(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Dafa practitioners from Southeast Queensland, Australia took part in the Queensland Multicultural Festival in Brisbane's beautiful Roma Street Parklands. The event was sponsored by the Queensland government. Organizers made several large floating pink lotuses with lights that were placed in the lake behind the practitioners' gazebos. This was the largest multicultural festival to date sponsored by the Premier's office, and an estimated 30,000 people attended the activities.
 Learning the exercises |
 Learning the facts about Falun Gong |
 Learning to make paper lotus flowers |
As the weather was sunny and hot, two gazebos were set up -- one for demonstrating and teaching the exercises and the other for providing reading materials about Falun Gong and showing people how to make origami lotus flowers. Photos were hung depicting the practice of Falun Dafa in China prior to the persecution as well as around the world, including many colorful parades and performances practitioners attended in Queensland.
One stipulation of participation was that practitioners could not have any displays or handouts mentioning the persecution, as this was a day essentially designated for entertainment. However, practitioners could still speak to people about the situation in China, which was found to be an excellent way to clarify the facts. After people witnessed and experienced the peaceful energy of practitioners, the exercises, and the beauty of Dafa, they were truly shocked to learn about the persecution. The outpouring of support from people of all different nationalities clearly demonstrated the universality of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance."
Practitioners were given a prime location where nearly everyone attending the festival had to pass by. Practitioners made many paper lotus flowers before the event to hand out and also brought a large quantity of different colored paper so that people could learn to make their own. So much interest was shown that the brochures ran out and more needed to be photocopied. Near the end of the day, even the paper for making the lotus flowers was all used up. Many people learned the exercises on the spot, including a number of children. Adults and children from African countries seemed particularly drawn to Dafa and some spent many hours with practitioners.
The response to Dafa from the multicultural community in Southeast Queensland was quite incredible. This demonstrated how people of all races and beliefs were awakening and wanted to know more about Dafa.
Brisbane's largest newspaper, The Courier Mail, in an article titled "Festival caters for all tastes," stated in the first line: The sign on the Falun Dafa meditation tent summed up the spirit driving yesterday's inaugural Queensland Multicultural Festival: "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance."