Category Archives: Uncategorized

Australian patients of A1 Ward, 3rd Australian General Hospital, Turks Head Peninsula, Lemnos, 1915. PHOTO: EVELYN HUTT COLLECTION.

Jim Claven uncovers an amazing collection of images recording the Hellenic link to ANZAC, never before seen by the public.

I have been researching the role of Lemnos in Australia’s ANZAC story for many years now. One of the aspects of that story that sparked my interest was the huge archive of thousands of photographs – as well as diaries and letters – vividly recording the experience of the thousands of ANZAC soldiers and nurses who came to this northern Aegean island in 1915. And my sadness is that they have been largely ignored by historians and have effectively remained hidden from a wider audience – both here and in Greece.

So imagine my excitement when I was contacted by the family of Anzac Sister Evelyn Hutt and shown a large collection of photographs never before seen by the public.

Evelyn’s daughter, Ms Judith Gunnarsson, and Ms Deb Stewart, Evelyn’s granddaughter, revealed a wealth of photographs and postcards – more than 330 – as well as important memorabilia from Evelyn’s years as an Australian nurse in the First World War. Sitting with Judith in her apartment in Melbourne’s Caulfield, I listened to the stories told to Judith by her mother.

As I turned the pages of Evelyn’s albums, I saw an amazing collection of images recording the Hellenic link to ANZAC. The photographs in Evelyn’s collection reflect many of the aspects of the story of the Anzacs on Lemnos in 1915.

Lemnos played a critical role in the Gallipoli campaign, and was part of the Anzacs’ experience of that disastrous campaign. Its great protected bay at Mudros, with its surrounding shores and proximity to the Dardanelles, ensured its selection as the Allies forward base for the campaign.

From the arrival of the first troops in February 1915 until the departure of the Allied invasion force in January 1916, Lemnos was home to tens of thousands Allied troops, medical and other support personnel. On its shores the Anzacs practiced their landing routines. Lemnos was home to major medical facilities including Australian field hospitals, and the town of Sarpi home to the great ANZAC rest camp to which the battle-weary Anzacs returned in September and October. And it was to Lemnos that the Anzacs were evacuated after the end of the Gallipoli campaign.

Two ANZAC soldiers – Private Oscar Keyte and Campbell (forename indecipherable) – with hired donkeys, Lemnos, 1915. PHOTO: EVELYN HUTT COLLECTION.

Twenty-seven-year-old Evelyn arrived on Lemnos on 8 August 1915 with the other nurses of the 3rd Australian General Hospital. She had sailed from Melbourne’s Princes Pier aboard the RMS Mooltan. Born in Bagdad in Tasmania, she was tall and looks confident in the portrait shots taken of her prior to her departure. In fact, the matron of the Hobart General Hospital, where she gained her nursing training, commended Evelyn’s work as “excellent” and wrote that she could “be entirely depended upon in an emergency”.

Evelyn and the other nurses were thrown into an emergency from the day they arrived. With the field hospital barely constructed on the rise above the Turks Head Peninsula, 200 patients arrived at the hospital before breakfast on 9 August. These were the first of hundreds of casualties flowing from the bitter fighting of the offensive that began on 6 August. By 13 August, Evelyn and her fellow nurses were treating 900 patients.

The Australian nurses endured summer heat and winter gales, all exposed on the peninsula jutting into the huge bay. Initially lacking basic medical equipment, the nurses and the other medical staff performed miracles in treating the sick and wounded. In the end, the nurses’ efforts would be singled out for commendation by the medical authorities.

Thousands of diggers and other Allied soldiers owed their lives to the care of Matron Grace Wilson and her nurses. Judith remembers Evelyn speaking of her enormous respect for Matron Wilson.

One of the 148 diggers who did not survive was Private Alfred Edwards of the 12th Battalion. We don’t know if Evelyn cared for him but he was a blacksmith from her home town of Bagdad in Tasmania. Only 19 years old, he died of wounds and was buried in the growing military cemetery established at Portianou.

We do know that Evelyn was touched by the diggers in her care. One dying digger with no sweetheart at home gave Evelyn a token to remind her of him. It was a Peruvian coin. Evelyn had it made into a brooch and Judith tells us that she treasured the brooch and never forgot about this young digger on Lemnos all those years before.

