modest, but worthy support to the efforts of the Soviet people, who made a decisive contribution to the victory over the hated enemies of mankind. The origins of the Ural Cossacks go back to the depths of the Middle Ages. The Cossacks themselves called their military campaigns in the regions of the Volga and the Caspian Sea against the Turks, Persians, Nogais "fishery". These campaigns were accompanied by the liberation of Russians and other Christians who were in slavery, which was considered a charitable and worthy deed. The bloody skirmishes of the Ural Cossacks with their neighbors are not explained by their ferocity or some kind of bloodthirstiness. Clashes over their territory, places of permanent residence and farming have always been in fact the defense of the homeland. Yaik Cossacks were fishermen, hunters, sowed bread, melons, kept cattle, planted gardens, there were doctors among them, but warriors formed the basis of the community. The Yaitskaya community was part of a huge Russia, very small, sometimes restless, but very necessary. Soviet time a stereotype arose that, they say, the Cossacks were colonizers for the Kazakhs. But for more than 150 years - until the beginning of the XVIII century. - Kazakhs did not meet with Cossacks at all. The Kazakhs appeared on the banks of the Yaik (Ural River) later than the Cossacks. The Cossacks many times encountered the Nogais, Bashkirs, Kalmyks, but never the Kazakhs. Then for more than 200 years they lived side by side, each on its own territory. In the 19th century they were not just neighbors - the Cossacks came to the Kazakhs on business and did not live among them. From the end of the 19th century Kazakhs began to be hired by rich Cossacks as shepherds. The Cossacks - due to their innate heightened sense of justice - have always respected the customs and national traditions of the Kazakhs. The Yaik Cossacks were practically independent in the initial period of their history, and all relations with the Russian government were conducted through the Posolsky Prikaz. The tsar asked for military campaigns to put into service the required number of Cossacks, guaranteeing them a reward. Peter I from 1721 began to conduct business with the Cossacks through the Military Collegium, and the lands of the Ural (Yaitsky) Cossacks then entered the Astrakhan, and then - in 1744 - the Orenburg province. Moscow, through persuasion and orders, tried all the time to subdue the Cossacks. The Cossacks defended their rights, but they were considered less and less. In the famous peasant 18th uprising in. the Cossacks took the side of Pugachev. After the suppression of the uprising, the Yaik army was completely subordinated to Russian government, and the army itself was renamed Ural. His ataman was no longer elected, but appointed by officials from St. Petersburg. After 1830, the so-called. "Atamans" were sometimes not even local Cossacks.

1917 marked the end of the history of the Ural Cossacks. In 1918 - 1920. units of the Red Army repeatedly came to the territory of the Ural Cossack army, and then entered Uralsk. Elected in March 1919, the military ataman Vladimir Sergeevich Tolstov was able to turn the tide of hostilities in favor of the Cossacks for some time, but not for long. The arrival of the "Reds" was accompanied by mass executions - all the names of the dead barely fit into three volumes of the "Book of Memory" published in 2000. They shot the poor and the rich, officers and privates, peasants, priests, Kazakhs and Russians, Bashkirs and Tatars, etc. Together with the Cossack army, the military population began to retreat. It ended in the death of thousands of people - the wounded, ill with typhus, starving ... The mass exodus from Russia to Persia and China was described in detail in his memoirs by Ataman V.S. Tolstov. The first edition of the book was published in Turkey, with the old orthography; subsequently it was reprinted several times. This book is the only detailed source of information about that terrible time, where tragic events and human suffering are described by a person who was a witness and experienced it all himself. Subsequently, another, more detailed book, “From the Red Paws to the Unknown Distance,” was published, which cited the memoirs of other witnesses of the tragic events, as well as the diaries and notes of the same V.S. Tolstov. According to the data given in these books, the Urals "from the red paws" went to an unknown distance. No one knew where fate would take them. Some returned to Russia - the fate of most of them was tragic - others went to France. A large group led by ataman V.S. Tolstov went to Australia. As evidenced by the materials of the books mentioned above, in civil war the Ural Cossacks opposed the Reds, but not for the monarchy, not for the landowners - the latter were not here, since there was no private land ownership. The Urals defended their faith, the right to life in the Urals. Military actions, epidemics, famine in 1921 - all this killed ¾ of the local Cossacks. Departing from the Reds, the Ural Cossacks with their families headed "along the Bukhara side" to the Caspian Sea, to Persia. Back in March 1919, having gathered a 16,000-strong army, ataman Tolstov cleared a fairly large territory of the Reds, for which the commander-in-chief of the White Army, Admiral A.V. Kolchak, produced by V.S. Tolstov to lieutenant general. The ataman withdrew his troops south to Guryev, then along the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea to Fort Alexandrov. On the way, many people died due to cold, illness and injury. Out of 12 thousand people, only 3 thousand reached the Fort. Not wanting to surrender to the Reds, the remaining Cossacks intended to cross to Persia (Iran) by sea. But the sailors of the Caspian flotilla took the money "for the crossing" from the Cossacks, but did not fulfill their promises ...

