Most of us can probably think of an Aboriginal person who sets an example in sport, in the arts, politics and government or community service.
But how many of us would know of a young Aboriginal woman who was placed third in the state for Modern Greek Beginners in the 2012 NSW Higher School Certificate?
Katarina Evelyn Hitchcox who attended the Newtown High School of the Performing Arts in inner-city Sydney studied Modern Greek Beginners by distance education with the Open High School, which in a further success, saw its students gain the first four places in Modern Greek Beginners from the entire statewide candidature. Having no Greek ancestry or any other personal connection with Greece, Katarina Evelyn scored an incredible 97 out of a possible 100 marks – a result which speaks volumes about her journey into the Greek language, a resilient language which will not be silenced.
According to all indications, at just twenty years of age she is the first Aboriginal student in Australia to learn Greek.
“I felt euphoric after receiving my results for Modern Greek,” she says excitedly.
Her happiness is shared by her teacher Dimitra Polly.
“She’s an incredible girl. When she got the results she called myself and Marina Notaras a colleague who also teaches in the Open High School languages, and we all cried of happiness and joy,” Mrs Polly says.
In a further success for the Open High School – according to Mrs Polly Katarina Evelyn as she prefers to be known – was an exceptional student whose work during her exams and assessments was outstanding.
“Every unit she returned was flawless, every conversation was flawless. She worked with Greeks and worked hard and fell in love with the language. She was like a sponge.
“She is a lifelong learner of languages. She is also very artistic. Her Christmas cards were written in Greek, all her emails are in Greek, her thank you cards were written in Greek. She has left a lifelong impression on me, the kind of woman whose story I will tell my grand children when I am old.”
Katarina Evelyn says that her love of the Greek language stemmed from her studies of the history and culture of ancient Greece including the Minoans of Crete, the Spartans, the Peloponnesian Wars and the Greco-Persian wars, which she says fascinated and intrigued her so much that she wanted to learn the language.
“I was also inspired reading works by and/or about famous Greeks such as Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Sappho, Themistocles, Leonidas,” she adds passionately.
Katarina Evelyn reflects the cultural map of Australia.
“I am of an Irish/Aboriginal/Polish background. My father, John Hitchcox is of Polish and Irish descent, born and raised in Dunedin, New Zealand. My mother Maree Hitchcox was born on Stradbroke Island, Australia and a few years later her parents moved to Auckland, New Zealand.”
Katarina Evelyn’s maternal grandfather Kevin Silverton Bache was a Koombumerri elder living in Southport Queensland who she says worked towards conserving the coastal fishing and wildlife habitat in that area. Her mother is a Noonuccal from Point Lookout, North Stradbroke Island, QLD.
As Katarina Evelyn explains, Aboriginal tribes are determined by one’s own place of birth, not by the place of birth of one’s ancestors. Born and bred in Newtown, she is from the Eora nation.
“I am occasionally ridiculed by non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal people alike for not having dark skin and ‘looking white’, but I can’t change my skin colour, that’s just the way I am. In my heart I know I’m indigenous and I’m truly proud to be an Aboriginal,” she says beaming with pride and integrity.
A whiz at languages, Katarina Evelyn studied Italian in high school scoring an impressive 98 per cent but says that Modern Greek was more difficult.
“Modern Greek was more challenging than Italian due to its extra number of cases, the three genders of words and grammatical rules.
“At first, I found it quite challenging learning how to read the Greek alphabet. After that difficulty was surpassed, the most challenging aspect has been understanding how and when to use the various different cases correctly and using the correct word ordering in sentences.
“However difficulty does not discourage me, when I am passionate about learning a subject, like I am with Greek, I will do whatever it takes, spend extra time studying in order to learn as much as possible.”
Katarina Evelyn says she has always been fascinated by foreign languages with her interest being sparked at primary school.
“Many languages were offered at my primary school including Mandarin Chinese, Vietnamese, Greek, German, Tongan, Macedonian and Filipino, and multiculturalism and multilingualism were strongly encouraged and valued,” she says.
Speaking Greek – or any language-means immersing oneself in its character and concepts and seeing the world through a new looking glass, a process to which this young woman is passionately devoted.
“I believe languages are the key to unlocking the doors that divide people of different cultures, as when you learn a language, you don’t just learn new words, but also about other ways of life, customs and traditions, diverse ways of thinking, different ways of viewing life, which to me is fascinating.”
Well aware of the globalised world in which she lives Katarina Evelyn passionately lives Greek lessons of the past.
“I strongly concur with what the wise Socrates said, ‘I am not an Athenian nor a Greek, but a citizen of the world.’ I am proud of my heritage however in this globalised world, I really feel that we are all simply people of this planet, despite country borders and language barriers. For that reason, I feel inclined to learn as many languages as I am able to, in order to break the barriers between people from different countries.”
In terms of future study, she is going to attend the University of Melbourne this year where she be studying a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Italian and Russian and with a Minor in Classical Greek.
“I will continue studying Modern Greek outside of school as I desire to be able to speak it fluently. My plans for the future are to become a translator or interpreter, to learn more languages and musical instruments and to do whatever is in my power to help people and make the world a better place for everyone.”
Her plans also include world travel with – not surprising – Greece the destination at the top of her list.
“I am keen to visit all of Greece, as there are so many wonderful things to see, however to name just a tiny few, the Minoan palaces in Crete, the petrified forest of Lesvos, and naturally the Acropolis and the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.”
A passion for everything Greek extends from history and language to other aspects of Greek culture.
“I play the baritone and alto saxophones as a street musician, but I really enjoy traditional Greek musical instruments, such as the bouzouki which I am learning to play. I like the motto of Greece ‘Liberty or Death’ ….because the freedom to live and to be yourself, is worth fighting for.”
Again citing Socrates, Katarina Evelyn says,
“Socrates said ‘I would rather die having spoken in my manner, than speak in your manner and live’. I am also familiar with OXI Day and have enjoyed participating in it for the last two years by reading Greek poetry at my local Greek Orthodox Church.”
The Australian branch of AHEPA the largest Hellenic Association in the world with branches in the United States, Canada, Greece, Cyprus, Australia and New Zealand will award a scholarship to Katarina Evelyn for her talent and determination in conquering such a challenging foreign language. In a special ceremony which will take place on 24 February she will receive her scholarship.
We live in a time when many native languages are at risk of dying out, their mortality a reminder of the mortality of their cultures and all that is lost when a language goes silent. With the value of Modern Greek as a language in tertiary institutions being hotly debated in NSW and indeed Australia wide, Katarina Evelyn makes the future look brighter.
“It is an inspiration, we have the kids and it is stories like this that prove our language we speak is worthy of learning no matter who you are or where you’re from,” says her teacher Mrs Polly.
“Her talent and love and fast learning approach to the Greek language with an Aboriginal background were mind-boggling for us and so powerful. She is self-teaching herself how to play the bouzouki. My goal is to have her play bouzouki on Radio Arvila in Thessaloniki.”
Certainly in speaking with Katarina Evelyn one gets the feeling there are many more layers and complexities to this amazing young woman yet to be unpacked.
In her, for both her own culture and ours, stands a proud resilience in the face of adversity, a reverence for the old, an awareness that in important ways a key to our collective future lies behind us – that, and her passionate insistence that the Greek language still has much to say.
Socrates would have been so proud.