Sirje Rivers: My Estonian House is My People
Of course the House was a source of pride — celebrated in many Houses around the world, and it was good to say: the Melbourne House is the most beautiful, the Melbourne House is the largest in the world. But that was the post-war generation's house. The house of my imagination would have had a sauna on the lower floor, and from the third floor you could have stepped out to a rooftop bar overlooking the city. The next Melbourne Estonian House will be to the taste of a new generation, as the old House has now been sold — the memories remain.
The "new" Estonians did not join in the work of the Estonian House. The "middle generation" Estonians born in Australia went their own way. My People were the "post-war" ones, whose circle I stepped into when I settled in Australia — they were the doers, the leaders, the carriers and drivers of Estonianism. But times began to change. In the early years, the guest lists held thousands of "home" Estonians who were received at the Melbourne Estonian House.
My connections to Estonia were fresh — the first tourists, performers, politicians, and athletes knew to reach the Estonian House through me. I served on the board of the Melbourne Estonian Society and the board of the Australian Estonian Societies League. The "new" Estonians began to arrive, and a Friday Social Club was created for socialising, down in the bar rooms.
The more all types and groups of Estonians came together and interacted, the more interesting our Estoninism was. Choirs, dance groups, language and play groups and classes, three generations part of my life by today.
There has been much mingling and many ventures over the years.
My Estonian House is My People.
The most influencial ones for me were Bruno Metsar. Arvi Vainomäe. Sir Arvi Parbo, irreplaceable in my heart. Each of them gave me an opportunity and an experience in their own way.
It is thanks to these three names that I have MY Estonian House.
Bruno, as chair of the Melbourne society, gave me free rein to organise and offered his support at a time when many others were not yet open to performers from "home" Estonia.
Arvi Vainomäe, as AESL chair, recommended me to represent AESL in Washington. We valued each other's free-ranging thinking — our discussions were strategic, intellectual.
The crowning moment with Arvi Parbo was the creation of a joint brochure, published to mark the 100th anniversary of the Melbourne Estonian House and of Estonianism in Melbourne. Through years of collaboration with people of great deeds and achievements, I gained the charged energy of the experience — Just Do It.
As we know, nothing disappears, it only transforms from one form into another. My Estonian House — the cornerstone of my Estonianism. My People — my milestones, the markers and shapers of my journey. How could anything disappear that has become part of what I am today?
Sirje Rivers, May 2026
