Staying in business for 33 years is no easy feat, but Denis and Eleni Sakkas’ passion to keep Queanbeyan’s Melita Coffee Lounge afloat is reason enough to commit their professional lives to it’s survivability.
The restaurant was previously managed by a Maltese family for 17 years before the Sakkas family took over. Speaking to the Riot Act, Denis said it’s probably the oldest cafe in Queanbeyan.
However, assuming that the business doesn’t hold the Queanbeyan record, the Melita Coffee Lounge is unique in the sense that Denis’ 95-year-old Greek mother, Eleni Sakkas, continues to work alongside her son in the kitchen.
The Reuben pork toastie substitutes the traditional corned beef for Denis’s homemade pulled pork. Photo: Michelle Rowe.
“Her ticker and engine are pretty good,” says Denis, adding that Eleni’s doctor marvels at how fit and healthy she is despite being just a few years shy of receiving a letter from the Queen.
“And the reality is, if she goes home, she has to hang out with Dad, who can be a bit annoying.”
Born and bred in Queanbeyan, Denis credits the love of food he inherited from his Greek parents for his enduring career.
“I was in my early 20s and was working part-time in my uncle’s takeaway, then did a bit of real estate and worked as a bank teller, but I wanted to try my hand at running my own business,” he says.
Denis Sakkas with his parents Eleni and Alex at the cafe. Photo: Michelle Rowe.
“I’d never cooked or worked in hospitality before, but having a Greek mum really helped. Things evolved from there.”
Far from following expectations and delivering a Greek-inspired menu, however, Denis describes the flavour at Melita as ‘eclectic’.
“A lot of people asked me why I don’t just do Greek, but I like a bit of a mishmash,” he says.
On this day in May 1911, the historic Italian-built Georgios Averoff cruiser arrives in Greece six years ahead of WWI.
The cruiser, nicknamed “Lucky Uncle George”, served the Royal Hellenic Navy in the First Balkan War, WWI, the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922), the Interwar period, WWII, and many more.
The Greek Herald traces Georgios Averof’s glory days in the most defining and important events in Greece’s history.
The Georgios Averof cruiser was built as part of a series of three armoured cruisers, called the ‘Pisa’ cruisers, built by Italy on March 12, 1910.
Several countries were vying for the cruiser during a trialing time for their Armies before it’s benefactor, George Averoff, claimed the ship in 1909 at a price of £300,000. This is the equivalent of £23.4m today (adjusted for inflation), or just under AUD$42m.
Averoff (1815-1899) was a well-known Greek philanthropist and slave trader when he bought the most modern warship in the Aegean at the time.
Captain Pavlos Kountouriotis succeeded Captain I. Diamnos as captain of the ship at the beginning of the First Balkan War.
It sailed to the Dardanelles Strait on the European-Asian boundary in northwestern Turkey before occupying Mount Athos and the north and east Aegean islands. This escalated tensions with Turkey and led to Greece’s victory in the Naval Battle of Elli (3 December 1912) and Lemnos (5 January 1913) for control of the Aegean.
The Georgios Averof went on to block fleets, occupy islands and protect maritime transport, including of weapons and armour, between Greece and their Allies.
The Georgios Averof also played a role in Greece’s WWI battles in Constantinople and Hagia Sophia and WWII until it was decommissioned in 1952. The cruiser has served as a monument museum since 1985 in Faliro, Greece.
Legacy:
The Georgios Averoff has been preserved as an educational initiative and tribute to the Hellenic Army.
It is visited today by schools, institutions, organisations, and other members of the public.
Football Victoria elected their first ever female president, Antonella Care, in their 2021 Annual General Meeting on Wednesday.
Care was elected for Presidency unopposed and will serve a 2-year term. She took over the position after the former President, Kimon Taliadoros, was appointed CEO of the organisation in February 2021. Care was also the acting President until the General Meeting.
A member of the Football Victoria Board Member since March 2016, she has more than 20 years of corporate experience. She is a highly qualified professional who prides herself on having a strong understanding of governance and positive working relationships with many Local Government departments.
Three Directors were also appointed following a democratic electoral process, Jo Bladen, Yianni Zaparas and Steve Forbes. Serving 4-year terms, all three possess a wealth of experience in their respective fields and will bring diverse expertise to Football Victoria.
Following the electoral results, CEO of Football Victoria, Kimon Taliadoros addressed the audience. Taliadoros presented his 2020 report and outlined the organisation’s key strategic goals for 2021 and 2022.
