Melbourne’s largest Greek cultural celebration is back for another epic street party this month from Saturday, October 22 to Sunday, October 23.
This year’s Antipodes Festival will take over Melbourne’s Lonsdale Street for a weekend packed with music, dancing and carnival rides. It is being organised by the Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM).
The festival was originally planned for March 5 and 6 this year but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The event was replaced with a Greek music event last year which featured food trucks and live music to keep the Greek spirit alive despite the setback.
But this year will see the Antipodes Festival back with a bang with community, traditional and contemporary groups coming together to present and perform.
With over 90 stalls, three free entertainment stages and roving performers, children’s rides and activities, as well as multiple bars and an array of mouth-watering Greek culinary delights, there will be something for the entire family to enjoy.
The Antipodes festival holds the title of Melbourne’s longest-running Greek festival. Launched in 1987, Antipodes, or the Lonsdale Street Greek Festival, has been a rich showcase of Hellenic arts and culture for delighted audiences.
While Alex Perry has built one of the most well-known international Australian brands that has expanded into multiple department stores worldwide, there was still a time he didn’t consider himself “cool enough” for the Australian market.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Perry opened up about his struggles assimilating into his own local market right here in Australia.
“As it turns out, nobody wanted it (my clothes) here,” Perry said.
“It didn’t work in Myer. It didn’t work in DJs, and I kept thinking, what is wrong with my clothes? It just wasn’t right for Australia.”
“I was never the one to watch, or the cool one, it was always all about these other designers. But I kept thinking, ‘I make really good clothes and I think they are really beautiful’.
“So I started to look at what I was doing and I thought ‘you know what, I think I am pretty cool’, but it is in a glamorous way, not what cool is defined as here.”
The renowned designer also mentioned that he was reluctant to open up his designs to the international market in 2000, following all these struggles in Australia.
As one of our most popular international designers, Perry is now carried by more than 280 upscale independent and department stores worldwide.
“We are in every single luxury department store in the world that I have ever wanted to be stocked in,” he said.
“Bergdorf’s, Neiman Marcus, Selfridges, Browns. I thought it was impossible 15 years ago.
Perry is now dressing some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry, which is a far cry from his first big celebrity, which was Noni Hazelhurst for the Logies.
From Heidi Klum to Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian to name a few, a proud moment for the designer was undoubtedly seeing Lady Gaga on the cover of Variety Magazine in one of his pieces.
But he doesn’t let that stop him from working harder and harder.
“I will be on the couch watching Netflix in my pyjamas and something will pop up and we will see Lady Gaga in Alex Perry,” he said.
“I still get a buzz from it. I do for a minute. I don’t hang onto it. I see it and I get really proud and everyone at work loves it. Then it goes away.
“I feel like a superstar for the day, then I wait for the next one.”
In the modern world we have an image of what ancient Greek women were like – demure, modest, house-bound. Not the type to excel in sports or physical combat, and certainly not against elite men.
When we think of ancient sports, we recall the celebrated Marathon runner, Pheidippides, whose heroic run between Athens and Sparta in 490 BCE initiated the most famous footrace in the world. Even today, images of modern athletes are often male with physiques reminiscent of the idealised Greek male form. However, Greek mythical women have also left a legacy in the history of women’s sport and combat – a legacy that continues today.
The Boeotian princess Atalanta was renowned for her speed, skill and dexterity. A far cry from the image of the domesticated housewife, the athletic heroine had no interest in marrying, although she attracted many suitors.
Sculpture of Atalanta running towards the viewer, dated c.1703 AD. Located in Paris, Louvre Museum, Inv. MR 1804. (Wikicommons)
When Atalanta’s father forced her to marry, she challenged her suitors to a footrace. The winner could have her hand in marriage, but any man who lost would be killed. Despite these dangerous terms, many men took up the challenge. She outstripped them all with the exception of Melanion, who won by trickery. He dropped golden apples belonging to the goddess Aphrodite on the racecourse and outran Atalanta when she stopped to pick them up. The only man who could beat Atalanta had to rely on the help of a goddess to do so.
Atalanta was not just a fast runner, she was also exceptionally strong. In fact, Atalanta’s name – which means ‘equal in weight’ – likely refers to her strength and success in contests with men. The ancient writer Psuedo-Appollodorus (2nd Century AD) tells us that Atalanta won a wrestling match against Peleus, the legendary King of Pythia and father of the famous hero Achilles. This was a famous scene in ancient Greek vase-paintings, depicting Atalanta and Peleus wrestling for the prize of the Calydonian boar skin, a monster which Atalanta helped to hunt and kill.
