‘Community Nesting’ sculpture is an installation by two Estonian artists in Australia 

Virge Nielsen and Leen Rampe to acknowledge the value and connection to the local community as well as call for action to save endangered native bird species.

‘The concept of our clay sculptures celebrates the longevity of the local community and positive lifestyle while at the same time calling to pause and acknowledge that we share this wonderful environment with species that may struggle to fight for their space in the environment of today’s expanse of urban sprawl’ says artist Virge Nielsen.

The visual emphasis of this work is carried by scaled down versions (1:50) of recognisable residential dwellings from Wollongong area, following an endearing common practice of naming one’s dwellings. Leen Rampe adds ‘Our idea was to call the buildings, like for example the famous historic ‘Glennifer Brae’ residence (currently housing the conservatory of Wollongong), after bird species currently under threat in NSW, such as ‘Moorpork’. With that we would like to encourage contemplation on the impact that residential sprawl can have on the habitat of local species, which on the backdrop of global warming tends to go unnoticed.’ The artists hope that this may invite viewers and leaders of the society alike to think about potential solutions and take action before it is too late. 

Both Virge and Leen admit that this sculpture installation was a technically challenging one, but also full of exciting discoveries and active dialog with the community. The duo of artists commenced the project by researching the history of typical dwellings in the area, followed by meeting several owners of chosen prototypes for the sculptures. This was followed by clay modelling of 11 scaled down small houses based on either technical drawings or sometimes just photographic references. ‘We opted for somewhat monochromatic colour scheme to emphasise the architectural form of the houses, with main accents in black and white ceramic pigments and glazes’ explains Virge Nielsen.

The artists used buff terracotta clay for building the miniature houses for ‘Community Nesting’ as its texture and colour is reminiscent of gingerbread houses – so much cherished by those of us from northern hemisphere for whom it symbolises the atmosphere of childhood fairytales. The biscuit-like material and decorative finishing of the sculptures juxtaposes the permanence that a family home conveys to us (humans) and the fragility of edible ephemeral treats that symbolise the delicate homes of native birds. The contrast in scale between small model houses compared to the giant dead tree trunk where they are nested in an organic mushroom-like attachment patterns is  humbling, pointing out the power of nature compared to man.

Sculpture In The Garden exhibition is open for viewing for the whole month 1-30 April 2025 at the Wollongong Botanical Garden. There are artist-led workshops and tours for both children and adults. An artist walk and talk that includes the work by Virge and Leen takes place Saturday 12 April, starting at 11 AM. Come and see for yourself!  

More information on the Wollongong Botanical Gardens exhibition “Sculpture In The Garden” can be found in this brochure:

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‘COMMUNITY NESTING’ skulptuuriinstallatsioon kahe välis-eesti kunstniku

Virge Nielseni ja Leen Rampe kummardus kogukonnale ja kutse linnuliikide mitmekesisuse säilimisele

Wollongongi botaanikaaias aset leidev iga kahe aasta tagune skulptuurinäitus on seekord esindatud ka eesti kunstnikega. Nimelt, skulptuuriinstallatsioon ‘Community Nesting’ või ‘Kogukonna pesitsuspaik’ on skulptuuriinstallatsioon kahe välis-eesti kunstniku Virge Nielseni ja Leen Rampe ühistöö. 

‘Meie saviskulptuuride kontsepsioon tunnustab kohaliku kogukonna pikaealsust ja elujaatavust, andes aru ja mõtteainet meie jagatud imelise keskkonna varjupoolt, kus väiksemad ja ühiskonnas vähema mõjuvõimuga tegelased – kohalikud linnuliigid – peavad tänapäevases ülerahvastatud keskkonna ehitustungis oma koha eest nähtamatut võitlust pidama’ kirjeldab kunstnik Virge Nielsen.

Visuaalse rõhu annavad installatsioonile vähendatud kujul äratuntavad Wollongongi piirkonna elamud, mis järgivad kultuuriajaloolist omakodude nimetamise praktikat, lisab Leen Rampe.  ‘Meie idee oli vahetada majade nimed, nagu näiteks kuulus ‘Glennifer Brae’ residents (tänapäeva Wollongongi konservatooriumihoone botaanikaaia kõrval) ohustatud New South Walesi linnuliikide nimede vastu nagu näiteks ‘Moorpork’. Sellega soovime pöörata tähelepanu liigirikkuse hävinemisele, mis on globaalse kliima soojenemise taustal vargsi hiiliv vähemärgatud probleem kogu maailmas’. Kunstnikud loodavad, et ehk kutsub see vaatajaid ja ühiskonna juhte üles lahendusi otsima ja süstemaatiliselt tegutsema enne kui on liiga hilja. 

