About 400 guests assembled at the Arcadian Ballroom in North Melbourne on Wednesday, November 27 at 6.30pm, honouring with their presence the presentation of the book titled Nick Thyssen: The Story of the Great Innovator to Remember, written by Dr Anastasios M. Tamis.
The President and members of the Arcadians Board of Directors allocated the halls on the first and second floors, where parallel impressive receptions with rich food and drinks took place, before the start of the presentation at 7.20pm in the main hall, the Arcadia Ballroom.
The impressive event was organised by the Australian Institute of Macedonian Studies (AIMS) in collaboration with the family of industrialist and benefactor Nick Thyssen.
The event was honoured with the presence of hundreds of Australian citizens of Greek and Anglo-Celtic origin, leaders of Hellenism and the industrial and commercial world, senior executives of the medical and legal world, dozens of academics, poets, writers, leaders of Greek communities, representatives of Greek Day Schools, CEOs and founders of major Greek and Australian companies, and a host of friends and associates of the family and the author.
Specifically, the event was honoured with the presence of the former Premier of Victoria, Philhellene Jeff Kennett AC; the President of the Panarcadian Association, George Kotsirilos and its entire Board of Directors, including the former President, Yiannis Dimitropoulos; the President of the Federation of Arcadian Associations, Syrmo Papaioannou and her Board; the CEO of the Hellenic Australian Chamber, Fotini Kypraiou; the President of the Greek-Australian Cultural Association, Cathy Alexopoulos OAM; and former President of the Panarcadian and All-Australia Federation of Arcadians, Dimitris Alexopoulos OAM; the President of the Communities and Parishes Council of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, Tony Tsourdalakis; the President of the Federation of Pontian Associations of Australia, Simela Stamatopoulos; the President of Aegialites, George Theodorou; the language director and representative of Oakleigh Grammar School, Natasha Spanos; the Director of Cardiac Surgery at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Professor Dr. James Tatoulis and his wife Elizabeth; a large number of Greek Australian writers, academics, including the great academic of Greek tragedy, Hellenist Arthur McDevitt; Anna Hadjinikolaou; Dimitris Gonis and others; leaders and senior executives of AHEPA who served as its All-Australian Presidents, including Elias Doufas OAM, Petros Patistea OAM; and a host of intellectuals and arts, journalists and radio presenters.
On the Australian side, dozens were the top executives of the Australian industrial world; CEOs of large companies in the field of food production and processing; Presidents of farmers’ and producers’ associations; the representative of the Royal Melbourne Children’s Hospital, Megan Harrington; the President of the Riverina Producers Cooperative NSW, Philip Williamson; the president of the Cricket Team of Moorabbin, Alan Marion; and the President of Mildura Fruit Growers, Don Carrazza.
The presentation ceremony was opened by the Vice President of Arcadians, Betty Dimitropoulou, who after welcoming the attendees introduced the charismatic TV presenter and journalist, John Mangos, Master of Ceremony of the event. Mr Mangos presented the official speakers and representatives of Greek and Australian organisations, stressing the importance of recording the history of Hellenism in Australia. He welcomed the book’s honoured protagonist Mr Thyssen and his wife Maureen, briefly referred to this industrialist whose innovative ideas influenced and shaped the history of food production in Australia, and whose generosity and honesty helped thousands of workers in large urban centres and vast rural Australia to find work, while significantly boosting local production, consistently supporting citrus growers and farmers, by subsidising their products.
Mr Mangos referred to the author of the book, Professor Tamis for the completion of the 32nd book, a historical biography, related to the recording of the history of the Greek Diaspora. He then invited the President of the Panarcadian Association Mr Kotsirilos, to welcome the guests at Melbourne’s Arcadian House.
Mr Kotsirilos spoke with emotion about Mr Thyssen, his epic and pioneer journey in the history of the marketing natural citrus industry, stressed that since he was a child he had connected the Patras Juice Industry with the Peloponnese and Greece; he mentioned the snapshot that from a young age he remembered on the corner of Lonsdale and Swanston streets the parked kiosk that served for the first time in the world fresh orange juice and dozens of Australians enjoyed the natural juice during their work break, that until then they could only enjoy in exclusive restaurants and at home.
This was followed by the inspiring speech of the CEO of HACCI, Fotini Kypraiou, who referred extensively to the book and recorded the life and achievements of Mr Thyssen, referred to the stone years of his life in Greece, the years of war and poverty, the pace of survival when he discovered Australia, the years of struggle, having by his side his wife, Maureen, the years of his progressive success until the years of initial recognition, the Patras Juice Company, to be followed by all his other successful industrial units, a phenomenon of innovation and unique talent, an industrialist who with his innovation and ideas, carved new pages in the history of the food industry in Australia.
This was followed by the speech of Mr Thyssen’s close collaborator and former National Sales Manager, Mr Marion, who with humour and references to various incidents of Mr Thyssen’s career, embossed aspects of his character, his unique ability to deal with the “beasts” of the market, the Australian, British and American directors of multinational companies, his ability to penetrate the innermost minds of his competitors and manage to win trades, with his personal way and genius character.