Black-figure hydria c.550 BC depicting Atalanta wresting the hero Peleus. Located in Munich, Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Inv. 596. (Wikicommons)
Through an athletic prowess that rivalled legendary male heroes, Atalanta challenged the idea of sport as a strictly masculine domain. Her legacy inspires women in sport today, as seen in the name of the professional women’s running team Atalanta NYC. She remains a role model for contemporary elite female athletes more generally, as they – like Atalanta – push past societal barriers to excel in the sporting arena.
While Atalanta’s legacy lies in her athleticism, the ancient Amazons are renowned for another traditionally masculine quality – their military proficiency. Like Atalanta with her disdain towards marriage, the Amazon women rejected domestic duties and patriarchal norms entirely, living in all-female societies where they devoted their time to hunting and war training.
Red-figure kylix c.510–500 BC depicting an Amazon with sword and shield. Located in Amsterdam, Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Inv. 8953. (Wikicommons).
Tales of the Amazons – often portrayed with weapons and armour – were based off the Greeks’ observations of real warrior women such as Scythian cavalrywomen, highlighting the very long history of women participating in the military realm.
In ancient Greek myth and legend, the Amazons were a formidable tribe of elite cavalrywomen, whose skill in armed combat granted them the title ‘equals of men’. They fought extended campaigns where they defeated countless Greek male warriors. They only met their match when they went up against the most renowned heroes like Achilles, Theseus and Heracles. When Amazon queens fought the ultimate Greek heroes, they put up a formidable fight to the end, granting them heroic status for their unflinching courage on the battlefield.
Black-figure amphora c.520BC depicting the Amazon Queen Penthesilea fighting Achilles. Located in Amsterdam, Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Inv. 1502. (Wikicommons)
With women increasingly taking on combat roles in the armed forces, the legacy of the mythic Amazons and their real historical counterparts continues today, showing that with training and perseverance women can excel in the military sphere.
Ancient Greek heroines like Atalanta and the Amazons challenge the idea that sports and warfare are solely male domains. The athletic and military prowess of the female body is not a modern phenomenon – it has been celebrated for thousands of years. Women today need only to look back to the ancient Greeks to find the inspiration they need to succeed in the modern world.
Biography:
Connie Skibinski is a PhD (Classics) candidate at The University of Newcastle, having completed an honours degree in Ancient History/Ancient Greek at The University of Sydney. Her doctoral research examines the complex and multifaceted portrayal of the Amazons in ancient literature and art, and analyses how Amazon mythology has been reconfigured from the Medieval era to the twenty-first century. Connie was interviewed by ABC Radio National to discuss the portrayal of the Amazons in ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ (2021) when the movie debuted and is currently writing a book chapter on the Amazons in ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’.
Katikies Santorini and Mykonos have taken first place in the Readers’ Choice Awards for 2022 by Conde Nast Traveller as top preference for Greece.
The luxury resorts were voted for by over 240,000 readers who ranked their travel experiences around the world, providing a complete picture of the best destinations that they visited during the year.
The Readers’ Choice Awards are known as the oldest and most prestigious award in the travel industry, backed by the legacy of its publishing house, Conde Nast.
South Australian taxi drivers are set to take home more pay with the State Government today authorising a six per cent fare increase.
The increases, which will be the first for the industry since 2016, will come into operation at the end of this month and are designed to address the financial shortfall taxi drivers now face at the hands of rideshare services and the rising cost of living.
Based on estimates, the cost of a 5km trip within metropolitan Adelaide will increase by 90 cents.
Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Tom Koutsantonis said the increase in maximum taxi fares would support the taxi industry by increasing the revenue-generating capacity of taxi operators to meet overheads.
“The industry has made a compelling case that they are struggling to meet running costs and attract drivers – with the problems they’ve faced exacerbated by increased fuel prices experienced in 2022,” he said.
“Taxi drivers have not seen their take-home pay increased for six years – their wages have languished.
“This is one of SA’s lowest-paid sectors and the State Government is obliged to give these workers a chance to earn a fair fare.”
Tom Koutsantonis MP outside Parliament House. Photo: Matt Turner
The increase is expected to have minimal impact on the South Australian Transport Subsidy Scheme, under which access to taxi travel for people with disabilities is subsidised, currently up to a maximum metered fare of $40.