While on Lemnos, Evelyn was given two other gifts by diggers. One was an Ottoman soldier’s Koran and the other a hand-stitched Ottoman flag. The Koran records that it was taken from a Turkish soldier on 7 August 1915 – presumed killed at Lone Pine on the peninsula – by Kyneton-born Sergeant Robert Alexander Murdoch of the 4th Battalion. Evelyn would most likely have met Robert when he was admitted to her hospital in October suffering from dysentery. He recovered, returned to Gallipoli and finally came again to Lemnos in December. He survived the war.

Australian sisters with local villagers.

Evelyn’s photographic collection captures the life of the Anzacs on Lemnos, from the nurses arriving in Mudros Bay, rudimentary accommodation on the slopes of the peninsula, to the smart rows of tents that signalled the improved conditions at the hospitals on Lemnos. One is of two presumably Australian soldiers outside their tents, a box of Arnott’s biscuits at their feet – a reminder of home.

There is one photograph of young Australian soldiers, now patients in the A1 ward of Evelyn’s hospital on Lemnos. They stare into the camera, a few smiling and others more difficult to read. I wonder what suffering and horror they had witnessed and endured.

The collection also includes photographs of moments of relaxation. There is one of an army band marching through the hospital, entertaining the nurses and soldiers. Another shows a group of diggers acting up at the Anzac Rest Camp at Sarpi, across the bay from the hospitals, and often visited by the Australian nurses.

But for me some of the most important images are those featuring the interaction between the Anzacs and the local Lemnian community on the island. During the months that the Anzacs stayed on Lemnos, they spread out across the island, visiting its villages, kafenion and natural springs. Evelyn’s collection adds to the evidence of this experience.

We see a photograph of the 4th Battalion’s Private Oscar Keyte, a dentist from NSW, and another soldier standing with their hired donkeys, a village and the distinctive windmills of Lemnos behind them. There is one of a group of Anzacs, some on their donkeys, guided by local Lemnian children, most likely on their way to Therma and its natural hot springs.

Evelyn and many other Anzacs visited Portianou, one of the main villages on Lemnos. Her photographs show the village houses and lanes. One shows Australian nurses and soldiers with local women and children, entitled ‘Sisters – a day out’. Another is of a group of local village women and children at their work in the village.

There is a touching image of a local woman with her child talking to an Australian nurse and soldier beside a windmill above Mudros town. Despite the language barriers, the locals and their visitors were obviously able to communicate.

Lemnos was a rural island, with villagers grinding a living from its earth. Images reveal the hard life of the island – a farmer with his over-burdened donkey in a field, another ploughing a field and women washing in a local water source.

Yet there are others of the villagers at rest, a group of local men sitting in conversation, their dog at their feet, at the end of a day’s work. Evelyn’s collection also shows the religious life of Lemnos in an image of the highly-decorated screen in one of the local Greek Orthodox churches. These images are 100 years old and yet are timeless.

After the evacuation of the peninsula, Evelyn and the other Australian nurses departed Lemnos in January 1916 on their way to Egypt and beyond. When she pasted the last photographs of Lemnos in her album she wrote ‘Good-bye LEMNOS Island’.

Anzac soldiers on hired donkeys travelling on Lemnos, most likely on their way to the hot springs at Therma.

Evelyn would go on to serve in Egypt, France, England and in Italy, her service at the latter earning her the Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class. But she also records the streets and shops of the large and then cosmopolitan cities of Egypt. Her collection includes photographs of life in Egypt, its grand hotels and cafes, like Groppi’s, the Nile and the pyramids. Many of these will resonate with those Greek Australian’s with connections to Egypt and its former Greek community.

Evelyn returned to Australia and was discharged in December 1919. But she never forgot Lemnos and the diggers she cared for. She wore the brooch given to her by the young dying digger and always remembered Matron Wilson.

Evelyn’s memorabilia and photographs are a great addition to the Australian archive of Greece’s connection to the ANZAC story. Along with the collections of photographs of A.W. Savage held in the State Library of NSW and University of Queensland, as well as the thousands of images held in the Australian War Memorial, Evelyn’s collection underscores the important impact that Lemnos had on the thousands of ANZAC soldiers and nurses who went there over 100 years ago.

