Monique Koutoufides, the 16-year-old daughter of Carlton footy legend Anthony, will grace the runway at next month’s Melbourne Fashion Festival, the Herald Sun reports.
The Year 11 student will walk for designer Aron Katona, making her first-ever major appearance in the hopes of pursuing a professional modeling career.
Carlton legend Anthony Koutoufides and his model daughter Monique. Picture: Jason Edwards.
“I really enjoy it. I love all those Victoria’s Secret models — Gigi (Hadid), Kendall (Jenner), Bella (Hadid).”
Anthony, who also has two sons with his wife Susie, said he’s proud of his “beautiful daughter” who has signed with modelling agency Chadwick.
“I love that part of modelling that she keeps fit and healthy and it’s good for her mindset too,” Anthony, who runs health and fitness business Kouta Fit, said.
“I’m proud of all my kids, they’re all really happy and doing what they enjoy.”
Anthony, known as a Greek God at times for his good looks, played 278 games for the Blues in a decorated career from 1992-2007 and was inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame in 2014.
*WARNING: This story contains details of sexual assault.
Chanel Contos, a former student of Sydney’s Kambala Girls’ School, has been overwhelmed with hundreds of stories of sexual assault after starting an online petition calling on schools to incorporate a “sexual consent education” much earlier in their curriculum.
The petition went viral when it launched last Thursday, as it also calls for a more “holistic” approach to sexual education, suggesting it address topics such as consent, rape culture, slut shaming, toxic masculinity and queer sex education.
In the days since, the petition has had more than 20,000 signatories and Contos has garnered 1,400 testimonies detailing rapes and assaults among schoolgirls, many from Sydney’s top girls schools, some as young as 13.
Chanel created the petition last Thursday. Credit: Instagram.
One student wrote of her ordeal: “I went to St Catherine’s, he went to Cranbrook. I was 16, I woke up so drunk in his bed with him penetrating me at a party with another couple having sex in the same room… I ran home without my shorts. He returned them the next week. He is now a high profile investment banker.”
Ms Contos, who herself was subjected to sexual assault by a private schoolboy when she was 13, says the testimonies unearth a generation of private schoolboys with a reputation of being self-serving and craving instant gratification.
She tells The Daily Telegraph she decided to take action after a friend confessed she had been assaulted when they were in year nine and after former federal government staffer, Brittany Higgins, alleged a colleague raped her in a Parliament House office in 2019.
“Slut shaming needs to stop and girls being chased because they’re virgins needs to stop – there should be a focus in boys’ schools to acknowledge toxic masculinity.
“Brittany embodies the problem, it shows it goes from all levels, high school to parliament. If sex education and consent were taught earlier, future girls would be safer.”
Multiple schools have since made statements asserting their commitment to addressing the problem and reiterating that they have programs in place to teach consent.
Despite this, Contos tells Marie Claire that she feels some still aren’t getting the message, with many of their statements, she believes, inherently victim blaming and deflecting the issue. Some schools are allegedly discouraging students from sharing their testimonies at all.
Chanel also called out the response on her Instagram stories. Credit: Instagram.
“I’ve heard multiple accounts from students at all girls schools in Sydney saying that the schools are asking them not to submit testimonies because it’ll create a bad reputation,” Contos tells the lifestyle magazine.
“It is the essence of victim blaming to say it’s a damage to our reputation to have been sexually assaulted. I don’t think schools realise that they’re perpetuating rape culture by doing that, by thinking that it’s something to be ashamed of.”
In spite of this disappointing initial response, Contos says she’s still been in touch with schools such as Kambala, who have agreed to let her hold a seminar for teachers on rape culture and victim blaming, as well as get her involved in developing content to address structural issues contributing to an unsafe environment.
Going forward, Contos also has plans to launch a website and hopes continued pressure, as well as a more collaborative effort between schools, policy makers and experts, will result in a better educational and cultural outcome.
The Greeks discovered Iceland ten centuries before the Vikings, according to a new study by Andrew Breeze, lecturer at the University of Navarra’s Department of Philology.