Nii Virge kui Leen tõdevad, et skulptuuriinstallatsioon oli tehniliselt väljakutsuv, kuid samas ka põnev avastusitäis ja kogukonnasisene dialoog. Kunstiprojekti alustasid kunstnikud kohalike tüüpkodude ajaloolise arhitektuuriuuringuga ja seejärel valitud majade prototüüpide omanikega kohtumised, misjärel valmistati majade tehniliste jooniste ja vahel ka fotode põhjal kokku 11 maja väikses mastaabis (1:50-le) skulptuuri. 

‘Valisime tööde värviskaala praktiliselt monokromaatilise, et välja tuua majade arhitektuurilist vormi, andes aktsenti ainult musta ja valge keraamiliste pigmentide ja glasuuride abil’ kirjeldab Virge Nielsen lähemalt. 

Kunstnikud valisid ‘Community Nesting’ väikeskulptuuride materjalisks terracotta savi, mis meenutab oma värvilt ja tekstuurilt piparkoogimaju – neid meile põhjamaa kultuurist pärinevatele inimestele nii koduseks saanud lapsepõlve muinasjutulisuse sümboleid. Küpsiselaadsete skulptuuride materjali ajutisus vastandub meie individuaalelamute vastupidavuse ja jäävuse assotseeruvaga, tuues esile lindude elupaikade haprust tänapäevases maailmas. Lisaks tekitab väikeste päkapikumajade puuseentelaadne kinnitus hiiglasliku surnud puutüve ümber aukartustäratava suurusevahe, tuletades meelde looduse ja inimese jõuvahekorda.  

Sculpture In The Garden näitus avatakse täns, 1 Aprillil ning on külastajatele lahti terve kuu. Toimuvad ka kunstnike juhendatud kunstituurid ja õpitoad nii suurtele kui väikestele kunstihuvilistele. Virge ja Leenu installatsiooni giiditutvustus toimub 12-dal aprillil algusega kell 11 Wollongongi Botaanikaaias – tulge vaatama!

The Estonian House Co-Operative Society Board was proud to welcome our shareholders and the wider Estonian community to the Grand Reveal event on Sunday, 6th April 2025.

The day was a great success, with an incredible turnout and overwhelming support for everyone involved in the renovation and building works at Eesti Maja. It was exciting to see the changes that have brought new life and a positive outlook to our community spaces.

Guests enjoyed refreshments as we christened the newly completed kitchen and bar, sharing stories and celebrating the hard work that has gone into transforming the Sydney Estonian House.

My speech is available to read below as well as Sulev Kalamäe’s address, the Honorary Consul of Estonia, Sydney who spoke at this special event.

We thank everyone who joined us and made the day so special.

Suur tänu,

Grahame Reinthal
Chairman
Estonian House Co-Operative Society Limited

Photo Gallery

Photos thanks to Esmée Okamoto

Grahame Reinthal’s Celebration Speech

Good afternoon and welcome to this auspicious occasion. Today we celebrate a significant milestone for the Estonian community here in Sydney. About 85 years ago, our forebears, including my grandparents, had the foresight to purchase this land and then see the laying of the foundation stones of this building. In the intervening decades, many changes have been made to what is now an old, but venerable building.
About 5 years ago, after years of debate about the way forward, Co-Op shareholders and all key stakeholders agreed to commit to what we now call our Master Plan for Eesti Maja.

In February 2020 we (the Co-Op Board) established the Planning Sub-committee, led by Hillar Ranniko and with its members well-representing the Estonian community, including architects, Aldo Raadik and Giles Parker. This committee held consultative meetings with all sections of the Sydney Estonian community to explore their needs and wishes for ongoing and future uses of Eesti Maja.

The Master Plan was thus developed as a 3-stage, iterative process. In February 2021, the Master Plan was presented to all stakeholders, and based on the feedback, the Master Plan was then fine-tuned to its final form.

At its heart, Stage 1 essentially involved creating a new, purpose-built location for Archives. This was to free up the upstairs areas to be leased out commercially, thus generating an income stream to finance the subsequent stages of the Master Plan. However, at that time, the Co-Op had limited cash reserves, and so it was marvellous that grants from ECFA and later from the NSW Govt enabled this process to begin.
Covid intervened, but we endured!

Of course, as soon as you touch an old building, you have to comply with all current regulations and safety standards. So, Stage 1 also involved many more costly things such as disability toilets, disability ramping, new wiring, new plumbing, new fire safety matters and so on.

But Stage 1 was successfully completed, with Hillar doing the heavy lifting supported by Arne, and we met all the regulatory requirements and approvals.