Tents of Evelyn’s 3rd Australian General Hospital, Turks Head Peninsula, Lemnos, 1915. Across the bay is the Anzac Rest Camp at Sarpi. In the foreground local Greek villagers visit the hospital. PHOTO: EVELYN HUTT COLLECTION.

AN APPEAL
It was an honour for me recently to assist Evelyn’s family in the donation of this amazing collection to the State Library of Victoria to ensure its preservation and accessibility to a wider public and future generations. This is an urgent reminder of the need to preserve these fragile records of the Hellenic link to Australia’s ANZAC story.

I am convinced that there could be many other similar collections of photographs, diaries, letters and other memorabilia lying forgotten in boxes and sheds across Australia. Many such collections have already been lost, often discarded unknowingly after the death of a veteran nurse or soldier. Time is running out to save what remains.

I urge anyone with an ANZAC veteran in their family history, nurse or soldier, to find out if any such items exist and to consider donating them to a public institution – like the State Library of Victoria – which is able to both preserve them and also to make them available, often digitally, to a wider public.
This should be one of the legacies of the Centenary of Anzac.

* Jim Claven is a historian and freelance writer. Secretary of the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee, he has worked to have the new Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial in Albert Park erected. He is currently preparing a new and major commemorative publication telling the story of the Hellenic link to Anzac in the words and photographs of the Anzacs themselves. The photographs of Evelyn Hutt will feature in this publication. He acknowledges the assistance of Evelyn’s daughter, Ms Judith Gunnarsson, and granddaughter, Ms Deb Stewart, in researching this story.

source:Neos Kosmos

European Union interior ministers expressed concern Thursday that migrants might seek alternative routes to northern Europe after their passage through the Balkan countries was sealed off, while the arrivals in Greece continued undeterred.

Europe has struggled with an influx of migrants and asylum seekers that brought more than 1 million people to its shores last year, with some 141,000 more following since January. Many are fleeing the war in Syria, but economic migrants have also joined their ranks.

The main route for people trying to reach wealthy northern Europe has been from Turkey via Greece, and onward through the Western Balkans. But countries along that route shuttered their borders this week, leaving thousands stranded and creating a bottleneck in Greece.

Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said his country is working with Albania to prevent a new migration route from opening across the Adriatic Sea, ahead of talks in Brussels with his 27 EU counterparts.

“Logic suggests that, if there were an influx from Turkey into the Balkan route and if walls were to interrupt the journey towards northern Europe, this route could open,” Alfano said, while noting that there was no evidence of this happening at present.

Without legal pathways into Europe, “we shall see migrants and the smugglers, the ruthless smugglers that are behind them, trying to find new routes,” warned EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos.

“The concern remains that there are other routes,” German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said, referring specifically to Libya and Italy. Before Greece became the main conduit, many migrants crossed by sea from the northern African state to Italy’s southernmost islands.

Others have raised the prospect of Bulgaria becoming a new transit country. The EU member state shares a land border with Turkey, but is not part of Europe’s free-travel Schengen zone.

Despite this week’s border closures, migrants are still attempting the dangerous Aegean Sea crossing to Greece.

Five people, including a baby, drowned off Turkey’s coast when their boat capsized, the Dogan news agency reported. The Turkish coastguard saved nine migrants late Wednesday, the reports said. The migrants were mainly from Afghanistan and Iran.

In recent days, NATO began monitoring the sea route to help crack down on migrant smugglers. But the arrivals in Greece have so far remained steady.

“Yesterday, 2,073 people arrived on the islands,” the spokesman for the Greek migration crisis management body, Giorgos Kyritsis, said Thursday.

An overall 1,100 people were expected to be brought from the islands of Lesbos and Chios to the port of Piraeus on Thursday, the Greek coastguard said.

A further 13,000 people are stranded in a camp at Idomeni on the Greek border, where two days of relentless rain have turned the ground into an ocean of mud. The camp was set up as a pass-through facility for around 2,000 people.

Doctors from the nearby town of Polikastro said that hundreds of children and adults were suffering from respiratory and intestinal infections.