Using linguistic evidence and after conducting research, Dr Breeze has cast dramatic new light on the mysterious island of ‘Thule.’
Using methods of textual criticism, in an article published in the latest issue of The Housman Society Journal, Dr Breeze attempts to pinpoint the mythical island of Thule, discovered by the Greek explorer and geographer Pytheas some time before 300 BC.
If Dr Breeze’s claim is true, the Greeks discovered Iceland a thousand years before the Vikings did.
The author explains how Pytheas describes a voyage across the Atlantic from Massalia (Marseilles) to an island with ice floes near it, which he called ‘Thule’ and which took six days to reach from Britain.
Although the original text by Pytheas has been lost, references to his voyage by later authors (Diodorus of Sicily, Strabo, Pliny) have inspired many others to try and locate Thule exactly, as the northernmost point of his odyssey.
“For centuries there has been debate on where Thule is. Most people take it as Iceland; others, the Faroes; others again, Norway or the Shetlands,” Dr Breeze explained.
‘Thymele’ – The Vital Clue:
In his research, which Dr Breeze has discussed with academics in British universities, who accept the hypothesis as plausible, the key to unlocking the mystery is in a linguistic crux.
“It seems that the name which Pytheas gave the island has been corrupted with time and become unintelligible. ‘Thule’ (or ‘Thyle’) is meaningless; but, if we add the letters M and E between the word’s two syllables, the result is Thymele, and in Greek this means something: it signifies ‘altar, altar-slab’ and is common in the ancient language,” he argues.
Picture of a monster splashing about near ‘Thule.’ Photo supplied.
In his article, Dr Breeze maintains that “the name Thymele ‘altar-slab’ could have been given by Pytheas thanks to the landscape of Iceland, with cliffs of volcanic rock resembling the massive altars of Greek temples. Probably, when Pytheas and his men set eyes on Iceland for the first time, seeing clouds rise above it and perhaps columns of ash and smoke from volcanoes like Hekla, it reminded him of a temple altar.”
He adds that “in the ancient world an altar could be immense. The great altar of Pergamum was forty feet high, and others at Parium and Syracus were said to be six hundred feet long.” He thus, has no doubts that ‘Thule’ or Thymele was Iceland.
“Greeks all over the world can now feel proud that their nation was the first to tread Icelandic soil,” he concludes.
Andrew Breeze is a lecturer in the Department of Philology, University of Navarra. He has been a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London since 1996 and of the Royal Historical Society since 1997. He has published various controversial books and is a specialist in Celtic and other medieval languages.
A 6-year-old boy from Iran died of burns suffered during an overnight fire at a migrant camp northwest of Athens, Greek authorities said on Wednesday.
The blaze broke out late on Tuesday at a short-term residence facility near the town of Thebes, about 90 kilometers from the Greek capital. Nobody else was reported injured.
The fire service said in a statement that firefighters sent to the incident were initially prevented by camp residents from entering, and had to call police support to get in and extinguish the blaze.
By then, the boy had already been brought unconscious out of the building where the fire broke out. He was pronounced dead in hospital.
Greek President, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, honoured Greek shipowner and WWII veteran, Iakovos Tsounis, on Wednesday after he willed his entire estate to the Greek armed forces earlier this month.
In a ceremony at the Presidential Mansion, Sakellaropoulou expressed her gratitude to the 97-year-old and awarded him with the Grand Cross of the Order of Honour, one of the most prestigious of all Greek honours.
The ceremony was also attended by the Greek Minister of National Defence, the Deputy Minister of National Defence, and the Chief of the General Staff of the Hellenic Armed Forces.
“I honor the patriot who was distinguished for his contribution to the homeland since his adolescence, when at the age of sixteen he enlisted as a volunteer in the Greek army and fought on the Albanian front,” the President said.
Sakellaropoulou also stressed that Mr Tsounis was a “real businessman who did not rest of his laurels” and his intention to bequeath his property to the Hellenic Armed Forces “is a deeply patriotic and exemplary act.”
