(Clearwisdom.net) On October 11, Falun Gong practitioners from Sydney attended the 48^th Mattara Festival Parade in the Newcastle and Hunter region.

Newcastle is about 100 miles from Sydney, on the coast. According to the organizer of the Mattara Festival, more than 20 thousand people watched the parade. During one hour long parade, practitioners passed out a lot of materials. The Divine Land Marching Band performed in the parade, as well.

Many people learned about the practice and the persecution. Some were shocked by the brutality. Mr. Thorpe, a local citizen explained that he knew about communism, which has caused millions of deaths. He believes that the Chinese Communist Party cannot last very long. He and his wife asked practitioners to teach them the exercises, and invited them to teach the exercises in the local community.