DIOCESE OF AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND: February 17, 2014
Zabaikal Cossacks Restore a Memorial for a White Army General in Sydney

To mark the centennial of the beginning of World War I, a memorial to General Nikolai Naumov was restored in Sydney, Australia. Attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony was a representative of the Zabaikal region of Russia, Natalia Abramenkova, as reported to Zabmedia.ru by Ataman Simeon Boikov of the Ambassadorial Department of the Zabaikal Cossack Force.

“The restoration of this monument is the work of the Zabaikal Cossack Force. Its restoration marks the 60th anniversary of the general’s death. Natalia Abramenkova thanked us for our contribution towards the development of the Cossack movement in Australia,” said Mr Boikov.

The restoration of the monument and the establishment of a memorial cross were coordinated with the Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney. According to the ataman, a leading role in the matter was played by a 73-year-old Cossack, Mr Georgy Zabolotny, and Esaul Gennady Epov, both of whom live in Australia. “Russia is our Homeland. We are proud of it and are big fans of their athletes,” said Esaul Epov. “As long as we live, the memory of the late warriors of our great Fatherland will live on.”
A funerary litany and consecration of the cross were performed by Hegumen Christopher (Vakhabov) of the Diocese of Australia and New Zealand of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, who serves at the Archbishop’s Church in Croyden (a Sydney neighborhood.)

General Nikolai Naumov was born in 1881 in Orenburg guberniya, Russia. During World War I he served with the 13th and 16th Cossack Regiments. During the Civil War, he fought at the battle of Ufa, in the Zlatoustovsk and Chelyabinsk operations and the Siberian Ice Campaign. From October 1921, he served as the Head of the Orenburg Cossack Brigade of the Provisional Priamursk Government. Later, he emigrated through Primorsk to Harbin, China, and then to Australia. Among the decorations awarded to the major general were the Medal of St Vladimir, 4th Degree, three Orders of St Anna and two Medals of St Stanislav.

During the civil war, the Zabaikal Cossacks actively fought the Bolsheviks under Ataman Gregory Semenov and Baron Roman Ungern. After emigrating, the Cossacks established 20 stanitsas (centers) in Inner Mongolia and Manchuria. During World War II, they suffered repression by the Kwantung Army for their refusal to fight the USSR, and in 1945, they were repressed by the Soviets for “betraying the Homeland.” Some Cossacks were able to find their way to other countries, including Australia.

Over 10,000 descendants of the Zabaikal Cossacks now live in Australia. Ambassadorial Department of the Zabaikal Cossack Stanitsa was created on November 29, 2011. In May, 2013, the center was reorganized as an ambassadorial department.