For his part, Mr Tsounis thanked the President for bestowing the honour on him, while pointing out that his selfless offer to the homeland is a “supreme duty.”
The ceremony was also attended by the Minister of National Defence, Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos, the Deputy Minister of National Defence, Alkiviadis Stefanis, and the Chief of the General Staff of the Hellenic Armed Forces, General Konstantinos Floros.
Greece is in “technical” talks with the UK over allowing Britons carrying a vaccine passport to travel to its tourist hotspots from May, Greece’s Tourism Minister, Haris Theoharis, has announced in the British media.
This news comes despite concerns in Brussels and other European Union countries.
According to The Guardian, Mr Theoharis said he hoped to “dovetail” with Boris Johnson’s roadmap for allowing Britons to travel, but refused to be drawn on whether Greece would break with Brussels to establish the scheme.
Non-essential travel into the EU is currently largely prohibited. All the leaders of the EU’s 27-member states will say on Thursday that “for the time being” the restrictions need to remain, according to a draft statement.
But Mr Theoharis has confirmed to The Guardian that Anglo-Greek technical teams were working on how a certificate system could facilitate the resumption of mass travel and what format it would take.
“We’ll try to dovetail with the plan that has been announced in the UK,” Mr Theoharis told The Guardian.
“A date of May 17 has been set and we certainly want to be ready by then. The roadmap was a very, very good move by the UK government… planning is a pre-requisite for the travel industry.”
Ekathimerini reports that EU leaders will meet on Thursday to discuss certificates of vaccination for EU citizens who have had an anti-COVID shot, with countries such as Greece and Spain leading the push.
Other countries, such as France and Germany, appear more reluctant to adopt a vaccination certificate however, as officials there say it could create de-facto vaccination obligation and would be discriminatory to those who cannot or will not take a jab.
Mr Theoharis said his government would continue to push for swifter agreement on vaccine passports at the EU level, given the desperate need within countries dependent on tourism to be open to visitors.
“All we are saying is that with this system we’d be instituting two lanes in airports as it were,” Mr Theoharis said.
“The vaccination lane and the non-vaccination lane which would facilitate travel quite a bit. We have to move fast.”
Mr Theoharis went on to address a number of misconceptions around the vaccine, before stressing that “what [Greece] will be bringing to the table is [our conviction] that the certificate is a prerequisite if we are to start travelling with some kind of confidence.”
“There are a number of misconceptions around the certificate, the first being that it would be discriminatory. It’s not, because it’s just an alternative to negative testing,” Mr Theoharis said.
“The idea that it breaches privacy laws is also wrong because, if you prefer, you can travel as if you are not vaccinated and always get tested. A certificate simply allows somebody to travel without needing to test all the time. In that sense it’s hassle- free and cost-efficient.
“And on the health front there is greater probability a vaccinated person has fewer chances of spreading the disease than someone who is negative at some point in time.”
George Alfieris’ migration story was selected by the curators of the UK Empathy Museum to be included in their Australian Mile in My Shoes exhibition which is running at the Australian National Maritime Museum until April 30. George, 88, was the only Greek Australian represented in the 35 migrant stories featured in the exhibition.
This is George’s story in his own words.
“Australia was part of my destiny even before I was born. My father, Emmanuel, migrated to Australia in 1911, with my grandmother, Spryridoula, when he was just 13 years old to join his older brother, Brettos, who came to Australia in 1909. My fate was sealed 23 years before I was born.
Emmanuel and Brettos emulated many of their Kytherian compatriots and established their own business in the NSW country town of Wellington, adding another dot on the Kytherian business map of Australia at the time. They did well and were founding members of the Kytherian Brotherhood of Australia in 1922 making a sizeable donation. By the late 1920s the Great Depression hit their business prospects and Emmanuel, now nearing 30, needed to find a bride. The brothers decided to return home – to Kythera. The stress of the pending return was too much for Spyridoula. She died in 1927 and is buried in an old section of Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney. I visit her once a week.