Around 250 people, mostly families with children, agreed to be relocated to a camp in the Athens area, 550 kilometres to the south.

Deputy Defence Minister Dimitris Vitsas hinted that the Idomeni camp could be evacuated because of the conditions, but a police officer in the area told dpa that “no police action is presently planned.”

In Brussels, Avramopoulos warned that the border closures along the Western Balkan route have created a “humanitarian crisis that risks to turn to a humanitarian disaster” in Greece.

The future of those stranded along the migration route is uncertain, after EU leaders agreed Monday to work with Turkey on a plan under which Ankara would take back any new arrivals to Greece, while the bloc would directly resettle Syrian refugees out of Turkey.

The deal, which is still being finalized, has drawn heavy criticism from rights groups and EU lawmakers, who have described it as inhumane and have questioned its legality.

Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner asked if the EU is not “ultimately throwing our values overboard” with the deal, which also offers Ankara concessions on visa-free travel for its citizens and on its long-running EU membership bid.

But her British counterpart Theresa May welcomed the deal, arguing that Europe is now “taking tough action against economic and illegal migrants.”

source:albawaba.com

They had been married for more than 18 years. But, in the past few, George Tannous became increasingly obsessed with one thing.

He was adamant his wife Margaret was cheating on him – sleeping with men in her office, flirting with tradesman, even having an affair with his cousin.

She was provoking him with such acts and leaving deliberate clues for him to discover, he believed.

It ended with him using a broom handle to bash his 49-year-old wife to death in their Bankstown home on February 17, 2014, despite none of his delusional fears being true.

On Thursday, NSW Supreme Court judge Jane Mathews found Mr Tannous, 59, not guilty of murder by reason of mental illness following a judge-alone trial that lasted less than one hour.

Both the defence and the prosecution agreed with an assessment by forensic psychiatrist Adam Martin, who told the court he had diagnosed Mr Tannous with a major psychotic disorder he referred to as delusional jealousy or morbid jealousy.

Mr Tannous was “overwhelmingly preoccupied and angry about his wife’s supposed acts of infidelity”, Crown prosecutor Terry Thorpe told the court, paraphrasing from Dr Martin’s report.

He confronted a carpenter working in their home one day, making accusations of flirting. He was suspicious of a man who shared his wife’s office. He was convinced she was sleeping with his cousin. Eventually, Mr Tannous was stalking his wife.

He was “not open to any alternative explanations of that behaviour… [of] innocent things that were occurring”, Mr Thorpe said, stressing that not one of Mr Tannous’ beliefs had “basis in fact”.

See your ad here
“Did you come to the view that he had very limited insight into what was going on?” Mr Thorpe asked Dr Martin in court.

“Yes, I think he had no insight,” he replied.

However, this obsessive disorder had developed only in recent years.

Before that, Mr Tannous exhibited controlling and suspicious behaviour. He told Dr Martin he had a mental health plan drawn up for him in 2012 but he stopped taking antidepressants because he was “concerned it would do something to his brain”.

Dr Martin concluded that the paranoid personality style and the development of the delusional disorder were not mutually exclusive.

“Delusions of jealousy against a backdrop of having a long history of controlling behaviour,” was his final conclusion, Mr Thorpe said.

Justice Mathews found that this disorder directed Mr Tannous’ actions in killing his wife and substantially impaired his judgement.

“There is no dispute at all that it was he who killed the victim,” she said. “And indeed he has always accepted responsibility for the act of killing her but the medical evidence is clear that at the time he did that he was suffering a mental illness.”

She assured Mrs Tannous’ family and supporters that he would be locked in a mental health facility until it was proven he wasn’t a danger.

“He’s not being exonerated. He’s not being allowed out into the community,” she said.

An agreed statement of facts said Mrs Tannous had returned from a trip to Lebanon on February 17 to find her husband had kicked out a man who shared her office space and had refused to allow a real estate agent in to sell their Bankstown unit.

An argument ensured and she said she wanted a divorce. He then took a broom stick from the laundry and repeatedly bashed her on the head, leaving her in a pool of blood.

As he made his way to Bankstown police station to hand himself in, he made phone calls to his children, his mother-in-law and other relatives telling them he hit his wife because he was “mad” at her but he didn’t think she was dead.