Although the impacts of COVID-19 were severe, both Taliadoros and the Senior Executive Manager of Business Operations, Matthew Green, were optimistic about the future, with stability starting to return to the organisation and wider Victorian football community.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has accepted an invitation by his Greek counterpart to visit Athens, Nikos Dendias said at the Delphi Economic Forum VI in Athens on Friday, though no specific date has been agreed on.
“Of course I will meet Cavusoglu. I have invited him to Greece and he has accepted the invitation in principle. The doors are always open for him. He is my friend,” he said during a panel discussion when asked if any future meeting is in the cards.
Commenting on the long-standing issues with Turkey, the minister said that, “if a solution is not found … at least we should find a way to manage our differences.”
“The open discussion that took place in Ankara was very useful to air all opinions,” he added.
Dendias also commented on the recent escalation of violence in Israel between Palestinian militants and the Israeli military, describing it as “déjà vu.”
Thousands of Palestinians grabbed children and belongings and fled their homes Friday as Israel barraged the northern Gaza Strip with tank fire and airstrikes.
A message in a bottle from a Greek seafarer has reached the shores of Ninety Mile Beach, leaving a local New Zealander puzzled and bewildered.
Reported by Radio New Zealand, local fisherman Ken Fergusson found the washed up wine bottle on the shoreline and took it to his home to dispose of it properly, worried that someone may step on it.
“…Got home, went to throw it in the rubbish and I noticed there was a card in it,” Fergusson said.
He looked through the green glass and made out some phone numbers on a business card, only to reach a Greek woman who couldn’t understand any English. Unfortunately for Fergusson, he didn’t know any Greek.
The business card found in a bottle on Ninety Mile Beach. Photo / Peter Jackson
Fergusson tried sending an email and, a couple of days ago, a reply from Captain John Karavolos arrived.
“I thought it was pretty cool actually,” Fergusson said.
According to the Captain, the Greek pushed the card into the bottle, put the cork back on, and turfed it out to sea about a year ago, during a trip between Australia and China. NIWA oceanographer Dr Phil Sutton said the southern hemisphere is more likely than the northern.
“Anything that’s floating gets driven by the wind as well as the ocean currents. Actually, the hemispheres are fairly well separated.”
Captain Karavolos believes the date and location of the bottle’s send-off may be faintly written on the back of the business card. The Awanui School tamariki is expected to open the bottle in the coming days to find out.
Radio New Zealand also reports that treasures have been showing up on Te Tai Tokerau beaches for decades and many are cared for by Heritage New Zealand.
Greece launched its tourism season Friday amid a competitive scramble across the Mediterranean to lure vacationers emerging from lockdowns.
“We’re all vaccinated, the tables are outside and spread out, with hand sanitizers on each one. We’re ready. Now we wait,” Kapri, owner of the Naxos beachside restaurant ‘Gorgona’, said. During a six-month lockdown, Gorgona closed for the first time in its 50-year history.
The European Union has yet to roll out its cellphone-friendly travel pass system. But southern member-states, driven deeper into debt by the pandemic and highly dependent on tourism revenues, are not waiting.
A worker places chairs at a tavern in Plaka beach, on the Aegean island of Naxos, Greece, Wednesday, May 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Croatia has already reopened, as has Cyprus, joined Friday by Greece where residents were allowed to leave home without an electronic permit for the first time in six months.
Last year, the number of visitors to Greece plummeted by 78.2% to 7.4 million — from a record 34 million in 2019 — according to official data, with a corresponding drop in tourism revenues.
Greece is hoping to claw back half the 2019 visitor level. It’s vowed to finish vaccinating its entire island population over the next six weeks and will even waive test requirements for tourists who have received vaccines made in Russia and China that are not approved for use domestically.
A company of tourists pose for a photograph as the sun sets in Chora, on the Aegean island of Naxos, Greece, Thursday, May 13, 2021. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Other Mediterranean countries are also looking for an edge. Malta is promising visitors vouchers to go diving and cash rebates to high-end hotel customers.
In Turkey, visitors from abroad have been exempt from stay-at-home orders applying to Turks, thus enjoying an empty Istanbul, and little-populated beach resorts. Starting Monday, travellers from China, Britain, Australia, and 13 other countries will be allowed in without even having to present a negative COVID-19 test.
Portugal is the only southern European country to so far make Britain’s so-called Green List of quarantine-free destinations.
In neighboring Spain, Trade and Tourism Minister Reyes Maroto said her government was in “constant” consultations with Britain to try to have its travel status upgraded. Some 18 million U.K. holidaymakers traveled to Spain in 2019.