Mr Williamson, the citrus major producer of Riverina, NSW was the last to welcome the protagonist of the book, referring to the approach with the farmers inaugurated by Mr Thyssen, the innovative way of payment and premium for fruit producers, his generosity and the wonderful and human relations he developed with the producers; this authentic and peculiar Greek, who came penniless to Australia and offered employment to thousands of workers and producers to sustain their families and overcome financial difficulties, due to Mr Thyssen’s generosity.
This was followed by the official launch of Professor Tamis’ book, by former Premier of Victoria, the great Philhellene and visionary, Mr Kennett. The Australian politician referred to the book and the author. He described Mr Thyssen as one of the most important visionaries and certainly one of the most innovative industrialist in the Australian food industry and worldwide. He observed that the title of the book be changed in the next edition because it was correct to refer to it as Nick and Maureen Thyssen, because it was the couple’s cooperation in family and business that led to the triumph, as well as their coupling in family life of almost seventy years that cultivated solid foundations of triumph.
Mr Kennett gave both vivid and anecdotal snapshots of Mr Thyssen’s private life, from the years when both of them found themselves to be supporters, fans and sponsors of Hellas Melbourne. With one of the most lively speeches ever given at book presentations and under constant applause, he gave a celebratory tone to the industrial achievements, innovations and works of Mr Thyssen, while he also praised the author, who recorded and highlighted the Greek Diaspora in Australia, New Zealand and the Eastern Hemisphere, stressing that of the three books that he launched for Mr Tamis, this book that he is presenting to the public today is the one he was able to fully understand and contain. In officially launching the book, the former Premier did not omit to refer to the contribution of Greek immigrants and their children to the Australian economy.
This was followed by the speech of Dr Tamis, which was a eulogy to Mr Thyssen and his wife Maureen. He illustrated references to this child of innovation who, out of the 16 years he lived in Greece, ten were a period of war, poverty and famine. Dr Tamis described Mr Thyssen as a brilliant phenomenon of entrepreneurship, who did not try to copy other people’s successes or do something that already existed, but he presented original ideas which he implemented, found unprecedented production methods, introduced his own machinery or ways of producing and distributing his products, to the extent that his inventions were bought by British and American interests and with his contribution changed, on a global scale, the production marketing and distribution of natural juices, fruit salads, soups and other foods.
Dr Tamis referred to Mr Thyssen’s enormous contribution to the economy of the rural life of fruit growers and farmers in Victoria and NSW and his philanthropic and honest way of dealing with producers, which supported them and his families with employment and good prices, relieving many of them of financial problems. Dr Tamis, as a memorial service, referred to their late only son, Adam George and his huge contribution to the creation of the ProCal Dairies industry in 2003. It was the commercial talent that Adam inherited from his father and the respect for Greek tradition and the enthusiasm of the young man, which led to the production and prevalence of ProCal yogurt in the national market, as the most awarded yogurt.
Particularly touching was the speech of Mr Thyssen, who with obvious enthusiasm welcomed the guests, stressed that Australia should be the biblical land of promise, the country that gave the opportunity to the strong and weak, above races, languages, religions and cultures, to acquire goods and live with happiness. He referred to the difficult years of his childhood. He spoke painfully for his parents, and visibly moved, he took out from his pocket and showed the guests the five pound note, which was the spending money, that his father George gave him, as Nick, 16 years old, climbed the stairs of Kyrenia to discover Australia. The audience erupted in applause, as sobs shook the industrialist’s body.
Mr Thyssen thanked his wife Maureen who, even on their wedding day in October 1961, returned to the shack of their makeshift factory to cut fruit for fruit salads, while still pregnant she continued to be his accomplice and communicant. Mr Thyssen did not fail to thank his eldest daughter Laney, who after the unexpected death of Adam, took over the management of the business and managed to double the turnover in three years. Finally, he thanked the author for his valuable contribution and recording the history of both him and his family, his daughters, Mr Kennett, master of ceremonies Mr Mangos and all those who contributed to the organisation of the book presentation.
The beautiful ceremony ended with the appearance of photographs of him and his family on the big screen under the sounds of the harp playing Greek music by the great and award-winning Harpist, Michael Johnson, OAM.
During the launching, the book was offered gratis to the guests and Thyssen family encouraged the recipients to donate an amount of their choice to Melbourne Children’s Hospital. The fundraising code for the Children Hospital can be found on the AIMS website, for those who received the book and did not manage to participate in the relevant fundraising.
The Board of Directors of AIMS warmly thanked everyone who cooperated decisively and strengthened the effort of organising the event, individuals and organisations, the Thyssen family for the impressive reception organised, and the President and members of the Board of Directors of Kolokotronis for their undivided support to make all their rooms available to AIMS for the event.
The monograph Nick Thyssen: The Story of a Great Innovator to Remember will be available in all Australian bookstores from early December, as well as on the AIMS website. For orders of this book that delights and moves with its descriptions, you can also contact the following emails: george.lioukas@aims.edu.au; Panos.Gogidis@aims.edu.au
