The celebration of International Women’s Day (IWD) organised by AHEPA NSW Inc was a successful tribute to the 190th anniversary of the arrival of the first female Hellene migrants in Australia.
Once AHEPA NSW Inc President Jim Papanagiotou welcomed everyone to the event, the Keynote Speaker, photographer and historian Effy Alexakis took the audience through the experiences of Hellene women in the Antipodes from 1836 to the present drawing on the photographs of her Archive.
Migrants. Grandmothers. Mothers. Aunts. Cousins. Wives. Widows. Workers. Owners. Creators. Professionals. Volunteers. From the earliest days of the Australian Hellenic community, Hellene women contributed to every aspect of community life.
“In the cases of the Hellene women of the 19th and 20th centuries, we know very little detail beyond their names and other such facts,” Ms Alexakis stated.
“The last 40 years, we took interviews from tens of women of different generations. A question which has preoccupied us is who and why Hellenic identity and Hellenic language were lost amongst those early generations of Australian-born Hellenes.”
Speaking in Hellenic, the MC, Dr Panayiotis Diamadis, spoke about the life of Aikaterini Plessos Crummer, the first Hellene woman of the Antipodes. From her birthplace in Epiros, to the ‘liberated besieged’ port of Mesolonghi, to her marriage on the island of Kalamos and to her migration to Sydney, Plessos led a life of adventure, happiness and tragedy, as did so many tens of thousands of Hellene women migrants to Australia.
The tribute event organised by Chapter Antigone of AHEPA NSW Inc was honoured to host the Trade Commissioner of the Consulate-General, Chrysa Prokopaki, members of the media, and representatives of many other community organisations.
The event concluded with Ch Antigone President Jenny Kaporis thanking everyone involved in organising as well as attending and making it a great success.
