Recently commemorative events were held across Greece, Australia and the world in recognition of the Asia Minor catastrophe. The refugee work of Australians Joice and Sydney Loch helping the refugees of the catastrophe has also been celebrated and honoured in northern Greece.
Joice and Sydney came to Greece in the wake of the First World War and the Asia Minor catastrophe. Primarily writers and journalists, they had established a reputation as organizers of assistance to the tens of thousands of war refugees that had flooded Eastern Europe following the end of the war.
Working with the Society of Friends – the Christian Quakers – they would move to Greece, firstly to the then American Farm School east of Thessaloniki and then to Ouranoupoli on the Chalkidiki peninsula. Here they would work to assist Christian refugees that arrived there having fled persecution in Asia Minor following the end of the Greco-Turkish war and the ensuing population exchange agreed between Greece and the new state of Turkey. They would help these desperate people by overseeing the provision of work skills such as carpet weaving and the provision of accommodation. The former would become known as “Pyrgos rugs”.
In the process they would fall in love with Greece, writing books about their experiences (including Sydney’s own publication on the wonders of Mount Athos). They would spend the rest of their lives there, Sydney passing away in 1954 and Joice in 1982. They are both buried near where they lived at Ouranoupoli.
Their refugee work has been honored in Greece with a museum dedicated to their lives and work at Ouranoupoli. Commemoratives plaques have been installed to Joice at her birthplace at Ingham in Queensland and where she once lived near Benalla in Victoria. Now their work had been honoured with two important events and the gift of two paintings from Australia to Greece.
Dr Harry Ballis is a Greek-born Australian academic and writer while George Petrou OAM is a Cypriot-born Melbourne artist. Both hail from Melbourne and both have been moved to honour the work of Joice and Sydney in their own unique ways.
Dr Ballis has been researching the life of Joice and Sydney for many years. His research has taken him across the world, to collections in various institutions and universities. They have also take him to the place of his birth in northern Greece. Dr Ballis said that after several years of persistent research, he now had access to most of Joice’s and Sydney Loch’s correspondence dating from between 1919 and mid-1970s.
He acknowledges his debt to many fellow researchers, particularly librarians and archivists from different libraries in Europe, including archivist Aris Bazmadelis from the Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, and librarian Damiana Koutsomiha from the Perrotis College which operates out of the former American Farm School building. He is also grateful to Stergios Vanglis for assisting him in his visits to the Ouranoupoli Tower, to access a range of original documents and Greek officials who were able to assist with his research. “My reading of the primary Loch sources presents many fascinating new insights into these two remarkable individuals”, Harry said.
His work has already resulted in a few groundbreaking biographical articles which provide insights to the results of his research. He contributed an essay on the Loch’s for the Greek Australian Cultural League’s special philhellene’s edition of their annual publication Antipodes and an extensive essay was published as part of George Petrou’s recent book The Art of Humanity. His research will culminate soon in the publication of the first fully researched and authenticated biography of the Loch’s.
George is a well-known Melbourne artist who has completed a number of impressive commemorative projects encompassing his own evocative portraits, well-attended exhibitions and lavishly illustrated publications. George’s The Art of Sacrifice featured 70 his portraits – with accompanying explanatory text – commemorating the service of a number of Anzacs.
George latest publication – The Art of Humanity – includes reproductions of three of his full-size portraits of Joice along with the accompanying article by Dr Ballis on the humanitarian work of the Lochs. George’s interest in the Loch’s led him to meet with members of the Loch family. The book also includes George’s portrait of the Ballarat refugee aid worker Major George Devine Treloar DSO MC for which I provided the accompanying article. Major Treloar had represented the League of Nations High Commissariat for Refugees in northern Greece, assisting in the resettlement of over 100,000 Christian refugees from Asia Minor in the 1920’s. The launch of this latest book was reported by Neos Kosmos.
In recognition of his contributions, George was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2020 for his ‘Services to the Visual Arts and to Veterans.’ He also serves as a patron for TPI Victoria Inc.
Both George and Harry recently travelled to northern Greece to take part in two commemorative events to the work of the Lochs at which George donated two of his paintings of Joice Loch. One took place at the former American Farm School building and the other at the Loch museum in the Tower at Ouranoupoli. Both events were attended by the Australian Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic Alison Duncan. Duncan was following in the footsteps of a previous Australian Ambassador – Hugh Gilchrist – who visited Joice at Ouranoupoli in the early 1970’s.
Both events were well attended. Those at the Tower included Nick Moutropoulos who was the child around whom Joice Loch had written her two children’s books, “Tales of Christophilos” and “Again Christophilos”. Also present was the 90-year-old Sophia Isaakidy who for many years worked alongside Joice Loch making the “Pyrgos rugs”. The paintings will now be displayed at the School and the Tower.
Dr Ballis said it was a great day to be in Greece to honour the work of the Lochs. “The contribution of Joice and Sydney to the resettlement of these refugees is little known in Greece and Australia. Any effort to promote awareness of their essential humanitarian work is welcome”, he said.
George said he was glad that his contribution honouring the work of the Lochs would now be seen at the locations where much of their work was carried out. “My personal contribution will I hope give added insight and amplification to the existing museu, contributing to a greater understanding of their work”, he said.
The Australian Ambassador Alison Duncan said that it was an honour to visit the Tower in Ouranoupoli with artist George Petrou OAM to donate his marvellous portrait of Joice to the tower – now a museum that tells the Loch’s story and showcases their unique Pyrgos rugs. The Ambassador had also recently been welcomed at her visit to the village of Thrylorio, one of the former refugee villages established by Major Treloar.
So if you are ever enjoying your well-earned holiday in northern Greece take some time out to visit the American Farm School outside Thessaloniki and the Loch Museum at the Tower in Ouranoupoli. There you will learn a bit more about the Australian connection to Greece. And you can view the amazing portraits by Melbourne’s George Petrou that now stand proudly in Greece, a vivid portrayal of the great work of Australia’s Joice and Sydney Loch and their work to help refugees in their hour of need.
Jim Claven OAM is a trained historian, freelance writer and published author who has researched the Hellenic link to Australia’s Anzac story over many years. The author of Lemnos & Gallipoli Revealed, Grecian Adventure and From Imbros Over The Sea, Jim has also researched some of the Australian involvement in the resettlement of Christian refugees in Greece following the Asia Minor Catastrophe. He is also Secretary of the George Treloar Memorial Committee and has visited the Loch museum at Ouranoupoli on a number of occasions. He can be contacted via email – jimclaven@yahoo.com.au
