SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, September 24, 2006: Sri Venkateswara Temple, Helensburg, Australia, about 50kms south of Sydney has been celebrating Ganesha Visarjana since 1991. This year the festival, celebrated on September 3, brought over 4,000 people from near and far (“near” by Australian standards is a radius of 500kms). In Sydney, the observance was started in 1996 by a small group of nine families. It has grown in three years to over 1,000 families worshiping Ganesha. This year’s celebration was held at the Whitlam Leisure Center in Liverpool, in west Sydney. A full program consisted of Ganesha clay-modelling activities, classical music, dance and sangeetam programs, and a free dinner was served to 2,500 people. Sathyanarayana Puja was performed on Sunday followed by a tabloid presentation of the Ramayana and Bhagavatha presented by 80 children. Swami Damadoranand of the Vedanta Center presided over the function.
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