About our Church

1976 – 5 Acres of land is bought after the decision was made by the local Macedonian community to build a church and community hall. At a community general meeting, it was decided to name the church – Saint John the Baptist.
1977 – After a few local Macedonians started to ask the question why other communities were being represented at various local festivals and why the Macedonians were not represented, a handful of their Macedonian friends decided to gather their children and start to have dancing practice in their homes and garages.
This was the first inception of a Macedonian dancing group in Geelong. The lessons were based on traditional Macedonian dance steps that everyone knew.
A few years later, the ethnic Macedonian school “Kole Kaninski” was formed, and the dancing group was formally named “Biser”, meaning pure or a string of pearls. Since then, Biser has represented the Geelong Macedonian Community at every single Pako Festa since 1981 and dozens of other local festivals and events.
15 th January 1978 – A ceremony was held where the foundations of the church were blessed.
11 th May 1980 – The church has been completed and blessed by the Bishop Kiril from Macedonia, and father Chedomir Ilievski was appointed the first priest for the new St. John the Baptist Church.
1997 – Biser Dance Group tours the republic of Macedonia as official guests of the government, performaing all over the country over a period of 2 weeks, culminating in performances celebrating the National Macedonian Day – “Ilinden” 2005 – Church is completely renovated and extended upwards with the addition of a steeple.