Italy is expected to drop a five-day quarantine requirement for travelers from the EU, Britain and Israel this weekend, but many in the hospitality industry are still bracing for another tough year.
“I think (tourism) is going to increase but very slowly. For this year we have to accept whatever comes,” said Elisabetta Menardi, manager of the Ca’ Foscolo apartment hotel in Venice.
Written and performed by Alex Lykos, Jawbone is a provocative, bold, and controversial dark comedy which examines the mythology of the modern day “successful man.”
By the modern definition, a “successful man” has a high-paying job, is married, 2 kids, an investment property and takes the family on regular holidays. Tim hasn’t achieved any of these milestones. His family, friends and society see him as a failure – as does he. It’s at this rock-bottom state where he breaks from the shackles of his own comatose existence and begins living on the edges – standing up to his more “successful” married brother, quitting his job, gambling, drinking, exploring his sexuality and finding love.
Alex Lykos is the writer of Alex & Eve feature film and stage trilogy, festival darling feature film Me & My Left Brain, critically acclaimed Better Man, A Long Night, The Negotiating Table, It’s War and Australia’s Game The Musical.
JAWBONE will also double as the 15 year anniversary of Marrickville Theatre Company with a gala opening night on the 26th of May celebrating 15 years of independent modern Australian storytelling.
The Greek Herald sat down with Lykos to discuss his upcoming show:
Jawbone is unique because it is a one man show, written and performed by yourself. Why did you choose to make it a one man show?
When Covid hit, we didn’t know what the future held for us, particularly for those of us in the arts industry. Our previous shows had an average cast size of 8 or so. I knew that trying to put on a show with a cast that size was dangerous. So I examined the one-person show format because at least I could rehearse at home during lockdown. I began writing the show in March last year and by July I started collaborating with composer George Ellis who wrote the music for the piece.
The story plays on the life of a “successful man”. What was the influence and reasoning behind this and can you describe the process in making it into an interesting, intriguing story?
I am in my 40s now and many times when I attend a social gathering, it feels more like, excuse the language, a “dick-swinging” contest. Men are constantly competing over who has more money. Someone actually told me the success of a man is measured by the number of square metres he owns and the number of kids he has. This person’s definition of success I guess haunted me in many ways. In a city like Sydney, if you don’t have money, you can easily feel like a complete failure.
So telling a story from the perspective of someone who is essentially a failure and is now in a position where he has nothing to lose, opened the story up.
You’ve mentioned that writing and performing the show has been quite cathartic. Can you explain why?
I personally went through a very difficult period during covid, both personally and professionally. The way I coped was by writing this story. It was an outlet of sorts which allowed me to release the angst, the anger I had towards myself and in the character of Tim, felt like I had someone who could confide to.
What do you want the audience to take away from your performance?
I want the audience to laugh, cry, feel and perhaps stimulate discussion about the serious themes that are being examined.
You’ve written feature films, theatre shows and now a one man stage performance. What has been your favourite thing to write and is there a sense of excitement when writing new and compelling stories?
Each story I have written has been pleasing for different reasons. Alex & Eve was pleasing because it played at a time when the communities wanted a story about the power of understanding and acceptance so it was pleasing to see, on a nightly basis, Greeks and Lebanese in the audience coming together enjoying a piece of work.
Jawbone led me to composer George Ellis. You don’t ever really know how a collaboration will go with another creative. But there was a magic between us from the first moment. We just clicked. It just happened. And the most memorable aspect of creating this story was the sessions I had with George. I’d go over and perform bits of the show and he would create and play music right there and then in front of me, it was extraordinary. We’d then break, have a glass of wine(white), and talk about life. It was just a memorable experience. The music he created is beautiful and it stirs the emotions(and makes my job as an actor so much easier). It’s been one of my best and most treasured collaborations.
When the Preston project team heard about a bare white wall at a local school, they sprang into action to come up with a plan to help reimagine the space.
The team brought in local artist Efrossini Chaniotis to work with students from the school to look at how they can brighten up a once-dreary wall in the student lounge.
Highlighting the importance of family, and fondly referred to as the ‘Preston Louvre’, the artwork represents a gallery wall with more than 60 3D frames of multiple sizes and shapes, filled with colourful artwork.
Efrossini Chaniotis with a St John’s College student. Photo: Supplied.
“With the Louvre wall, I wanted to create a concept and artwork that had artistic integrity with combined multi purpose for school: symbolically and as a teaching tool,” Chaniotis said to The Greek Herald.