Emmanuel found his bride when he returned to Kythera. He married my mother, Loukia, an adopted orphan with deep grey eyes. I was born in 1932, their first child, and another son, Theodore soon followed.
George Alfieris (left) with his brother, Theodore (right). Photo supplied.
In 1936, Emmanuel returned to Australia to run another business in the NSW country town of Tocumwal. Loukia was pregnant when he left. Emmanuel craved for a daughter and told his wife – “If it’s a girl don’t spare any expense and telegram me straight away. If it’s a boy, you can send me the good news in a letter.”
A telegram was indeed sent announcing the birth of a baby girl, Spyridoula. However, Emmanuel unfortunately wasn’t able to meet her. I remember her illness like a dream, with the neighbourhood women bringing various village remedies. My father would later lament that we were not in Australia where his daughter would have received proper medical care.
A pending war in Europe and extreme loneliness led Emmanuel to once again return to Greece in 1939. My youngest brother, Constantine, was born just as World War II arrived on the island.
I still vividly remember the war. More than anything, I remember the hunger. I also remember my mother’s despair as my father traded the land he bought with the money he earned from Australia for food for us to survive.
With all the family resources expended, we left the island after the war for the port city of Pireaus, where my father was able to find work with the British army stationed in Athens. However, the British ultimately left, and our family’s path back to Australia was Emmanuel’s only livelihood choice. In 1950, he took my brother, Theodore, and they migrated to Australia and settled in the country town of Hillston, NSW where he bought a half stake in a local café from another Kytherian. In 1952, my mother and Constantine followed. I was at high school at the time and was academically inclined so my parents left me behind to finish my studies.
George Alfieris in the 50s. Photo supplied.
I first saw a motion picture in Pireaus and those black and white stories on the silver screen captured my imagination. After high school, I enrolled in the Athens Cinema School and graduated in 1954 with dreams of being a director in Greece’s fledgling movie industry. However, it became clear that the only way for me to achieve my dream was to fund my own productions. And I would not dare ask my father, slaving away in an Australian country café, to indulge me with such money. So in 1956, aged 24, I boarded the ocean liner Orontes along with hundreds of post war Greek, Italian and Maltese migrants and sailed for Australia.
Within a couple of weeks of my arrival, my father became gravely ill. The harsh Hillston damp winter took its toll and my father died from pneumonia. He was buried with his mother in the same Rookwood Cemetery grave. I visit him every week as well.
Rural country living was not for me. My brothers could not convince me to join as a partner in the café and I left for Sydney to find my future. I settled in the Kings Cross boarding house my father had bought in the 1920s. At the time, “the Cross”, was Sydney’s seedy fringe, but was much closer to the cinema bohemian circles I so missed in Athens.
From an early age I sketched and at high school I would draw the Hollywood stars of the day. If I couldn’t become a movie director, perhaps I could become an artist. So I enrolled at the Sydney Art School and attended night lessons while I worked during the day at the Glass Factory.
Life realities however soon became apparent. I couldn’t sell enough paintings to make a living. So I enrolled in a commercial art course at Sydney’s Technical College. My creative instincts finally found an avenue that would allow me to make a living. I became a printer and worked for over 20 years at John Sands, one of Australia’s largest printing houses at the time.
I also volunteered for community organisations where I used my art skills to paint the sets of a thriving Sydney Greek theatre scene and to design the programmes and paraphernalia for the Kytherian Brotherhood Annual Balls.
Left: Ball program cover by George, 1967. Right: Kytherian Brotherhood of Australia Ball committee, 1967. Photos supplied.
In the mid 1960s, I met the love of my life. I just didn’t know it yet. Stella was a beautiful kind woman, but I couldn’t see what was in front of me. Perhaps because I had my mind set to follow my father’s footsteps and return to Greece to find a bride. So in 1967, like my father 40 years earlier, I sailed full of anticipation back to Greece.
