“Nasza Droga” (1952-1981) – A Polish-language foreign newspaper in Adelaide (Australia) and its “German” roots

In this context, “Nasza Droga”, which had degenerated to become the mouthpiece of the Sokolnicki Group, was isolated from the 1970s to the end of its existence in December 1981. Its former employer Stefan Nowicki, who was appointed delegate of the Polish government in exile for Australia in 1971, turned its back on the paper. The newspaper now appeared monthly continuing its numbering. In January 1972, the paper was more or less finished. Due to the lack of staff and current material that could have been published, the publisher was forced to fall back on the secondary use of older texts, with decrees, letters and statements by Sokolnicki and his followers being afforded a special place. The standard of the articles and the editorial preparation of the texts published at that time left a lot to be desired.

In the history of the Australian Polonia after the Second World War, “Nasza Droga” was the longest running news medium after “Wiadomości Polskie” and “Tygodnik Katolicki” [Catholic Weekly Newspaper] (since 1965 “Tygodnik Polski” [Polish Weekly Newspaper]), and although the newspaper could not keep up with its competitors in the race for readers from other states, it did initially achieve a really large Polish readership in South Australia. In the first decade of its existence, the newspaper undoubtedly fulfilled an important role in disseminating information and played a part both in the societal integration of the Polonia there and in their mobilisation. It offered reports and commentaries from the life of the Polish community, emphasising cultural and religious issues, but also dealing with international matters and the situation in Poland, whilst the problems in their new country were only briefly touched on, just like in the other Polish press media in Australia. Unfortunately, particularly after supporting Juliusz Sokolnicki, it later mainly served the purposes of the small group around him. Moreover, its involvement in the personnel conflicts in “Polish London” annoyed its established readership.

Jan Lencznarowicz, May 2018

The digitised material is available here: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/title/1323#