And the completion of Stage 1 was a great relief, because – a bit like those puzzles where you slide the pieces around so that you can then move another piece into position – all subsequent stages were dependent on the success of Stage 1.
Nevertheless, by then our cash reserves were quite low, so progress to Stage 2 seemed to have a more distant time horizon until we gradually accumulated rent money from our tenants.

However, the very generous bequest from Maud Kaljot changed all that, and helped us complete Stage 2 much faster than previously anticipated. Thank you, Maud.

And so here we are with Stage 2 today. A new, modern commercial kitchen and bar area, more toilets, revamped rear courtyard access, new storage areas, and so on and so on, and again, this has all also involved bringing things up to current code.

And so now I say…

Thank you to the Co-Op Board members, who have helped manage and navigate through all the processes that have got us to where we are today, from the agreement to develop a Master Plan in the first place, through the Master Plan development, through Stage 1, through leasing out the upstairs areas, through Stage 2 and the myriad of details that all of this has entailed.

Thank you particularly to Hillar and Giles. Stage 2 could not have come to fruition without the professional architectural and building skills, the dedication, and the hard work and focus of Hillar and Giles. I thank them both on behalf of the Co-Op Board and all shareholders and stakeholders in Eesti Maja. Also, thank you to Toivo who did all the clever joinery.
And thank you to our whole Eesti community, and also our neighbours in Goodchap Street, for putting up with all the noise and dust recently!

For the event today, I also say thank you to:
* Aino, who organised Trybooking
* Ave and Giles who moved all the crockery and cutlery yesterday
* Tiiu Pikkat for the catering
* Tiiu, Nora and Kara for cakes
* Rachael and Mel who are our wait-people today
* Taimi and Kara who are behind the bar
* Kieren and Ella for the music.

And thank you to all of you for coming today to celebrate this milestone with us.

Speech by Honorary Consul of Estonia, Sulev Kalamäe

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today in this year 2025, we are gathered here at Sydney Eesti Maja to celebrate the opening of Stage 2 of the Estonian House Upgrade. As fellow shareholders of the Estonian House Co-operative Society, we can all be proud of what has been achieved here by the Board of the Co-operative, for the benefit of the users of this house.

Härrad ja daamid, if I could indulge you for a moment with a bit of a history lesson, to help set the context of why we are here today.
100 years ago, it was a very busy time here in Sydney for our forefathers and predecessors, many of whom had left Estonia during the difficult economic times of the 1920s. As hard-working Estonians typically do anywhere they settle, they get organised and form societies!

In 1927, the members of the two pre-existing and competing Estonian societies – ‘Eesti Kodu’ (established 100 years ago this October) and another Estonian society called ‘Linda’ (formed two years later in 1927) agreed to merge, to form the present Estonian Society of Sydney ‘Eesti Kodu Linda’.

From day one, the members of the new Society realised they needed to stop renting random rooms in Sydney, and aspired to hold their gatherings in their very own house.

So just 11 years after our present Estonian Society of Sydney was born in 1927, the Society paid for a block of land here at 141 Campbell Street (originally purchased at auction by one brave Richard Kalpus), and then on 8 April 1938 (almost 87 years ago today) the Estonian House Co-operative was established – specifically to become the legal entity & landowner with the required authority to construct an Estonian House, for the benefit of the members of the Sydney Estonian Society.

Construction of Sydney Eesti Maja subsequently commenced in March 1940 and local Anton Trumm agreed to be the builder.

Many of you have seen that at the front of Eesti Maja there is a foundation stone. Almost exactly 85 years ago this week, my predecessor at the time the Honorary Estonian Vice-Consul Arvid Mielen, laid this foundation stone on 13 April 1940.

The stirring inscription on the stone says – “ÜHENDUSES ON JÕUD” / STRENGTH IS IN UNITY.

For some of you, this might sound quite ironic, because from the very minute Eesti Maja was completed some months later in August 1940, when Honorary Vice-Consul Arvid Meilen – this time as chairman of the Cooperative Society – symbolically handed over the keys of Eesti Maja to the Sydney Estonian Society, sadly then began decades of strong differences of opinion (even legal disputes) between the Co-operative and the Estonian Society.

I am pleased to see that with the more recent election of new boards to both the Co-operative and the Estonian Society this period of counter-productive behaviour is now but history, and I trust that this recent Stage 2 Building Upgrade executed by the Cooperative will demonstrate to the world, that the Estonian community in Sydney has entered a new era of co-operation, growth and prosperity.

