Month: September 2013

Αυτές τις μέρες και, συγκεκριμένα, την Τετάρτη, 28 Αυγούστου, συμπληρώθηκαν 184 χρόνια από τότε που, αποδεδειγμένα, πάτησαν το πόδι τους στην Αυστραλία οι πρώτοι Έλληνες.

Συγκεκριμένα, ήσαν 7 Υδραίοι ναυτικοί, τους οποίους οι Άγγλοι είχαν κατηγορήσει και καταδικάσει για “πειρατεία”.
Άλλες πληροφορίες αναφέρουν ότι Έλληνες είχαν φτάσει στην Αυστραλία πριν από τους επτά κατάδικους, αλλά αυτό δεν έχει αποδειχθεί με στοιχεία.
Την υπόθεση της άφιξης, έστω και αναγκαστικής, αυτών των Ελλήνων στην Αυστραλία την έχει ερευνήσει διεξοδικά – όπως και τη γενικότερη ιστορία της ελληνικής μετανάστευσης στην ήπειρο αυτή – ο Χιού Γκίλχριστ, ο οποίος υπήρξε πρέσβης της Αυστραλίας στην Ελλάδα για αρκετά χρόνια και ο οποίος επί δεκαετίες εργάστηκε μεθοδικά πάνω στο αντικείμενο αυτό, δίνοντας συνταρακτικές και αποκαλυπτικές πτυχές του ζητήματος.

Σύμφωνα, λοιπόν, με τον Χιού Γκίλχριστ, τον Ιούλιο του 1827 -κατά τη διάρκεια του αγώνα των Ελλήνων κατά των Οθωμανών- στο Λιβυκό Πέλαγος, το υδραίικο σκάφος «Ηρακλής», με εννεαμελές πλήρωμα, σταματά το αγγλικό πλοίο «Alceste»- που κατευθύνεται στην Αλεξάνδρεια- απ’ όπου αφαιρεί μέρος του φορτίου του.
Κοντά στην Κρήτη, όμως, το «Ηρακλής» καταδιώχτηκε από άλλο αγγλικό πλοίο, αιχμαλωτίστηκε και οδηγήθηκε στη Μάλτα, που τότε ήταν υπό αγγλική κυριαρχία. Εκεί το πλήρωμα παραπέμφθηκε σε δικαστήριο, του οποίου πρόεδρος ήταν ο γνωστός ναύαρχος Κόρδιγκτον.

Στη δίκη αυτή οι Έλληνες ναυτικοί υποστήριξαν ότι επιτέθηκαν στο «Alceste», επειδή μετέφερε εφόδια για τους Τούρκους που ήσαν εχθροί τους. Τελικά, οι 7 από τα μέλη του πληρώματος καταδικάστηκαν σε θάνατο και οι 2 αθωώθηκαν. Ακολούθησαν έντονες παρασκηνιακές διαδικασίες αμφισβήτησης του αποτελέσματος της δίκης και παρέμβαση του Κουντουριώτη στο Λονδίνο και έτσι οι θανατικές ποινές μετατράπηκαν σε ποινές εξορίας στην Αυστραλία. Έτσι, οι Έλληνες κατάδικοι πλέον, Γεώργιος Βασιλάκης, Γκίκας Βούλγαρης, Γεώργιος Λαρίτσος, Αντώνης Μανόλης, Δαμιανός Νίνης, Νικόλαος Παπανδρέας και Κωνσταντίνος Στρομπόλης, έφτασαν στο Σίδνεϊ στις 28 Αυγούστου 1829. Έπειτα από διπλωματικές και άλλες κυβερνητικές ενέργειες, πήραν χάρη το 1834 και οι πέντε από αυτούς επέστρεψαν στην Ελλάδα, εκτός των Γκίκα Βούλγαρη και Αντώνη Μανόλη που έμειναν στην Αυστραλία ως ελεύθεροι άποικοι.

Ο τάφος του Μανόλη υπάρχει ακόμα στη Νέα Νότια Ουαλία στο χωριό Πίκτον, περίπου 100 χιλιόμετρα νοτιοδυτικά του Σίδνεϊ.
Γνωστός ως «Antonios Manolis», είναι καταγραμμένος ως «Αντώνιος του Μανώλη» στα επίσημα έγγραφα του αυστραλιανού Κράτους.
Πέρασε τα δύο-τρίτα της ζωής του στην περιοχή του Γουολοντίλι και αναπαύεται  στο Κοιμητήριο του Άνω Πίκτον από το 1880.
Ο Αντώνης Μανώλης παντρεύτηκε μια Ιρλανδή και παρέμεινε στη Νέα Νότια Ουαλία. Από τότε και μέχρι τον θάνατό του το 1880, ο Αντώνης ήταν αγρότης στην περιοχή του Πίκτον, ένας από τους πρώτους που καλλιέργησαν τη γη στην περιοχή αυτή.

An opinion piece by military historian Professor Peter Stanley about the NSW resolution into the genocides by the Ottoman Empire

The NSW Parliament recently passed a resolution condemning the genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman empire against its Assyrian, Pontic Greek and especially Armenian communities during the Great War.

The Turkish Consul-General in Sydney, the foreign ministry in Ankara and even the city council in Çanakkale (Gallipoli) immediately responded. They deny that the genocide even occurred and have warned state parliamentarians that they will not be welcome in Turkey when the two nations commemorate the centenary of the Gallipoli campaign in 2015.

Australians unaware of the details might be surprised at the vehemence of the Turkish response. Aren’t Turkey and Australia friends? Don’t the Turks generously welcome Australian and New Zealand visitors to Gallipoli throughout the year but especially in April? What have we done to offend them?

