Tag: Australia

Australia’s Hellenic Community Celebrated at the 2016 HACCI Excellence Awards
The winners of the 2016 HACCI Excellence Awards were announced at the HACCI Excellence Awards Gala Ball at the Grand Hyatt Savoy Ballroom on November 18.

For the past 40 years, HACCI has focused on giving recognition to individuals who have demonstrated success in their own pursuits as well as acting as community leaders.

HACCI Chair Georgina Poulos told neoskosmos.com during the nomination process the she feels “The contribution of the Hellenic Australian community has had a tremendous impact in shaping the fabric of the Australia we live in today.”

The awards were handed out as follows:
- Gregory Gavrilides, Australia’s Greek community and one of the country’s most successful property developers won the Spiros Stamoulis Lifetime Achievement Award
- Kathy Staples, former investment banker, cancer survivor, cookbook author and owner of the Sweet Greek won the Delphi Bank Business Excellence Award
- Con Mylonas, a former neurosurgeon, and current barrister and chairman of the Spinal Research Institute shared the Professional Excellence Award with Professor Dennis Velakoulis, Head of Neuropsychiatry at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Clinical Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Melbourne
- Fotini Karakitsos, a geologist, microbiologist, and researcher won the Chris Saristavros Young Achievers Award
- Helen Zahos, a community nurse who traveled to the Aegean island of Lesvos to help at the migrant hotspot won the Community Service Award
- Ange Postecoglou, Australia’s national football/soccer head coach won the Sporting Excellence Award, awarded by the South Melbourne Football Club
(au.greekreporter.com)
December 1, 2016
Early Learning Languages Australia to Kick-off Preschool Program Teaching Modern Greek

On Monday the Early Learning Languages Australia (ELLA) program announced open applications for its educational program which uses the application called Polyglots to help teach foreign languages.

The announcement comes as the Australian government has committed itself to upping funding in promoting foreign languages in education programs, including an outreach to preschool-aged students.

Only 12 percent of children in Australia currently study a secondary language at school, government officials reported.

So far there are over 10,000 children who take part in the language program, utilizing the app to learn Chinese, Japanese, French, Indonesian and Arabic.

ELLA also announced that along with Modern Greek, Hindi will also be available to youngsters in 2018, while other new languages to kick-off in 2017 include Italian and Spanish.

“Seeing and hearing young children counting, following recipes and singing in a language that isn’t their native tongue, you understand how engaging this app is and why it has had such positive feedback from kids, educators and families,” Minister for Education and Training Simon Birmingham commented to neoskosmos.com.

Applications are now open for all Australian childcare centers and preschools at www.ella.edu.au

(au.greekreporter.com)

December 1, 2016
Alexander the Great: Pioneering Multiculturalism

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of its foundation, the Australian Institute of Macedonian Studies (AIMS), in collaboration with the Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM) and the Pan-Macedonian Association presents the musical concert “Alexander the Great: Pioneering Multiculturalism”.

The concert will take place on Wednesday, October 26 at 8 pm in one of the world’s finest music halls, the Melbourne Recital Centre or “Elizabeth Murdoch Hall”. The hall is renowned for its architectural style and acoustic perfection.

The music has been written specifically for this concert by the well-known Melbournian composer Christos Ioannidis. Some of Christos’ most popular compositions include the “Free Besieged”, “Massa Confusa”, “Syphonia Polyethnic” and “Southern Landscape”.

The current piece sweeps a great narrative arc, celebrating Alexander the Great’s life and achievements in promoting the Hellenic ideals within a vast multicultural empire. An important theme of the concert is Alexander’s role in pioneering multiculturalism and nurturing an intermingling of Greek civilization, language and traditions with those of Asia.

The music will be performed by the Camerata Chamber Orchestra, consisting of 23 musicians who are managed by one of Australia’s leading conductors and music educators, Douglas Heywood OAM.

In 1995 Douglas was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in recognition of his service to music education and community music and in 2013 he was named Hobson’s Bay Australia Day Citizen of the Year for “making an outstanding contribution to the artistic and cultural life of the city and services to the community of Hobsons Bay”.

The soloists, nationally renowned baritone Adrian McEniery and the multi award-winning soprano Lauren Savrasov (Oldham), will be joined by the 52-member Camerata Chorus.

A complimentary program will be distributed to all guests. This program will include lyrics to the songs and excerpts from the poetry that will be recited during the performance in both Greek and English.

This is a unique opportunity to commemorate a great historical figure and to celebrate his vision of multiculturalism and harmony, a vision that is more relevant than ever to our own contemporary society.

(www.greekcommunity.com.au)

October 4, 2016
Seven Network Finally Apologizes for Saying FYROM is Home of Alexander the Great and King Philip II

After much protest and demands for a retract, Seven Network has finally offered an apology for their presenters referring to FYROM as the home of Alexander the Great and King Philip II during the 2016 Rio Olympics opening ceremony.

Following an outpour of major Greek organizations condemning the blunder over the past several weeks, Kerry Stokes AC, Seven Network Chairman, finally responded to the issue in a letter addressed to the Greek Embassy in Australia.

“Greece can proudly claim Alexander the Great as one of their own. We apologize. It was not our network’s intention to disappoint our viewers. I do hope you will accept our sincere apologies for the miscommunication,” Stokes said.

However, the blunder of the network stating that King Phillip II of Macedonia is FYROM’s first Olympian champion touched the Greek community of Australia profoundly. Both the Greek Community of Melbourne and the Pan-Macedonian Association sent letters to the network nearly one month ago.

“To simply say in a throw-away line that FYROM’s first gold medal at the games was won by King Philip of Macedon (Alexander the Great’s Father) is wrong on so many levels and offensive to every Hellene and philhellene who knows their history and understands the importance of identity and cultural lineage,” read the letter sent to Kerry Stokes by GCM President, Bill Papastergiadis.

The apology from the network did not offer an explanation as to how the incorrect information came to be a part of the announcer’s script, nor did it offer an explanation as to why the NBC Universal network in the USA made the same blunder.

Thus far, NBC has not reacted to the outcry of Greek communities, including Members of Congress Gus Bilirakis and Carolyn Maloney who wrote a letter to Stephen Burke, the CEO of NBC Universal network back on August 18.

(au.greekreporter.com)

September 8, 2016