The 56-year-old Greek Australian lawyer Harry Patsouris is a heavyweight in South Australia—but you wouldn’t know it from his subtle persona.
“I was never the sort of guy that wanted to be upfront; I was happy to do things in the background and make things happen”, he says. And he has made many things happen.
Patsouris, a trustee of the Hellenic Studies Foundation set up to improve Greek language programs and promote culture. Its events and collaborations promote the Greek language, arts, literature, and history through lectures, seminars, exhibits, and workshops.
Patsouris is clearly his father’s son, Reverend Father Diogenis Patsouris, now 86, has contributed to pastoral care, philanthropy, and education, including the creation of Saint George College, which is now an institution.
Patsouris has taken his mum and dad to Greece for a break, “he is 86, going strong and with us, along with mum who is 76”.
Patsouris is proud of the work of The Hellenic Studies Foundation.
“The Foundation is a positive thing for the community; it keeps the language being taught in many different institutions, from primary school to high school to the tertiary level. And Greek, the language, is the foundation stone of our culture.
“It began with the understanding that the Schism between the Greek Orthodox Community of SA and the Archdiocese was deep and alive in Adelaide.
He says the idea was “that everyone could coalesce around education”.
Theo Maras, who then headed GOCSA, and the late Basil Taliangis AM, the head of the Archdiocese, came together.
“Both stalwarts, from opposing sides, came together and said, ‘This is above church politics. Let’s come together.”
“The Foundation is apolitical in the religious sense and wants the focus to be on how to ensure “Greek survives, so it was a unique organisation, it brought people together from both sides”.
Patsouris recently locked in a deal between the Foundation and The Wiggles, Australia’s global children’s entertainment icons.
‘Learning Greek with Lucia’ with The Wiggles aims to revolutionise language education.
“It’s a game-changer,” he says.
Like many of us, Patsouris is concerned that fewer Greek Australians continue with Greek beyond years 10 and 11 and that much of the focus has been on “saving Greek at the university level.”
“If the numbers aren’t at year 10, where will it go?” he asks.
“‘Where’s it going to go?’ we asked ourselves, so we said, ‘let’s work the other end of the spectrum’.
“That was around the same time the government in South Australia was focused on getting kids into early learning from year three”, he says.
“We thought, ‘Hang on, what could we do in that space?’ and an opportunity arose to speak to The Wiggles.
“We had a conversation with The Wiggles at the Norwood Town Hall where they were performing as they were in Adelaide for a series of concerts; we ended up seeing them after the concert.
“The Wiggles gave us seats in the front row, so there’s these two middle-aged guys in suits walking to the front row, all these little kids over and families everywhere; it was hilarious”.
At The Wiggles gig, Patsouris and a colleague from the Foundation talked to “Anthony [from The Wiggles], who was there, and a couple of people, managers, legal and so on”, and the deal was struck.
The state government came in with support, and ‘Learning with Lucia’, which he calls “brilliant”, was born.
“We can’t do without support from people and the government”.
Right now, the Hellenic Foundation, again with the support of the state government, is working on creating “Modern Greek resources that can be used to meet the national curriculum”.
A Greek teacher in any year, primary or high school, can access standardised resources aligned with the curriculum.
Patsouris says he “loves to do things that resonate with the community.”
“For example, we brought the Replica Parthenon Sculptures to Adelaide and put them on an exhibition at the Festival Centre.”
“Last October, we held a conference, a first in South Australia, where we brought together Greek teachers from South Australia and professors from Sydney and Melbourne to discuss Greek language learning.”
To ensure the continued success of the Foundation, Patsouris wants “more young people involved”.
“We launched the Hellenic Collective an initiative which aims at bringing in younger people to ensure a continuation of Hellenism into future generations.”
Patsouris says one can do much when involved with community sense. “You can do a lot when you have the community in mind and behind you”.
Watch ‘Learning with Lucia’ here.
