The mezzanine at the Greek Community of Melbourne’s Hellenic Centre was bursting with excitement on Sunday, 26 March as Juliana Charpantidou presented her highly anticipated book, “The Embodiment of a Distant Homeland: The History of the GOCMV.”
A history of the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria from its foundation to 1972, the text chronicles the organisation’s formative years and the various intrigues therein.
The launch was well received by members of the community, who embraced the initiative owing to a strong interest in preserving the collective memory and self-awareness of our diaspora in Melbourne.
Speakers at the event noted that Charpantidou’s book provides a means for integrating the GCM into the general context of Greek diaspora organisations, illuminating till now unseen aspects of our history for younger generations.
Addressing the crowd Charpantidou said “this book was a project in the making for many years and I’m very proud to be standing here today to present you my work.”
“I’m very satisfied with the end result. I feel that today I’m among new friends and the family I have created in Australia,” she added.
“I feel I’ve achieved a life-long dream not only to be involved in the field of research but to write the history of the Greek community throughout the years.”
In attendance were the Consul General of Greece in Melbourne, Emmanuel Kakavelakis, president of the GCM Bill Papastergiadis and GCM board member Dr Nick Dallas.
Other guests included Greek Australian Cultural League president Cathy Alexopoulos, president of the Hellenic Writers’ Association of Australia, Roma Siachos and Network of Greek Women of Victoria president Niki Matziaris-Garay.
The author thanked the GCM, and praised its president Bill Papastergiadis alongside the centre’s CEO, Jorge Menidis and Dr Nick Dallas for their continued support.
While “The Embodiment of a Distant Homeland” does focus on the history of the GCM, its scope is not limited to the organisation.
It is a history of our community as a whole, especially in its initial chapters, recounting our diaspora’s past, our journey to Australia and our memories of the homeland.
Speaking at the launch, GCM president Bill Papastergiadis stated “today is a very important day for the GOCMV because we have the honour to present you a book that concerns us all.”
“This book expresses in the clearest way the commitment of our Community to one of the main pillars of our mission, that of its contribution to the preservation of our collective memory and the necessary reflection of our past.”
The product of painstaking research, the book is based on primary sources from the minutes and archives of the GCM, the National Archives of Australia, La Trobe University’s Dardalis Archives of the Hellenic Diaspora as well Greek and English language newspapers of the period.
As Giorgos Anagnostou recently wrote in Neos Kosmos, “The Embodiment of a Distant Homeland” will stand as a resource in which the coming generations of our community can find clear explanations of the causes and conditions that brought our people to Australia.
It also provides answers as to the general exclusion of women, first from the male-dominated Community; later from its administration.
The book’s later chapters make mention of Neos Kosmos, stating that since its first publication in 1957, Neos Kosmos has become a guardian of the GCM and a supporter of its ascendancy in the representation of the diaspora.
A position that, according to Neos Kosmos‘ own editor-in-chief, Sotiris Hatzimanolis, who spoke at the launch “remains unchanged till this day.”
At the event it was announced an English language version of the book will soon be released, while it was also revealed that plans for a follow up concerning the GCM’s history from 1972 onwards are in the works.
