On the evening of 29 March at 7pm the Pallaconian Brotherhood of Melbourne and Victoria “Leonidas” will host a public lecture by Mr Emanuel J Comino, on the topic of the return of the Parthenon Marbles, it it’s hall at 253 Albert Street, Brunswick.
Mr Comino is the founder and Chair of the International Organising Committee – Australia – For the Restitution of the Parthenon Sculptures, and Vice Chair of the International Association for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures.
He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day Honours List in 1985.
In 2003 Mr Comino was invited to speak about the case for the return of the Parthenon Marbles at the Hague in the Netherlands.
Reaching 90 years of age this year, Mr Comino was born in Queensland but spent his early years in his ancestral home of Kythera in Greece.
He returned to Australia as a teenager and worked at various cafes, until 1952 when he was called up for National Service in the Royal Australian Air Force in Townsville.
Trained as a military photographer, he flew in Lincoln bombers during the Korean War, later joining the RAAF reserve for a further seven years.
It was in the 1970’s that Mr Comino became horrified at what he saw as the looting of Greek antiquities, scattered throughout European museums.
In particular, he was inspired to action by the Classical Greek marble sculptures removed from the Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens between 1801 and 1812, from there taken to Britain.
Mr Comino’s lecture will be preceded by a short introduction by the Pallaconian Brotherhood’s youth president Miltiadis Paikopoulos.
Among representatives from a slew of Greek Australian organisations, supporters of the movement and members of the public; the Consul General of the Hellenic Republic in Melbourne, Mr Emmanuel Kakavelakis is expected to attend the event.
More information on the event can be found via the organisation’s Facebook page here.
When: Wednesday 29 March, 7pm
Where: 253 Albert Street, Brunswick