These brand new facilities – including new bar and kitchen and toilets – will vastly improve the ability of Sydney Eesti Maja to successfully accommodate the various community groups, and visitors alike, for decades to come.

Whilst there is no actual physical foundation stone for me to dedicate on this important occasion, as the current Honorary Consul of Estonia I am however able to again confidently echo the words uttered by my predecessor Arvid Mielen 85 years ago – ÜHENDUSES ON JÕUD”!

As was first done back in April 1940, congratulations are once again sent to you from the distant Republic of Estonia, on achieving this tremendous milestone.
Elagu Eesti!
Sulev Kalamäe
Honorary Consul of the the Republic of Estonia in Sydney

What happens when you mix Estonian heart, Ukrainian soul, Lithuanian flair and Latvian love… with a whole lot of beetroot? You get one gloriously flavour-packed afternoon – a Beetroot Soup Workshop! On 30 March 2025, the Sydney Estonian Society teamed up with its Baltic buddies and Ukraine for a culinary celebration that proved once – and for all – beetroot soup might just be the international language of friendship.

This cultural cook-off featured four different beetroot soups – each lovingly crafted in the style of its country of origin. With ladles raised high and aprons tied tight, home chefs and curious foodies gathered at Sydney Latvian House to learn, taste and bond over a common beet. Close to 50 people came along to enjoy a five-hour immersion into beetroot heritage. Each country – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine – took centre stage to demonstrate their unique take on this iconic soup.

A soup-er star line-up

There was the deep and hearty Ukrainian borsch, famed around the world (and even recognised by UNESCO!) – packed with beets, cabbage, beans, potatoes and served with a dollop of sour cream. Lithuania brought the refreshing šaltibarščiai, usually a vibrant cold soup made with kefir, cucumber and egg – perfect for hot days and bright Instagram posts. But just to keep us on our toes, the Lithuanians served this steaming hot with mushrooms – a cosy twist nobody saw coming.

Latvia offered a tasty blend with a nod to both hot and cold styles, while Estonia showcased a hearty, meaty borš. The Estonian version was brought to life with a special family recipe from Ave Nukki, the new President of the Sydney Estonian Society, using her mother’s beloved method. It was a hit – though we suspect anything cooked with that much love (and a splash of sour cream) was bound to be a winner.

Smoked meat? Fresh meat? Beans? All of the above?

Anyone who may have been secretly thinking, “I thought beetroot soup was just… beetroot soup?” Oh no, dear soup novice – the beet hides multitudes! Ukrainian borsch had beans. Estonian and Latvian versions were close cousins, one favouring fresh meat, the other smoky. And the Lithuanian soup with mushrooms? Let’s just say, it was the Beyoncé of beet bowls. Don’t dare to say out loud – one beetroot soup is not the same as another!

Bread, cake and a beet-load of fun

As the soups simmered and stories flowed, guests also enjoyed Estonian rye bread (because what’s soup without a proper sidekick?), coffee, and – naturally – cake. The atmosphere was warm, friendly and fragrant with the aroma of beetroot and good vibes.

Each attendee went home not just with a full stomach but with a recipe (or four!) to recreate the experience in their own kitchens. A culinary souvenir if you will – much better than a fridge magnet.

What’s next on the menu?

The Sydney Estonian Society is just getting started. There are already whispers of more cross-cultural cooking events and joint adventures in the works. The popular Baltic Market will be returning this September, and talk is heating up about a shared sports day (rahvastepall, anyone?). Clearly, when the Baltic nations (and Ukraine) team up, magic – and meaty soup – happens.

The final stir

In a world where differences often divide, events like the Beetroot Soup Workshop show how deliciously simple it can be to connect. A pot of soup, a sprinkle of tradition, a side of rye bread – and suddenly, strangers are friends, and a root vegetable becomes a symbol of unity.

Well done to the Sydney Estonian Society for cooking up such a meaningful (and tasty) event. We’re looking forward to more multicultural feasts and friendly games to come.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Ave Nukki for helpful information and photos!

Sydney Estonian House Cooperative – Opening of Stage 2

The Estonian House Co-Operative Society Board is proud to reveal to our shareholders the renovation and building work we have completed at Eesti Maja for the Sydney Estonian community.

We invite our shareholders and other members of the Estonian community to a Grande Reveal

We will be providing refreshments and christening the new kitchen and bar.

For catering purposes, please register your attendance via TryBooking

Date: Sunday 6th April 2025

Time: 3pm onwards

Looking forward to seeing you there and then!

Limited numbers are available – so book now or you will miss out. Coop Shareholders free entry, Non-members $20.00

Suur tänu,

Grahame Reinthal

Chairman

Estonian House Co-Operative Society Limited