“Greeks in Australia are not racists and we thank you for that.”
Those were the words of Indigenous Australian performer Pascoe Braun, who last week decided to get all dressed up in blue and white and attend one of the 25 March Independence Day events organised in Adelaide to celebrate one of the most historical days for the Greek nation, the commemoration of 200 years of freedom and Hellenism.
“I grew up with Greeks around me and I respect and love everything about them. When I heard about the celebrations, I really wanted to be there to express my gratitude and admiration towards them on this important day. I sat at the back as I didn’t want to offend anyone by being there,” said Mr Pascoe who was born in Alice Springs in April 1963.
“My mum and dad were really young when they fell in love. They used to secretly meet up at an open-air cinema and I am convinced I was conceived there. Unfortunately, my mum (Indigenous and also part German) was only 16 years old when she gave birth to me and her family did not approve of her relationship with my father, a half Aboriginal half Scottish man. As soon as I was born, I was taken to a ‘receiving home’ and despite my father’s attempts to ‘reverse my destiny’, I was given up for adoption to a very dysfunctional Australian family in Adelaide.”
The 57-year-old artist told Neos Kosmos that back then the churches were secured as agents for governments to “steal Aboriginal children, infants and babies as we would integrate and assimilate easier and more importantly faster.
“I was labelled as a half caste illegitimate abo child on my birth certificate.”
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Mr Pascoe attended a private high school before moving to Unley High to finish Year 12.
Unley High at the time was overflowing with Greek Australian students who welcomed the young, troubled man.
“Most of my school years were not a good experience for me. I came face to face with different forms of bullying and racism, mainly due to the colour of my skin. Things changed for the better when I moved to Unley High. The Greek children there were so welcoming and – in a way – I felt like they understood my pain given they were also going through their own hardships. We became friends, they looked after me, and we shared beautiful memories together. The friendliness of those Greek kids was truly inspirational and touched my heart in the most innocent way. Through them I grew to love and have the utmost respect for the country and its people, their history, Greek mythology, and ancient culture,” said the
NITV presenter who went against all odds, completing high school and then going on to study journalism at the RMIT University in Melbourne.
He says his experience with the Greek filotimo and filoxenia continued there.
“When in Melbourne, I stayed in shared accommodation. The Greek landlord, named George, was an incredibly generous and kind man. George’s mother used to bring me Greek food making life a little easier for me while studying,” Mr Pascoe said, noting that the reason why the Greeks have earned so much respect Down Under is because they worked hard and were the first to show respect to everyone, including the indigenous people.
He goes so far as to say that the Greek migrants’ presence in Australia assisted the aboriginal people over the decades.
“We are actually lucky that so many Greeks as well as other nationalities from different countries and cultures came to Australia when they did because otherwise things would have been even more difficult for the indigenous people. We are forever grateful to them for that,” Mr Pascoe said. He returned to Alice Springs at the age of 18 hoping to meet his biological parents.
There, he was told that his father was found dead at an alley the year before.
He said that to this day, he struggles to come to terms with the fact that he never got to meet his father but is grateful that he at least got to meet his biological mother who died a few years later while still in her 30s. Before she died, Pascoe’s mother revealed to her son that the day the Royal Flying Doctors’ airplane was taking him away from her and Alice Springs, she was at the airport waving goodbye to the airplane that was carrying the baby she never got to hold.
Today, Mr Pascoe lives in Adelaide and works as a presenter for the NITV (National Indigenous Television), an Australian free-to-air television channel that broadcasts programming produced and presented largely by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
In his spare time, he mentors young children, he is a performer and short film producer.
Looking back, Mr Pascoe said he is still happy with how his life turned out and is forever grateful to those who have helped him along the way.
“The Greeks have always come to my rescue and I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you for that,” he said.