There was a flurry at the Kastellorizian Association of Victoria (KAV) on Sunday, August 31 as people, young and old, squeezed into the clubrooms on Dorcas Street to celebrate a century of Kazzies in Victoria.
Aromas of katoumaria, one of the island’s great sweets, drifted through the air, while women on the KAV committee wore silk tsilaniotika scarves: richly patterned mandilia once worn in Kastellorizo and rooted in Cyprus.
In the kitchen, KAV Secretary Yvette Salvaris kept the food flowing, alongside her husband Paul Coker, who hails from French-Mauritius.
“It shows how their story doesn’t just belong to Kastellorizians, it connects outward, too,” he said, while sharing anecdotes of his trip to the island two years ago. “It made both of us more passionate to be involved.”
The buzz inside the clubhouse made it seem, for a moment, as though the heyday of Greek immigration had been conjured back to life, the days when Melbourne’s Kastellorizian Brotherhood first emerged to support new arrivals and continued to thrive as families established themselves.
“They had a vision,” said President Nik Spartels, whose family has collectively presided over 25 of the Association’s 100 years. His father, former KAV president Michael Spartels, was always a huge inspiration. “He’s been the backbone, and I didn’t want his efforts to go to waste.”
Purchasing the Dorcas Street building in December 1967 for $23,000 was, he said, an act of foresight. “As someone in construction, I can tell you, they don’t make places like this anymore. We keep getting offers but we’ll never sell it. It belongs to the community: it’s our past, present and future.”
Once a neighbourhood cinema, the clubrooms have become a true repository of memory. Within these walls, weddings have been celebrated, babies christened, funds raised, and countless Kazzie dances held late into the night. More recently, wakes. “It’s not just bricks and mortar,” Spartels added. “It’s the heart of our community.”
Among the highlights of Sunday’s program — Kazzie Reflections, supported by the City of Port Phillip — was a striking exhibition curated by Gina Gekas. She spent months gathering heirlooms and stories from families and even took a week off work in the final stretch.
“I’m not a curator by trade,” she confessed, “but I put my heart into this. These are memories woven into the fabric of our community.”
On display were intricately embroidered costumes handed down through generations, religious icons, and jewellery that spoke of Kastellorizo’s long reputation as a trading crossroads. One case held handwritten minutes from early club meetings, written in katharevousa, a reminder of the educated calibre of the Brotherhood’s earliest members and their determination to preserve tradition.
“The early arrivals weren’t your typical post-war migrants,” Gekas noted. “They were often highly educated, worldly people who brought with them not just resilience, but sophistication.”
A 1928 alien passenger document belonging to Dimitri Paltoglou told another story: his nationality was recorded as Italian, a reminder of the island’s turbulent history under Ottoman, French, and Italian rule before finally joining Greece in 1947.
That resilience was a recurring theme throughout the day.
Connie Gregory, whose mother migrated from Kastellorizo at age two, reflected: “Even under centuries of foreign rule, we always knew who we were. Kastellorizo may be far away, but it lives in us.”
Standing proudly beside a little boy’s costume, Christine Dimer, President of the Senior Citizens’ Club for 20 years, added: “My father wore it, then my son, and now my grandson. These clothes tell a story.”
For many, the exhibition was the closest they had come to setting foot on the island itself. Spartels remembered his first visit as a young man: “I walked the same alleys my grandparents once did, and my hair stood on end. That’s when I realised: this is where it all started. I came back knowing I had to keep this alive for my kids, and their kids.”
His daughter Diana, representing the next generation of leadership, echoed his words. “I’ve been involved my whole life because of my dad. Now I see how important it is. I’d love to see more youth engaged, maybe even start a youth committee.” She reflected that the very smallness and remoteness of Kastellorizo builds “a unique bond among its Australian community.”
Still, the absence of younger voices was hard to ignore. The children’s corner, set with colouring pages of family trees and Greek words — sat hauntingly empty. “I won’t lie, I worry about our future,” Gekas admitted, glancing nervously at the vacant tables.
At 4pm, the lights dimmed for the premiere of a documentary by Katherine Gekas, Gina’s daughter. Having known Kastellorizo only through the stories of older Kazzie members, she pieced together a film capturing oral histories, masquerade parties inspired by the moon landing, Christmas gatherings, and even one of the first debates held after the Dorcas Street purchase in 1967: “Topic: Would you marry a Kazzie?”
The film opened with a surprise message from Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, congratulating the Association on its centenary and praising the Kastellorizians’ contribution to Australia’s multicultural fabric. Faces in the crowd lit up with pride.
Despite being a small island, Kastellorizo has always punched above its weight. As Spartels told The Greek Herald: “We are all Greeks in the end. But being here in Australia, we are more established because we were among the first to come. A lot of Kastellorizians have done well, because by the time others arrived in the 1950s, we were already established.”
The Association’s emblem itself tells the story: an anchor for seafarers, a cross for faith, and a heart, introduced in Australia, to represent love of the island and belonging. It has evolved over the years, and will continue to do so, but its motto remains firm: Faith, Hope and Charity.
Spartels summed it up: “We may be modernised now, but our values are the same. That’s what will carry us into the next 100 years.”
*All photos copyright The Greek Herald / Mary Sinanidis.
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