Additionally, the maximum country taxi fare remains set at 20 per cent higher than regulated metropolitan fares.
As a part of large-scale restoration plans, the Corinth Canal has closed for the second phase of these works to make it safe for navigation.
The 130-year-old canal operated safely and without interruption through the summer and recorded its best performance in the last 20 years.
From the day the canal reopened on July 4th, 2022, through October 3rd, a total of 6,001 vessels from 70 different nations sailed through it.
“This proves the importance of the canal’s operation as well as its crucial role for maritime traffic, tourism growth and the upgrading of the area,” said the Canal Company.
The 32-million-euro restoration project consists of two stages. The first comprised cleaning the canal and working to relieve the slopes, and the second involved stabilising the slopes’ bases.
Archbishop Makarios of Australia received the new Consul General of Greece in Sydney, Yannis Mallikourtis, at the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia in Sydney on Thursday.
The Archbishop welcomed the newly appointed Consul General to Australia and wished him every success in his role.
This was followed by a constructive discussion focusing on the needs of the Greek diaspora in Australia and further strengthening the ties between the diaspora and Greece.
New Consul General of Greece in Sydney, Yannis Mallikourtis with Archbishop Makarios of Australia.
Both agreed to maintain the close and good cooperation of the Greek Consulate in Sydney with the Archdiocese.
The meeting was attended by His Grace Bishop Bartholomew of Charioupolis, Father Christophoros Krikelis and Archdeacon Athenagoras Karakonstantakis.
During the visit, Mallikourtis also toured the Holy Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary in Redfern and was informed about its history, before touring the Archdiocese, where he met and talked with staff.
Greece’s Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had a heated exchange on Thursday during a dinner for the leaders attending the inaugural meeting of the European Political Community (EPC) in Prague.
The pan-European meeting at the capital of the Czech Republic brings together leaders from 44 nations of the continent, including the 27 member states of the European Union.
During his speech at the Thursday dinner, President Erdogan attacked Greece, maintaining that Athens is raising tension in the region with provocative actions, Ekathimerini reported.
Attendees, including Mitsotakis and Erdogan, pose for a photograph at the Informal EU 27 Summit and Meeting within the European Political Community at Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic, October 6, 2022. Photo: RTErdogan Twitter.
Taking to the floor immediately after him, Prime Minister Mitsotakis directly addressed his Turkish counterpart, stating that Turkey must stop questioning the sovereignty of Greece’s Aegean islands.
He also called on the Turkish President to refrain from further provocations, calling for communication and dialogue without extreme rhetoric, “as responsible leaders do.”
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Erdogan said Greece, alongside other nations at the Prague Summit, were waiting for Turkey to restart the dialogue with Greece.
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan at a press conference at Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic, October 6, 2022. Photo: RTErdogan Twitter.
“Their entire policy is based on lies, they are not honest. We have nothing to discuss with Greece,” he said.
Erdogan said Athens understood Ankara’s message when he said “we may suddenly arrive one night” last month- a comment that Greek and other Western officials have condemned as a threat to a neighbouring state.
In a tweet posted this morning, he wrote: “We see that some member countries of the Union prefer to escalate tensions instead of cooperation and good neighbourliness with Turkey.”
“Turkey has no eyes on the territory and sovereignty of any country. We are struggling to protect the interests of our country and the Turkish Cypriots.”
Search and rescue operations are underway in the west and east of Greece, off the islands of Lesvos and Kythera, after refugees desperate to reach Europe were involved in two separate disasters just hours apart.
Off the coast of Lesvos, an over-loaded boat believed to have been carrying 40 passengers capsized on Thursday. According to official reports, the Greek Coast Guard has so far rescued 10 people and recovered 18 bodies: 16 young African women, a man and a boy.
Rescued migrants receive hospital treatment on the Greek island of Lesvos following the deadly sinking of a dinghy carrying migrants, on Thursday, October 10, 2022. AP Photo/Panagiotis Balaskas.
Based on preliminary investigations, it has been said the dinghy had set sail from the Turkish coast.
At least five people are believed to have died in a separate incident off the island of Kythera a few hours later.
The vessel, ultimately bound for Italy, is believed to have been carrying about 95 refugees tightly crammed before it was overcome by gale-force winds, struck rocks and sank. 80 people have been rescued, of whom at least 13 were taken to Kythera’s hospital.
