I would like to pay tribute to and remember Dimitris Gogos, a great Australian and a very proud Greek Australian.
For Australia’s Greek community Mr Gogos was a local hero.
He arrived in Australia as a 19-year-old in 1950 and landed a job at Holden.
But his love was journalism.
On his 26th birthday, in fact, he launched his own newspaper.
That newspaper was Neos Kosmos—literally ‘New World’—and it is still going strong.
Thousands like me grew up reading this paper, as did our parents and grandparents. It is not just a paper delivering Greek news; it is a paper that delivers local news in Greek.
That is why Neos Kosmos is one of the staples of my community, and it has supported my community for over 60 years.
For those from a non-English-speaking background this paper has been vital. Dimitri was not just a newspaper man; he was a community leader and a champion of the rights of people, particularly the working class.
READ MORE: Dimitris Gogos funeral – a sad farewell for NK’s founder
I quote from his own newspaper last week: “A huge proponent of multiculturalism, Mr Gogos was proactive when it came to ensuring that proposals by Neos Kosmos were adopted by the Australian government. Many of the policies of Gough Whitlam in 1972 were suggestions made by Mr Gogos, and these proposals were later continued by Liberal PM Malcolm Fraser.”
Dimitris Gogos, we thank you, we honour your contribution and we will remember what you achieved for all those who came here from distant lands. My sincere sympathies to his son Chris, who now runs the newspaper, to the rest of his family and to the broader Neos Kosmos family on behalf of the Victorian government.