The Greek Festival of Sydney, in collaboration with the Chau Chak Wing Museum and the Office of Economic and Commercial Affairs of Greece at the Consulate General of Greece in Sydney, presented a special event dedicated to the “Sacred Tree: Olive” followed by tasting and sampling on Thursday, 16 May 2024.
Taking inspiration from the multiple symbolism of the Olive, archaeologist Dr Tamara Lewit from the University of Melbourne delivered a lecture on the night titled ‘Liquid Gold: Olive oil in the ancient world.’ The lecture highlighted the historical and archaeological importance of the olive in the Mediterranean region.
This was followed by a speech from the Trade Commissioner of Greece in Australia, Chrysa Prokopaki, on the importance of the olive and its products in the modern Greek economy, culture and identity.
As an interval on the above two speeches, the winner of 1st Greek Youth Creative Arts Competition in the category of Creative Writing aged 19-24, Emily Papagianopoulos, also passionately read out her winning written text entitled “Olive Oil and Cloud Watching.”
The event concluded with tasting and sampling of Greek and Australian products with olive as their main ingredient. Among the Greek companies that offered samples for this purpose were the following: “Archetypon Olive Groves,” “Onar Wellness,” “Lymperis Estate Askra” and “Ophellia – Grolives.”