Migrants, most of them from Afghanistan, gather at an old school used as a temporary shelter on the island of Kythera, southern Greece, Thursday, October 6, 2022.AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis.
“These are both very difficult operations … due to the strong winds which have been raging relentlessly on both sides of the coasts since last night,” Greek coastguard spokesperson, Nikos Kokkalas, said.
Speaking with the national broadcaster, ERT, he said the survivors from the Lesbos wreck are believed to be from African countries, whilst those from the Kythera wreck are believed to be from Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq.
He added that the Kythera boat had been “completely destroyed” in winds of up to 101km/h and that passengers screamed for help as the boat sank.
Speaking with AP News, Afghan survivor, Abdul Ghafar Amur said: “The waves was too much high, about 6 metres.”
“We tried to save our lives, but most of our friends, they have died,” he said.
The survivors managed to cling to the rocks and nearby locals poured out to help pull them to safety with ropes.
“All the residents here went down to the harbour to try and help,” island resident Martha Stathaki told The Associated Press.
“We could see the boat smashing against the rocks and people climbing up those rocks to try and save themselves. It was an unbelievable sight.”
Amur said he paid smugglers $9,000 to be transported from Turkey to Italy, which matched accounts by other survivors.
Authorities and local residents save a migrant during a large-scale rescue operation on the island of Kythera, early Thursday, October 6, 2022. Photo: Ippolytos Prekas/kythera.news
Kythera is 400 kilometres west of Turkey and on a route often used by smugglers to bypass Greece and head directly to Italy.
Athens has since blamed both tragedies on Ankara’s unwillingness to implement the agreements it has signed with the European Union to prevent migrant boats from reaching European shores.
“As long as Turkey does not apply the laws, as long as it backs traffickers, as long as it does not honour the agreements it has signed, we will unfortunately also be faced with such tragedies,” government spokesperson Giannis Oikonomou told journalists at a regular briefing on Thursday.
Early this morning, Greece’s Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis tweeted: “I want to express my sadness at the tragic loss of human life in 2 separate shipwrecks in the Aegean, despite the heroic efforts of the Greek Coast Guard.”
Αλλά και για να εξουδετερώσουμε εντελώς τους διακινητές που εκμεταλλεύονται αθώους ανθρώπους, απελπισμένους ανθρώπους, οι οποίοι προσπαθούν να φτάσουν στην ευρωπαϊκή ήπειρο με σκάφη που σαφώς δεν είναι αξιόπλοα.
“It is time to really work together, in a more meaningful way, to avoid such incidents from happening again.
“But also to completely neutralize traffickers who take advantage of innocent people, desperate people, who are trying to reach the European continent in boats that are clearly not seaworthy,” he added.
Greece’s official entry in the Best International Feature Film category at the 2023 Oscars, Magnetic Fields, will be screening at this year’s Greek Film Festival in Sydney.
The 2022 Greek Film Festival, which is being presented by the Greek Orthodox Community of NSW (GOCNSW) and the Greek Festival of Sydney, will be held at Leichardt’s Palace Norton Street Cinema from October 13 – 23.
People who watch Magnetic Fields are in for a ride as film director, Yorgos Goussis, and cast members, Elena Topalidou and Antonis Tsiotsiopoulos, take them on a 78 minute cinematic journey.
Film director, Yorgos Goussis.
The film tells the story of Elena, a young woman who decides to change course on a whim and finds herself on a ferry to an island. Antonis is on that same ferry, on his way to the island cemetery where he hopes to bury a metallic box.
When his car breaks down, Elena offers him a ride to a hotel and then again, the next day to the cemetery, where they are told the box can’t be left there for bureaucratic reasons.
Having enjoyed each other’s company and random banter, they decide to keep wandering around the island in search of a good place to bury the mysterious box.
The film was a Greek limited–release box office hit and won more than 10 awards at the Thessaloniki International film Festival and the Hellenic Film Academy’s Iris awards.
Reviews of the filmhave described it as a “crafty scientific experiment” or one that “speaks directly to the viewer.”
Magnetic Fields will be among twelve narrative features and three documentaries to feature at the Sydney Greek Film Festival this year, including The Greek Bar Jacketand Echoes of the Past.
The Greek Film Festival, presented by the Greek Orthodox Community of NSW and the Greek Festival of Sydney, runs from Thursday, October 13 to Sunday, October 23. Screenings will be at Palace Norton Street, 99 Norton Street, Leichhardt, NSW, 2040.
