“Language is key to retaining culture”

For weeks I would catch snatches of Torres Strait Islander songs when walking into my childrens’ bedrooms. Then, my eldest daughter appointed me as art critic, as she completed her Greek school homework: at artwork that shows the interrelationship between Australian First Peoples and Greeks. Being of an astronomical bent, my daughter discussed with me the similarities between the constellations of Orion the hunter pursuing the Pleiades sisters in the Greek tradition and Nyeeruna, also a hunter pursuing the Yugarilya sisters, in the Aboriginal traditions of the Great Victoria desert.

A few years before, Principal of the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria’s Greek language schools Manos Tzimpragos was reading the Wurundjeri myth relating how Crow stole the secret of fire and endured punishment as a result and was struck at its similarity to the Greek myth of Prometheus. He resolved that the students of the GOCMV’s Greek language schools should come into closer contact with the history and culture of our First Peoples and envisaged an event where the two cultures can connect, celebrate their commonalities and revel in the discovery of their differences. Some time later, a resolution was passed at a GOCMV general meeting, calling for the Aboriginal flag to be flown next to the Greek and Australian flags, at the Greek Centre.

Manos Tzimpragos may have been called back to Greece, but his successor, Maria Bakalidou and talented educators Christina Soumi and Katerina Poutachidou remained inspired by the breadth and generosity of his vision. The result was a remarkably innovative and culturally sensitive event at the Greek Centre on Sunday 15 May, in which Greeks and First Peoples came together to sing, play, share stories and delight in each other’s company.

Having Wurundjeri woman and Woi wurrung language teacher Rebecca Axford provide a welcome to country at the Greek Centre was a profound experience for a number of reasons. As Toula Nicolacopoulou and George Vassilacopoulos point out in their study: “Foreigner to Citizen: Greek Migrants and Social Change in White Australia 1897-2000,” the dominant ruling class seeks to legitimise its conquest and rule over Australia at the expense of its original inhabitants, by acting as arbiter over other nationalities it has chosen to include but not assimilate within its constructed society. We are thus not exempt from the necessity of participating in the process of reconciliation. Furthermore, we too, despite our urbanisation, are also a tribal people and for me the welcome to country had the familiar feel of the rites ancillary to being welcomed into a Greek brotherhood clubhouse, when one does not come from that region. Rebecca Axford also mentioned that Aboriginal elders are referred to as “Uncle” or “Aunt,” just as we too here in the diaspora show respect to our elders by called them «θείε» or «θεία».

A musical interlude followed, with the versatile and erudite Bryron Triantafyllidis demonstrating the use of the ancient Greek lyre and flute, even signing in ancient Greek and marvelling at how two disparate and yet venerable cultures as that of the Greeks and the Australian First Peoples made use as their musical foundation, the pentatonic scale.

Yorta Yorta/Gunditjmara/Kastellorisian activist Andrew Jackomos was perhaps the most fitting person to personify the melding of the two traditions for he belongs to both communities. In his address, he pointed out the similarities of our historical trajectories: both of our cultures are very old and we are both native peoples. Significantly, according to him, we have both suffered under colonialism, had our lands invaded and occupied, our language and religion proscribed and ourselves treated as second hand citizens. For Jackomos, the Greek story is particularly relevant to First Peoples because after centuries of fighting against injustice, that injustice was redressed, (although he maintained the need for the Greek people to be “watchful”), thus giving hope and providing a time context to the First People’s own campaign for justice. He also emphasised how important language is to maintaining culture and how as a result, there is a renaissance in reviving and teaching Aboriginal languages throughout Australia.

Ultimately however, it was the students of the GOCMV Greek language schools that made the most heartfelt and intensely poignant contribution to the event. They provided an acknowledgement to Rebecca Axford’s welcome to country in Greek. Seeking to articulate a homage to the Dreamtime, they chose to do so by dramatizing the closest Greek equivalent: Aesop’s fables, and in particular, “The Hare and the Tortoise.” As their youthful voices, full of hope, acceptance and love enunciated the words of “Inanay,” a Torres Strait islander song and then sang the Greek version of the Seeker’s iconic “I am Australian,” the final words of Andrew Jackomos, who concluded his speech by pointing to the children saying: “These kids, these are the ones that will achieve reconciliation,” rang true. There was not a dry eye in the room.

In closing the event, GOCMV President Bill Papastergiadis referred to the Pontian Genocide and similar life experiences. He then made an important announcement. He pledged the GOCMV’s unequivocal support for the signing of a Treaty between the government and First Nations Peoples, thus redressing the ongoing denial of the existence, prior occupation and dispossession of First Nations Peoples in Australia and highlighted a lack of engagement and relationship between First Nations people and non-Indigenous Australians. This historically significant commitment has far-reaching consequences, in that it places our community at the forefront of the campaign for reconciliation.

Undoubtedly, this was a proud day for the Greek Community. The GOCMV Greek language schools’ pioneering approach to Greek culture and language acquisition, which prioritises and embraces multifaceted dialogue, outreach and social inclusion has far-reaching implications for the way the Greek discourse is negotiated in this country, down the generations. In the form of such luminaries as Maria Bakalidou, Christina Soumi, Katerina Poutachidou and so many other teachers, heroines walk among us. Identities are being formed and memories maintained in the best possible way under their expert and inspired watch. In no small way, they suggest a path of activism and community engagement in which our community can play a leading role in the maintenance of multiculturalism and the achieving of justice, simply, by being Greek.