The answer is that the parliamentarians have had the temerity to acknowledge the truth about one of the great crimes against humanity of the twentieth century. (Let’s for the moment put aside the question of whether a parliament’s view is even relevant. If the parliamentarians had resolved that the genocide had not happened it would still be a historical fact. But both Turks and Armenians regard legislative endorsement of their version of the past as scalps, and the Armenians are winning.)

Australians have been captivated by the Turkish narrative of Gallipoli. The Turkish nation has built around the campaign (in which they defeated a British (and Anzac) and French invasion of Turkish soil) a national epic of salvation. That Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the father of the modern Turkish nation, commanded some of its defenders makes Gallipoli part of Turkey’s national founding myth. In this, the two nations have something in common.
The problem is that the day before the 1915 invasion, the Ottoman empire, suspicious of its Armenian minority, embarked upon the systematic elimination of the empire’s Armenian population. Impartial scholars accept that about a million-and-a-half of the empire’s two million Armenians were killed directly or died of starvation and sickness over the next few years. Neutral missionaries and diplomats, and even Turkey’s German allies, witnessed and reported the massacres and deportations – as did Anzac prisoners of war.

The world was outraged at the time, and the surviving Armenian community, including a substantial Armenian diaspora in the Middle East, Europe, North America and Australia, has never forgotten it. Turkey, on the other hand, denies that genocide occurred, disputing its definition in international law or arguing that while villagers may have been deported, they died of incidental causes.

The NSW resolution disrupts the astoundingly successful charm offensive Turkey has conducted in Australia for years, fostering a positive relationship with Australia through the shared ordeal of Gallipoli. The NSW resolution, instigated by Australia’s energetic Armenian National Council and promoted by the Christian Democrat MP Rev. Fred Nile (but also by the premier Barry O’Farrell), has upset Australia’s acquiescence with Turkey’s desire to emphasise the shared history of Gallipoli while eliminating any reference to the genocide.

You might argue that the Armenian genocide is remote from the Australian experience of the Great War. In fact, Australian troops (both prisoners of war and combatants) encountered the genocide and its effects, and Australian civilians contributed vast amounts of money and time to the international relief effort mounted from 1915 and for years afterwards. In effect, Australian troops in the Middle East were fighting to defeat a regime capable of state sponsored atrocity, just as Australia’s forces in the Second World War were fighting to defeat the regime responsible for the Holocaust. The Armenian genocide is part of the story of the Great War, something to which Australians should not be blind, and certainly not blinded by Turkish denial.

The controversy obliges Australians to take sides. I am an impartial historian, having been convinced of the facts by the historical evidence. That claim makes me immediately suspect in Turkish eyes. I suppose I’ll be banned as well. But having examined the evidence, I am co-writing a book on Australia and the Armenian genocide. As president of the recently-formed coalition Honest History, dedicated to standing up for honesty in our relationship to the past, I cannot connive with the falsification of history.

Australia and Turkey are friends. But friends tell each other the truth. They don’t react like children – ‘if you say that you can’t be my friend anymore!’. Turkey’s extraordinary response to the NSW parliamentarians will oblige Australians to choose between being a friend of Turkey or being a friend of the truth. I know which way I choose.

* Professor Peter Stanley is a military historian at the University of NSW, Canberra. This article was first published in Eureka Street, a publication of the Australian Jesuits.

The Coalition have promised Melbourne’s Greek Community, if elected, nearly half a million dollars to fund the new Cultural Centre.

In a meeting held in Melbourne this week – between NSW Senator Arthur Sinodinos, who is expected to be the next finance Minister of Australia if the Coalition is elected, Bill Papastergiadis, President of the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria (GOCMV) and Treasurer of GOCMV Nick Parthimos, Senator Sinodinos revealed that his party was willing to allocate $455,000 over three years for an archivist and a curator at the GOCMV.

The announcement came after a briefing with the Senator about the progress of the Community’s building and new Greek Cultural Centre currently under construction at the corner of Lonsdale and Russell Street, Melbourne.

Senator Sinodinos was also briefed about the program of events which the Greek Community of Melbourne and Victoria (GOCMV) runs annually, including the Antipodes Street Festival, Film Festival, Food Festival, Writers Festival, the Seminar Series and its education activities for 1,500 students through Alphington Grammar and the six afternoon schools.

“I am excited by this new building and the hard work undertaken by the Board led by Bill Papastergiadis,” said Mr Sinodinos.

“The Board has unified the Community in Melbourne and it is pleasing to note that any Government can now comfortably deal with an organisation like the GOCMV which is truly representative. It is important that the Liberal

Party seeks to support this initiative. It is a truly remarkable project which deserves our support”.

He then went on to announce that a Coalition Government (if elected) would fund the new Greek Community Cultural centre to the value of $455,000 for the two positions of archivist and a curator over a period of three years.

“This Centre has enormous implications for Greeks in Australia and for the wider society,” said Mr Papastergiadis.

“We aim to develop strong relationships through the Center with the broader society and to partner with the leading Arts organisations like The State Library of Victoria, Federation Square and The National Gallery of Victoria.

The GOCMV aims to play a major role in multiculturalism in Australia by making the new Center the focal point for exchange of views, conferences and seminars.”

Following the offer of support, Mr Papastergiadis thanked Senator Sinodinos and the Liberal Party led by Tony Abbott and quoted that:

“It is encouraging that the Greek Community of Melbourne has bipartisan support on key projects and we welcome the time we had to explain our project in detail to Senator Sinodinos.

The Senator was attentive to the issues confronting Greeks in Victoria and was interested in finding a way forward in future dealings with one another”.

Senator Sinodinos speaking to Neos Kosmos described the initiatives of the Greek Community of Melbourne and Victoria as an example of what can be achieved by other Greek communities in Australia