Ataman General of the Ural Cossack Host Vladimir Sergeevich Tolstov in exile. It was already 1921. Ataman V.S. Tolstov with a detachment of 214 people went through the deserts of Turkmenistan to Persia. On the way there were skirmishes with the Turkmens, part of the detachment died. After Iran, most of the Urals reached Iraq, which was then owned by the British. The Urals were marked out in Basra in the camp of Russian emigrants, who by that time had already accumulated quite a lot in a foreign country. From there, ataman V.S. Tolstov wrote a letter to W. Churchill asking him to help the people of the Urals move to the east. The answer was not very friendly, but still they provided the steamer - the Ural Cossacks were going to go to Vladivostok. First they got to Istanbul, where Ataman V.S. Tolstov handed over the Army banner of St. George into the hands of General Wrangel. Later, this banner was in the Holy Trinity Church in Belgrade (a courtyard of the Russian Orthodox Church); there is also a museum of Russian glory, where 126 banners and standards of the old Russian Army are kept. In October 1921, the Ural Cossacks arrived in Vladivostok, where they entered the Consolidated Cossack Brigade of the Far Eastern White Army.

In November 1922, the Reds occupied the entire Far East, and the Urals moved to China, mainly to Harbin. Some remained in China, while others, along with Ataman V.S. Tolstov through Japanese port Nagasaki in November 1923 sailed to Australia. The few who remained in Russia and returned home were shot. Among them was Father V.S. Tolstova, ataman T.K. Borodin. Although all of them were first guaranteed life by the Reds. Most of the Cossacks who moved to China could not find work here for a long time. Many would like to move to the US or Europe, but the cheapest way was to get to Australia. That's where they mostly went. The steamboat delivered them to Brisbane on November 4, 1923. Of course, they did not expect that many of them would stay here forever. The first "Ural settlers" experienced great difficulties with money and language. The second generation of Uralians has already mastered the language, and for the third generation, English has become native. At first, in Australia, the Urals worked almost exclusively in hard work - they were loaders in the port, worked on farms, cut sugar cane. V.S. Even before the arrival of the main group of Cossacks, Tolstov was able to organize his own farm, where he invited fellow countrymen to work. A.V. gave him money for “his own business”. Bolkhovitinov, a Cossack from the Don army, who knew the Urals and arrived in Australia a little earlier. He also enrolled Cossack children in a local school. Later, in 1927 A.V. Bolkhovitinov opened a store in Queensland, and in 1934 he left for America.

Urals, farm workers, in Australia, 1930. Ural Cossacks from the "Tolstoy farm" worked there for many years, mainly growing vegetables; some left for seasonal rural work. Local residents watched with interest as the Ural Cossacks, lined up in a column with shovels, axes and picks, went to work, singing Russian songs - many had beautiful voices. Soon the Kordalba estate - 380 km north of Brisbane - became the center of a Russian settlement. Gradually, the Cossacks began to buy their farms, acquired a household, some bought houses in the city of Kordalba. A small town - one central street, several shops, three hotels - soon became almost entirely Russian. The signs at the doors of the houses said that the Karamyshevs, Piunovs, Potorochins, Tarshkovs and others lived here. 45 families of the Urals settled in the city; in total, there were about one and a half hundred families of Russian emigrants in Kordalba. A kind of social and cultural center of the Cossacks and other Russians living and working in the town and its environs was the Potorochins' farm. Cossack Alexander Yulianovich and his wife Ekaterina Fedorovna bought a small house, which became a kind of "club" of the Ural Cossacks in Australia. The hospitable hosts subscribed to books, including those in Russian, records, and bought a gramophone. On Sundays they were visited by Russians who worked nearby. People read, listened to music, played lotto and cards. Both single Cossacks and family Cossacks came, alternately arranged dinners and had fun as best they could, i.e. with drinks, snacks and singing. A song with such ingenuous words was especially often heard: Everyone knows the Ural River, And the Ural sturgeon, Only they know very little, About the Ural Cossacks, Our great-grandfathers and grandfathers Since the time of Peter, There have been victories in the fields, How many there were "Hurrah". In the early 1930s Tolstov established a “common Cossack village” in Kordalba in order to support and preserve the community of the Cossacks from the Urals. Now meetings were arranged both in the house and at picnics. There were many treats, songs were sung, dances were performed. Young Cossacks listened attentively to the stories of the elderly about the old days and campaigns. Especially solemnly on November 21 of each year, the Ural Military Holiday of St. Archangel Michael. Not only Cossacks were invited to the holiday, but also all Russians who could come to Kordalb. Orthodox holidays were celebrated with divine services (there was a Russian priest in Brisbane), at Christmas they arranged a Christmas tree in the Kordalb "public hall" rented for this purpose by the Cossacks.