In the Dardalis Archives of the Hellenic Diaspora, a document from 1997 was found listing the volunteers of the Australian Greek Welfare Society (AGWS), known today as PRONIA who were predominately female.
Also found was an account of the AGWS’ work in helping women and families over that year, most of which came from the volunteers.
Alongside government programs and grants, the welfare group has offered social services, community education and more, from the early 70s, primarily for the Greeks of Melbourne.
La Trobe University and the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria are jointly presenting a seminar about this find.
Hosted by Dr Alexandra Dellios, historian and senior lecturer from the Australian National University, the lecture is organised by La Trobe’s Greek Studies Program of the Department of Languages and Cultures and the Dardalis Archives of the Hellenic Diaspora.
Her research looks at the public and oral history of migrant and refugee communities, their experiences of settlement, and working and family life.
Some of her published work considers child migration; popular representations of multiculturalism; immigration centres and hostels; the intersections of migrant, industrial and labour heritage; public history practices, and cultural heritage management in Australia.
This time she’ll be looking at the AGWS and how important these document finds are, what kind of stories we can tell with them, and how they’ll enable researchers to explore the nature of ‘ethnic’ welfare debates from the 1970s to the 2000s, and the changes made to social services.
These documents show that Greek-Australian women played a key role in debates and discussions about multiculturalism and the nature of social welfare in Australia.
The seminar is the final one in “The History of the Greeks in Australia in Six Objects” series and will take place on November 8, from 7pm at the Greek Centre, 168 Lonsdale Street.