“Believing strongly in the power of art and the image, in 10 days I created more that 70 individual artworks (emulating framed, hung paintings in a Louvre style gallery) that refected art history, Hellenism, Greek, creative learning, Orthodox faith, multiculturalism, the school’s history and environment.”
“Colourful empty frames were also included so that students artworks could be interchanged within the gallery wall throughout the year. A mirror was also added so students can see their own reflection amongst the wall of powerful images of identity and culture”
The project took around two weeks to be completed, with the entire school community adding ideas to the piece, from students and parents to teaching staff.
“My favourite painting is the peace dove. Peace is what we need in this world, we need to be kind to one another. It’s great to have this at our school,” St John’s College primary school student Georgia said.
The collage of different themes means the school can use the mural as a teaching tool during art lessons, with some picture frames left empty for art students to complete at a later date.
Efrossini Chaniotis. Photo: Supplied.
“The idea of this project is to really encapsulate who we are, here at St John’s College, but also the broader Australian community and the Greek community,” Anna Urban, Principal of St John’s College, said.
“We celebrate Greek Orthodox Easter where we celebrate faith, and our family values. This artwork is really important as it captures so many things that are important to us, it’s significant to us culturally.”
“The mural will be here for us forever to enjoy and to use in our teaching and learning, as well as in our cultural celebrations within our community.”
St John’s College students. Photo: Supplied.
Upon it’s completion, the Local Member for Northcote, Kat Theophanous, as well as VicTrack and Alliance representatives, came to observe the incredible wall of art.
The level crossing removal project team enjoyed collaborating with the school and will be sure to keep an eye on the ‘Preston Louvre’ as construction on the rail project progresses.
The reported ‘toxic culture’ spreading within Adelaide City Council will be revealed in a tell-all report to be released to the public within a month-and-a-half.
Two months ago, the council voted to keep the report secret until 2028 on the basis of staff advice. The findings of the investigation by external contractors have not even been revealed to the council’s elected members.
Deputy Mayor Mary Couros pushed for the release of the report and received the unanimous support of her colleagues on Tuesday night.
The report was commissioned by the council last year after its dominant Team Adelaide faction raised concerns about strained relationships between some elected members and the council’s administration.
It is understood the report details the extent of the problems between councillors and staff, as well as investigating dissatisfaction among staff with the overall administration of the council and the behaviour of some councillors.
Adelaide City Council acting chief executive Claire Mockler said she had already engaged lawyers to prepare the report for public release.
Ms Couros said releasing the report would “end this discussion” and stop “lingering” scuttlebutt about the culture of the council.
Veteran Adelaide City Councillor Anne Moran. Picture: AAP / Russell Millard
Adelaide City Councillor Phillip Martin. Picture: The Advertiser / Morgan Sette
Cr Alex Hyde said the treatment of some staff had been “heartbreaking to say the least”
“I think our staff deserve better, I think our staff deserve to be heard,” Cr Hyde said.
“I think any bad behaviour that may or may not be present … should be aired and it should be aired publicly.”
Cr Phillip Martin declared a conflict of interest on the basis that Cr Couros previously suggested he was mentioned in the report, while Cr Anne Moran – who has regularly clashed with other councillors – was not in the room.
A special event was organised by Victoria’s Greek National Day Committee on Tuesday at the traditional tavern “ELIOS”, holding an honorary dinner for the new Consul General of Greece in Melbourne, Emmanuel Kakavelakis.
The event was also honoured by the presence of Fr Evmenios Vasilopoulos, representing the Holy Archdiocese of Australia.
During the evening, all presidents and representatives of Victoria’s parish organisations and federations, as well as the principals and managers of the Greek day schools, were given the opportunity to welcome the new Consul General. At the same time, they had the opportunity to exchange views on the effective work of the Committee, also discussing future activities the Committee will be able to undertake with the aim of further promoting the Greek Parish.
The President of the Victorian Committee for 2021, Tony Tsourdalakis, welcomed the official guests and members of the Committee. Tsourdalakis referred in detail to the rich program of the 200th anniversary marking the beginning of the Greek Revolution, in which the Greek Parish participates as a whole. The President also spoke about future plans in the foreground for the Committee, while thanking the sponsors who financially helped carry out the program.
Tsourdalakis, on behalf of the Committee, handed over a commemorative frame to the Consul General which depicts all the historical events of Greece during the last two hundred years.
The Consul General, in his short but rich greeting, congratulated the Victorian Committee of 2021 for the commendable work they perform in conveying ideas for the future.
Finally, he wished good continuation in future activities while promising the Committee and the Consulate will continue to work together to cooperate on issues concerning the future.
