When Christina Despoteris went to Ballarat for a meeting of the Art and Craft Committee of the Royal Melbourne Show she was taken to pay her respects at the George Devine Treloar Memorial on Sturt Street which is the city’s main road and serves as its Avenue of Statues.
George Treloar, who was born in Ballarat, had a special connection to Greece. In the First World War he served in the British Army and after the war, he served as the Refugee Commissioner in northern Greece for the League of Nations. He played a key role in the resettlement of over 100,000 Christian refugees as part of the population exchange that followed the Asia Minor Catastrophe of 1922-23.
He oversaw the establishment of many new villages to house the refugees. The village of Thrylorion in Thrace was named after him. He was honoured with numerous awards including Greece’s Order of the Holy Redeemer.
READ MORE: Greece’s refugee helper George Treloar honoured in Ballarat
The City of Ballarat erected George Treloar Memorial in 2019 with support from a number of Greek-Australian organisations and individuals, including Ms Despoteris.
“The (Art and Craft Committee of the Royal Melbourne Show) committee members knew of my involvement with the production of the memorial and as soon as I asked if we could all go and see it, firstly to pay our respects and secondly to view the sculpture as a piece of art, they did not hesitate,” said Ms Despoteris.
READ MORE: An evening with Lis Johnson, sculptor of the George Treloar memorial
