In 2016, Maria Michalik nee Mazowita told the story of how Vasyl, her father, came to Australia first and settled in Chilwell. Her mother, Anna, followed with two boys, and in the following year, Maria was born, and 6 years later, her sister was born.
In Bell Park, her father built a bungalow at the back of their property: there were two blocks, one and a half was all vegetables, farm animals, and slowly, on the rest of the blocks, they began to build their own home, and only when Maria was in high school did they move out of the bungalow. Her father, Vasyl Mazowita, was involved in the church. He sang in the choir and he sang the Epistle at Holy Family Catholic church and later at the Ukrainian Catholic Church, Protection of the Mother of God. In those days, she commented you had to fast for 3 hours before communion and she always remembers how lunch was served late. Maria remembers how the whole Ukrainian community helped to build their own Ukrainian Church in Bell Park. Maria articulated how she and her siblings meet at Easter and Christmas and attend Ukrainian Church; this is their family reunion and a time to remember their parents and their own heritage.
Two Twigs 