In the presence of family, friends, and honourable dignitaries, local Greek Australian historian Vasilis Vasilas officially launched his new book Little Athens: Marrickville on Sunday at the Marrickville Town Hall.

Vasilas’ book is a culmination of years of historical research into Marrickville’s once thriving Greek population, looking at the longevity and success of Greek businessmen and women as well as their contribution to local, national and international markets.

The event was MC’d by Dr Vicky and Stavros Kritikos, who introduced the event’s honourable dignitaries including George Lizides who represented Christos Karras, the Consul General of Greece in Sydney, Mark Drury, Councillor of Inner West Council, who represented Mayor Darcy Byrne, University of Sydney Professor Vrasidas Karalis, and Amie Zar, Inner West Council History and Heritage Co-Ordinator.

Councillor Drury, the first speaker of the evening, expressed his joyfulness on behalf of Mayor Darcy Byrne for Vasilis dedication to ensuring the Greek legacy of Marrickville lives on.

“While the Inner-West has possibly become a little less Greek… what this book shows is that Australians of Greek background can continue to call Marrickville their home,” Cr Drury said, adding that the Inner West Council has further delivered on this commitment through their renaming of the precinct as ‘Little Athens’.

Chris Skoufis, of Olympia Refrigeration, delivered an emotional speech in thanking Vasili for honouring the hard work of not only himself, but all all Greek migrants who contributed to the development of Marrickville and Sydney.

Harry Souris, owner of the famous M and J Chickens, drew applause when he announced that Marrickville would forever be the home of the iconic poultry store.

“Throughout the years, we’ve built up really strong friendships in the area… as our business has grown and developed over the years so has Marrickville,” Souris said.

Professor Vrasidas Karalis, Sir Nicholas Laurantus Professor of Modern Greek at the University of Sydney, echoed the thanks of Stavros Kritikos for Chris Skoufis’ generation of Greek migrants, who brought with them the hard-working ethos from their homeland.

“You are the heroes… You dedicated yourself to your professions and finally all the community can celebrate your life,” Professor Karalis said.

“I think this book is not simply a recording of archaeological history, it is a history of the ordinary people… of the suffering hard-working people”.

Author of the book, Vasilis Vasilas, concluded the evening by speaking about the history of Marrickville’s Greek population and the legacy they retain.

“Marrickville shatters every stereotype of a what Greeks did in Australia,” Vasilas said.

“All the people that come away reading Little Athens, leave with a more complete picture, not a full picture, but a more complete picture of what the Greek contribution to Greek business and market is.”

“Everything from yeeros to feta cheese… Marrickville’s Greeks did it and they’re still doing it now.”

Vasilis added that it doesn’t matter who has the better souvlaki store, or who sold the best chicken, but the story behind each of those businesses is one of hard work and perseverance.

To those who were unable to make the launch, the book is available to purchase at Danas Deli Cafe, Marrickville.

By Argyro Vourdoumpa and Andriana Simos.

Every Mother’s Day, mothers, grandmothers, aunts and many others, are celebrated for everything they do to support their family and friends.

To mark the occasion this year, Greek Australians celebrated Mother’s Day with special cakes, luncheons and festivities.

Here’s a look at some of the events which were held in Sydney and Adelaide.

Sydney:

Sydney’s Greek community put out all this stops for Mother’s Day on Sunday, with associations such as Pontoxeniteas Sydney hosting a High Tea at Gardens on Forest.

The event was attended by a number of Greek Australians, including Sophie Cotsis MP with her mum and daughter. They all enjoyed a number of sweets, sandwiches and meat pies, as well as shared stories and memories on the day.

Elsewhere in Sydney, at St Nectarios Greek Orthodox Parish in Burwood, young people from Youth In Action spent a whole afternoon baking and decorating delicious cakes to present to their mums for Mother’s Day. The flavour of the day was vanilla, with buttercream made from scratch and hand-rolled fondant for the top of the sponge cake.

For her part, mother-of-two, Eleni Gerassis, along with her family, dropped off 74 bags filled with beauty products, cupcakes, cookies, chocolates, flowers and much more, to each NICU mum in The Grace Centre for Newborn Intensive Care at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Westmead Hospital. 

All this was possible with the help and support of family, friends, businesses and total strangers.

Her reason for organising the initiative, she tells The Greek Herald, is personal as her own daughter, Dimitra, was born on Mother’s Day 13 years ago and she “will never forget what it felt like to be spending this special day in hospital not knowing whether my baby would survive.”

“In appreciation and gratitude for all that we have, the first class care we received, we have spent the last 10 years dedicating our time to giving back to the people that helped bring our little girl home to us,” Eleni tells The Greek Herald.

“As a new mum, you would normally receive gifts, flowers and visitors in hospital to celebrate the birth of your new baby, unfortunately, this isn’t the case in a Newborn Intensive Care Unit so I organised this initiative to help put a smile on these amazing mums faces, to let them know that we are thinking of them during these difficult times.

