The Pan-Lemnian Organisation of Australia hosted its annual dance on Saturday, January 21 and Sunday, January 22 at The Lemnos Club in Sydney.
The Lemnos Club is the home of The Lemnian Association of New South Wales “Maroula” Club Ltd at Belmore in Sydney’s south west.
The dinner dance saw Lemnians from across Australia, including Melbourne, Adelaide and Canberra, attend.
It was a pleasant and emotional weekend for Lemnians. It started with a Welcome Breakfast for interstate visitors on Saturday morning, followed by a Pan-Lemnian meeting with representatives of associations from Victoria, South Australia and NSW.
The dinner dance on Saturday night was attended by close to 500 people, with a lot of second, third and even fourth generation Lemnians and their friends in attendance.
There was also a number of traditional Lemnian folklore songs and dances by Paroula’s Greek Dancing Group. Tassos Lambros and his dad also performed live music on the night.
On Sunday, a luncheon was held at The Lemnos Club.
During the luncheon, attendees watched the film Kehagias: Man of the Land, which was produced by George Komakis, who resides in Lemnos.
At the luncheon, the Lemnian Association of NSW also honoured past Presidents of the Pan-Lemnian Organisation of Australia including Alex Galelis (1987 – 1989, 1993 – 1995); Angelo Lavdaras (1999 – 2001); Con Havas (2013 – 2014); Penelope Panagiotopoulos (2019 – 2022); and Petros Skapetis (2017 – 2018).
The Presidency of The Pan-Lemnian Organisation of Australia is rotated by the three member states of NSW, Victoria and SA every two years. Due to COVID-19, the presidency has remained with Sydney for the past four years with Ms Panagiotopoulos as President.
The Presidency was meant to return to SA this year but they expressed their wish for it to remain in the hands of NSW for the new two years (2023 – 2024).
History of the Pen-Lemanian Organisation of Australia:
The Pan–Lemnian Organisation of Australia was the idea of a Lemnian living in Melbourne, Stratos Sarantis, in 1984. He and the then-President of The Lemnian Association of Victoria, Alex Aggelidis, travelled to Sydney to meet with the then-President of The Lemnian Association of NSW, Jim Halamandaris, and the then-Secretary of the Association, Alex Galelis.
They thought it was important to form this organisation so Lemnians from different states of Australia could meet on common ground once a year.
In 1985, the first Lemnian gathering or picnic took place in a park in Wagga Wagga, halfway in distance roughly between Melbourne and Sydney. It was a one day event. Seven full coaches arrived from Sydney and 10 from Melbourne. It was a very emotional day for Lemnians, most of whom had not seen each other since they left the Greek island of Lemnos.
From there followed a more formal gathering in 1986 in Melbourne’s Albert Park. It was there that The Pan-Lemnian Organisation of Australia was formed and its constitution was also written. The Lemnian Association of SA also joined the organisations and later, the Lemnian Association of the ACT. The first President was Alex Aggelidis from Melbourne.
In 1987, the gathering was held in Sydney and the following year in Adelaide. Since then, until our last gathering in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Pan-Lemnian Organisation of Australia has been meeting yearly at each of the three states, in turn.
In January 2024, members of the organisation hope to again meet in Melbourne.