Soon after my arrival in Greece, my mother told me, “The local butcher has a younger sister, Argentina, she’s 25 and I think you should meet her.” I was 35 and said to my mother that the age gap is too large and it wouldn’t work. However, my mother insisted, “Just meet her and then make up your mind.”
Argentina was a tall woman with striking features and I immediately liked her. We started seeing each other and within a couple of months we agreed to get married and start a life together in Australia. A few days before the wedding I went to arrange Argentina’s passport. It was then that I discovered that she was only 19 years old. I wanted to call it all off. But both families pleaded with me to go through with the wedding. “It’s not such a big age difference,” my future mother-in-law pleaded with me. “Her father and I had 15 years difference and we lived very happily together.”
Argentina struggled with life in Australia. She didn’t know the language, didn’t have any family and was often home alone as I took as many shifts as I could at John Sands to set us up our financially. It was only on the weekends where she and I would meet our friends at each other’s homes or at picnics across Sydney.
In 1969, we had our first child. But the little girl was born very ill and she died within a few days. We named her Spyridoula just like my grandmother and baby sister. Two healthy boys, Emmanuel and Nick, followed in short succession. But Argentina was not happy.
Argentina wanted a new life and left me and the children for a Greek telephone repair man whom she met when he fixed our phone while I was at work. Both I and our friends tried to save our marriage but it was futile. Emmanuel was only 3 and Nick was still in nappies. Our Spanish neighbour, Maria, looked after the boys during the day and they started speaking Spanish. I would try my exhausted best when I returned home from work to look after my sons. These were the most difficult years of my life.
When arranging the divorce my lawyer warned me, “George, you need a woman to take care of the children or else the Judge will put them into foster care.”
That was characteristic of the times. Fathers were not deemed to be capable of child rearing. There needed to be a woman in house.
I pleaded with my mother to return to Australia and help me raise the boys. My mother returned with a heavy heart. She had promised herself she would never return to Australia after my father died. With my mother in the home, the Judge agreed to award custody of the children to me. Argentina didn’t bother to come to the court.
Stella had already returned to Greece a few years earlier. In a frank discussion with a mutual friend I said, “Stella is a good woman. I should have asked her to marry me and not gone to Greece to get married.”
“I got a letter from her the other day George,” my friend responded. “She’s still single. Let me write to her and see if she would be interested.”
George with his wife, Stella. Photo supplied.
Stella was open to the idea and I courted her by correspondence. Stella accepted my marriage proposal. But she didn’t see Australia in her future. She would join me in Australia if I promised that within 5 years we would return to Greece and live our lives there.
The boys loved Stella and called her “mum” from the very beginning. And she loved them as if they were from her own womb. Stella and I had a failed pregnancy that resulted in her having a hysterectomy. But Stella was always positive and filled our family life with love and joy.
I kept my promise. We sold everything and returned to Greece in the early 1980s. When Emmanuel and Nick finished high school at the American College in Athens, they wanted to attend Australian universities so they returned to Australia in the early 1990s.
From then on, Stella and I would follow the summers. May to September in Greece and October to April in Australia. They were blissful years enjoying the best of both worlds and the fruits of our labour. That came to an abrupt end in 2011 when Stella died of cervical cancer from the only part of her uterus that wasn’t removed when she had her hysterectomy. Stella is also buried at Rookwood cemetery. I visit her every week too. One day I will join her and we will be together for eternity.
I now live permanently in Australia and count my blessings. My sons have established themselves with lovely families, successful careers and contribute to our community. I have two wonderful daughters (in-law), something my father was never able to enjoy. My daughters have given me three grandchildren, George, Victoria and Jonathon, who give me immense pleasure and validate my life choices. Australia has given me a “better life” for my family and I couldn’t have asked for a better destiny.”
For five years, Greek Australian interior designer, Krisi Patras, and her partner were searching Melbourne’s inner northern suburbs for their first home.
But it was only during Victoria’s longest COVID-19 lockdown that “things aligned” and the young couple were able to invest in a property which caught their eye.
