By Malek Chalhoub Lebanese food has never been only about what is placed on the table. It is a memory made edible: the scent of garlic warming in olive oil, the sound of leaves being rolled by hand, and the familiar instruction to add “just enough” of an ingredient whose quantity no one ever thought to measure. Our recipes have survived because they were shared. They travelled from village kitchens to family homes across the world, passed from grandparents to parents and…
By Malek Chalhoub WLCU Sydney is proud to announce that entries are now open for the 2026 Dr Charles Malik Literary Awards, an annual celebration of writing, imagination and the enduring relationship between Lebanon and its people across the world. Named in honour of one of Lebanon’s most distinguished intellectuals and diplomats, the Awards invite writers to explore Lebanon not merely as a place on a map, but as a history, an inheritance, an idea and a living presence carried across generations.…
By Malek Chalhoub On Friday, 14 August, WLCU Sydney will host The Lucky Country, a special luncheon celebrating Australia, its people and the opportunities it has provided to generations who have come from every corner of the world to call it home. The occasion will feature the Hon. Tony Abbott AC, Australia’s 28th Prime Minister and author, in conversation with Dr Shane Geha, President of WLCU Sydney. Rather than a political discussion, the afternoon will offer a warm and thoughtful reflection on…
By Charbel Moujalli In the Nabatieh district of Southern Lebanon, a ruined fortress stands on the lip of a cliff that falls some three hundred metres to the water below. I looked upon it myself in 2018. Unlike its surrounds, the castle struck me as rather unassuming. The Crusaders who held it in the twelfth century called it Beaufort – the “beautiful fortress”. To locals, it is known as ‘Qal‘at al Shaqif’, the Castle of the High Rock. A stronghold married so…
By Paul Shalhoub – VP and Chief Editor Our new signature event “From Tyre to Tripoli – a Phoenician Boat Journey” debuted on 10th October 2025. Our sold-out event with 450 guests was universally lauded as our greatest event ever – superb food, Lebanese dancing, insights into our shared Phoenician history by an archaeologist, opera by sopranist Amelia Farrugia, attendance by the WLCU World President and World Secretary General (both visiting from France), the introduction of the Phoenician God: Adonis (courtesy of…
By Marcus Khoudair You would see that even when we go far, we speak to you. We write to you. We dream in your geography. We say “back home” and mean you. We say “the village” and mean you. We say “I miss the sea” and mean the very stretch of your coastline that knows our footsteps. We say “I want to be buried there” and mean your soil, specifically yours, not just any holy ground, yours. From ‘When the Cedars Wept’ by…
By Malek Chalhoub “Lebanon is the place that keeps burying its dead and still refuses to bury its future.” When Pope Leo stepped onto Lebanese soil, something shifted that no headline could fully capture. It was not about protocol, nor spectacle, nor the formal language of state visits. It was about a nation that has grown used to carrying its pain quietly suddenly feeling seen again. Lebanon did not greet him with perfection. It greeted him with truth. With crowded streets,…
On 8 May 2025 the World Lebanese Cultural Union (WLCU) of Sydney in conjunction with the WLCU Sydney Foundation Ltd, presented its Annual HSC Distinguished Achievers Awards to our Australian Lebanese youth who have achieved outstanding results in the 2024 Higher School Certificate (HSC) and International Baccalaureate as well as in their extracurricular activities, including in community service, leadership, sports and the arts. The awards event was held in the spectacular function room at the offices of EG in Governor Phillip Tower in…
By Dr Shane Geha The Phoenicians The Phoenicians were an ancient Semitic-speaking civilization that emerged around 3200 BCE along the eastern Mediterranean coast, primarily in what is now Lebanon, as well as parts of Syria and northern Israel. Renowned for their maritime prowess, they developed advanced shipbuilding techniques and established extensive trade networks across the Mediterranean. Their most notable contributions include the spread of the Phoenician alphabet, which influenced many modern writing systems, and the establishment of colonies, the most famous being Carthage…