“We are and will always be so appreciative to everyone who contributed to making this happen and helping make this day that extra bit special for these brave and courageous mums.”

Adelaide:

South Australia’s Greek associations also celebrated Mother’s Day with sold out events and The Greek Herald joined-in with the festivities.

A Mother’s Day BBQ was hosted by the Cyprus Community of SA in Welland, Adelaide while the Pontian Brotherhood of SA held a Sunday lunch at their Pennington house. Both events featured live music, local delicacies and desserts prepared by dedicated volunteers.

“We are here to honour all Mothers and we are very excited to have 200 of our members with us,” Cyprus Community of SA President, Andreas Evdokiou, told The Greek Herald.

“Mothers are special. Nothing can substitute a mum’s affection and warmth. Look after your mothers for as long as you have them,” Evdokiou said, thanking the volunteers for their tireless work.

A bit further north, in Pennington, members and volunteers of the Pontian Brotherhood of SA treated mothers to a mouth-watering lunch and honoured them with Pontian lyra and a combined dance performance by the Brotherhood’s Senior and Junior dance groups.

“This day is special as we are celebrating all the mums” said Pontian Brotherhood of SA President, Nazareth Nalpantidis Chisholm, in her opening speech, thanking the volunteers for their efforts.

“It’s important to keep our culture alive,” Nalpantidis Chisholm said.

First generation Pontian Australian and mother of four, Kasiani Koutris, said events like these are important to keep the cultural heritage alive and carry it on to future generations.

“I am a first-generation Pontian Australian woman and I’m very passionate about Pontian issues and the way of life. My husband is Turkish-Pontian. It’s been a very rich experience for me and I try to keep this part of our culture alive for our children as well,” said Koutris who is also a filmmaker, currently working on a project for the International Pontian film festival.

Doctors and brain cancer researchers gathered at NSW Parliament on May 4, 2021, to show their support for a ‘Survivorship’ awareness event organised by The Brain Cancer Group, Care2Cure, and hosted by Member for Canterbury, Sophie Cotsis MP.

The Brain Cancer Awareness event was aimed at shining a light on ‘The Survivorship Diary,’ a book recently released by brain cancer patient, Cassandra Bennett, to support other patients and carers through their cancer journey.

Attendees on the night, which included prominent members of the Greek community such as Suzane Peponis-Brisimis, founder of the White Pearl Foundation, and representatives from the Bank of Sydney, were first treated to light refreshments before moving to a nearby theatre for the official proceedings.

READ MORE: Suzane Peponis-Brisimis: Leading philanthropist shining a spotlight on brain cancer research.

Master of Ceremonies, Richard Ryan, who is the CEO at Castlecrag, Hunters Hill and North Shore Private Hospitals, kicked off the event before introducing Ms Cotsis to the stage for some opening remarks.

During her speech, Ms Cotsis thanked medical researchers for their “phenomenal work” in brain cancer research and later discussed why the event held a special significance for her.

READ MORE: White Pearl Foundation raises over $20,000 at 2021 Breakfast for Brain Cancer.

“I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018 and I can tell you, Cassandra, congratulations on [your launch] because I know now what it means when you’re looking at survivorship,” Ms Cotsis said.

From there, Cassandra went up on stage to describe how ‘The Survivorship Diary’ came about after she was diagnosed with a brain tumour in July 2018.

“Some two years later, 28 months of chemotherapy… and the global pandemic, we have the survivorship diary… We’ve designed this diary to help patients and their families manage the incredible amount of information they have to understand, remember and keep track of after being diagnosed and through treatment,” Cassandra explained.

“The diary contains ten sections – diagnosis, surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, mental and emotional wellbeing, seizures and neurological health, living with brain cancer, financial notes, palliative care and other resources.

“Each section includes two pages on how to describe each day of the treatment, key questions to ask specialists and a table to record names and contact details for each of the key members of the support team.”

The practical use of this game-changing resource was then stressed when former Campbelltown Mayor, Paul Hawker, who was diagnosed with a brain tumour this year, and his wife Sigrid, discussed how helpful the diary has been during Paul’s cancer journey.

“The Survivorship Diary… has many helpful facts about cancer and treatment and one of them in particular was the suggestion that taking chemotherapy at night before bed can reduce the effects of nausea. It certainly worked for us,” Sigrid Hawker said in her speech.

Paul Hawker concluded the night by having a conversation with Associate Professor Michael Black, who is the Director of The Brain Cancer Group, Care2Care, where he described how he has “accepted” his cancer diagnosis and cheekily admitted that “whilst I’ve glanced through the diary, I haven’t made any entries in it because Sigrid seems to be the one that records everything and reminds me of things we have to do.”

This drew laughter from the crowd as it became even more evident just how valuable ‘The Survivorship Diary’ is for carers of cancer patients, who at times are too tired from cancer therapy to even consider their next doctor’s appointment or treatment date.

The successful awareness event ended with attendees enjoying coffee and light refreshments outside the theatre.