The 28-year-old’s spotted online the Villa Italia in Coburg, almost in the shadow of the towers of Pentridge Prison.
Masked up and using one of the only legitimate reasons to leave their 5-kilometre travel limit – which was to do a real-time property inspection – the couple stood in the front yard of the 1949, late-moderne-style brick building and knew they were looking at their forever house.
“Finally, here was our dream,” Patras tells Domain.com.au was her first thought when she saw the house. “I couldn’t sleep that night and became obsessed with the house.”
After that, her partner says the much-loved and lived-in house became theirs after they stretched themselves financially “to our fingertips.”
Since the couple took possession in mid-December, Patras has been working hard to maintain some of the original features of the house because she’s so passionate about “appreciating character and texture and all the stuff modern designers want to strip out,” she told Domain.com.au.
The “quite dark,” central kitchen might undergo the biggest alteration by being moved into back-of-house spaces that were originally a home office and laundry, in order to connect better with daylight and the garden.
At first, Patras also thought the carpet would have to go but she has since decided, “we’re going to keep parts of it and make it into rugs.” The kitchen floor tiles will come up, but be recycled into “feature tiles for a pizza oven.”
The main bathroom with hand-painted, tonally beige tiles was also an initial no. “But now I’m appreciating the time and quality in them and seeing that, just because things are old [it] doesn’t necessarily mean they are bad.”
For Patras, Villa Italia is her opportunity to demonstrate “that heritage goes further than a facade.”
“People forget about the importance of (authentic) interiors which, I believe, should be protected as well.”
You can follow Patras’ renovation project over on her Instagram page.
A new school year started last week for St Andrew’s Grammar School students and staff in Dianella, Western Australia.
On Thursday 18 February 2021, Father Emmanuel, Father John, and Father Terry conducted the Blessing of the Waters Service for the start of the new School year at St. Andrew’s Grammar; a particularly joyous occasion as it marked the start of the first year for the school’s new Principal, Mrs Dawn Clements who was appointed late last year.
During the ceremony, Father Emmanuel wished the children well for the year and urged them to show each other a Christ-like love, while Father Terry passed on to all the staff and students the blessings of His Eminence Archbishop Makarios and of His Grace Bishop Elpidios of Kyaneon.
A Leadership Blessing was given for Mrs Clements, as well as new Board Chair Mrs Samta Thakrar, and the 2021 Student Leaders, before the Honourable Consul of Greece in Perth, Mrs Georgia Karasiotou who led students and staff in officially celebrating International Greek Language Day (February 9).
The Fathers also blessed the Vasilopita, and along with the new Principal, cut a cross into the traditional Greek New Year’s cake as the new School Captain for 2021, Kristen Taylor, explained the history and significance of the tradition.
A piece of the Vasilopita was handed to a representative of each class and each guest attending. Father Terry then Blessed each of the children individually as well as all the classrooms and buildings of the School.
St Andrew’s is a K-Year 12 co-educational Hellenic School with a student population from 47 different nationalities and both ceremonies were enjoyed by all.
*All photos by: St Andrew’s Grammar/The Pink Tank Creative
Greek Deputy Minister of Defence, Alkiviadis Stefanis, and Australian Minister for Veterans and Defence Personnel, Darren Chester MP, had an online meeting on Tuesday, February 23.
During the meeting, Mr Chester presented a new proposal by the Australian Department of Veterans’ Affairs for the construction of monuments on the Greek island of Lemnos, to recognise the contribution of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) in World War II and the Battle of Gallipoli.
The online meeting between Greece’s Deputy Minister of Defence, Alkiviadis Stefanis, Australia’s Ambassador to Greece, Arthur Spyrou, and Australian Minister for Veterans and Defence Personnel, Darren Chester MP. Photo: Law & Order.
According to Law & Order, the project will be funded by the Australian Government and aims to promote Lemnos as an attraction for Australians, New Zealanders, as well as British and Greek expatriates in Australia.
The Ambassador of Australia to Greece, Mr Arthur Spyrou, was also present during the meeting.