Mr and Mrs Tannous’ two adult children, Elie and Therese, were too distraught to attend court on Thursday and are understood to be angry and upset at what they believe is feigned illness by their father.

Elie posted an emotional tribute to his mother on Facebook after her death, saying she was “my angel my life my queen the closest person to me”.

He said she had spent 18 years suffering in a marriage that most women would have “let go” after three months.

Mrs Tannous’ niece and nephew attended in their place and shook their heads when Mr Tannous, wearing prison greens and a religious cross around his neck, entered a not guilty plea.

Her nephew said “f— you” to Mr Tannous when he appeared in the dock. Outside court, niece Jessica Karam said her aunt was “a beautiful person”.

“I think that violence against women is wrong in any case and I miss my aunty very much,” she said.

❏ Support is available by phoning National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service 1800 737 732; Men’s Referral Service 1300 766

source:theherald.com.au

Η Μάχη της Κρήτης απεικονίζεται σε νόμισμα της Αυστραλίας.

Αυτό αναφέρει σε επιστολή της προς τον δήμαρχο Χανίων, η Ενωση Τουριστικών Καταλυμάτων του Νομού.

Οπως σημειώνει, «πριν από λίγες μέρες η Κεντρική Τράπεζα της Αυστραλίας κυκλοφόρησε νόμισμα – κέρμα των 50 σεντς (μισό δολάριο) όπου απεικονίζεται στη μια του όψη η μάχη της Κρήτης το 1941».

Για να προσθέσει:

«Σε άλλες χώρες η ανάμνηση των όσων διαδραματίστηκαν στην Κρήτη τον Μάη του 41 παραμένει ασβέστη, σε μας εδώ είναι που ξεθωριάζει η μνήμη.
Αυτά σε σύγκριση με την Καλλίπολη της Τουρκίας και στα όσα προ ημερών γράψαμε για το πως σημαντικά ιστορικά γεγονότα του παρελθόντος γίνονται μέσω των κατάλληλων προωθητικών δράσεων πόλοι έλξης για τον τουρισμό».

Καταλήγοντας η Ενωση Τουριστικών Καταλυμάτων ζητά τη μεταφορά της πλακέτας που δώρισαν το 1991 Αυστραλοί σε κεντρικό σημείο της πόλης, αναφέροντας χαρακτηριστικά:
«Αλλά ας φροντίσουμε πρώτα όλα να μεταφέρουμε, επ’ ευκαιρία της 74ης επετείου, σε κεντρικό σημείο (Αγορά η παλιό λιμάνι ) την αξιόλογη πλακέτα που οι Αυστραλοί μας δώρισαν προ πολλών ετών, το 1991 και μείς έχουμε εναποθέσει σε σκιερό και μη επισκέψιμο μέρος του Δημοτικού κήπου».

Την επιστολή υπογράφουν για το Δ.Σ. της Ενωσης, ο πρόεδρος Ι. Κουκουράκης και η γεν. γραμμ. Γ. Ατσαλάκη.

Three great nights of football in July

The Australian leg of the International Champions Cup has locked in Spanish La Liga powerhouse Atletico Madrid as the third European team, together with Juventus and Tottenham Hotspur, to join Melbourne Victory in the pre-season international tournament to be played at the MCG in July this year.

It’s a reprise of the successful round-robin tournament played in Melbourne last year to which thousands flocked to see Roma, Manchester City and Real Madrid.

Atletico, coached by Argentine Diego Simeone, currently sits in second place in La Liga, between top-placed Barcelona and third-placed Real Madrid.

“The team and I can’t wait to come and play in Melbourne and visit a country as exciting as Australia, sharing with fans its passion for football,” coach Simeone says of the planned pre-season trip.

“It’s fantastic to be part of such a high-calibre tournament with some of the best teams in Europe and the A-League’s most successful side, Melbourne Victory.

“This competition will form a key part of our pre-season training and will be a great opportunity for me to put my players through their paces ahead of the new season.”

Atletico is scheduled to play in the third match of the three-match series, against London club Tottenham Hotspur, which is also currently flying high in the EPL in second place behind Leicester, and with its best chance in years of winning the title.

The three matches scheduled for July 2016 are:

Match 1: Melbourne Victory v Juventus, Saturday 23 July, 7.00 pm
Match 2: Juventus v Tottenham Hotspur, Tuesday 26 July, 8.00 pm
Match 3: Tottenham Hotspur v Atletico Madrid, Friday 29 July, 8.00 pm

Hot on the heels of announcing the Socceroos v Greece friendly in Melbourne for June, Victoria’s Minister for Sport and Tourism John Eren commented:

“The fans want the big European outfits in Melbourne and that’s exactly what we’re delivering. The biggest contests belong in the city that does them the best. We put on a great spectacle last year when more than 220,000 fans packed the MCG over three great night and we can’t wait to do it again.”

source:neos kosmos

Eleftherios Synadinos was ‘shown the door’ for calling Turks “dirty and polluted” in racist rant.

Ιn an unprecedented move, President Martin Schulz expelled Greek Golden Dawn MEP Eleftherios Synadinos from a European Parliament plenary session after violating rules against racist speech.

Synadinos, a former army lieutenant general, said during the debate on the EU-Turkey Summit: “As it has been expressed in scientific literature, the Turks are dirty and polluted. Turks are like wild dogs when they play but when they have to fight against their enemies they run away. The only effective way to deal with the Turks is with decisive and resolute attitudes.”

Synadinos was ushered out of the chamber after European Parliament President Martin Schulz said his comments were in violation of the institution’s human rights regulations.

“This morning there was an incident in the Chamber and I believe that the European Parliament should not fail to react to it. We absolutely must react to the incident. I’d like to quote the sentence, which, firstly, I don’t think [is] acceptable and secondly I think … must be sanctioned”, explained President Schulz, re-quoting Syndinos’ statement.

“This sentence represents a breach of the values of the EU,” Schulz added, stressing that this decision was imperative.

“I believe that we have to establish a procedure here where if red lines are crossed, then we have to declare them unactable, particularly with regards to racism. For that reason, in accordance with rule 165 of the rules of procedure, in accordance with rule 11, I immediately exclude Mr Synadinos from the Chamber”, he concluded.

MEP Synadinos took his briefcase and left the Plenary, while the other two fellow Golden Dawn MEPs shouted at the President, calling him a “fascist”.

Addressing the Golden Dawn MEPs, Schulz said that “if they want to leave the Chamber with him they are free to do so”, refusing to allow a debate.

“Mr. Synadinos will be heard on this incident; no debates on the rules of procedure” Schulz told Golden Dawn MPEs Georgios Epitideios and Lampros Fountoulis.

Last week, Fountoulis accompanied by Synadinos entered a European Parliament conference on minority rights in Greece, organised by Csaba Sógor, a Romanian center-right MEP and shouted EPP MEP “There is no Turkish minority. Go to the problems of your country, not my country.”

Schulz’s decision to exclude Synadinos from the chamber was welcomed and applauded by all MEPs apart from the Le Pen group.

source:neos kosmos

JON English has been remembered across the world as a multi-talented singer-songwriter, actor and star of both rock musicals and theatre.

But the many Hunter friends he made on regular trips to the region are also cherishing the off-stage memories they made with their mate, who they describe as warm, humble, generous and larger than life.

“He was my mentor, friend, bandmate, inspiration and a really easy guy to get along with,” said Newcastle-based musician Amy Vee.

“He had so many great stories to tell because he lived such a rich and wonderful life.”

The British born Logie winner, 66, passed away peacefully on Wednesday night after suffering post operative complications.

English was in the middle of an Australian tour and was scheduled to appear at the Beaumont Street Carnivale on Sunday, but announced on Monday he had to cancel the show “on the advice of his doctors”.

Festival organisers will commemorate English’s contribution to the country by holding a minute’s silence on Sunday.

He had also been planning to spend Saturday watching Amy Vee perform in the closing night of Evita at the Civic Theatre. The pair met when English saw Vee perform in Rent at The Playhouse.

Vee said they had been in close contact over the past week and she had brought him flowers in hospital.

See your ad here
“I commented when I saw him that he looked well, all things considered,” said Vee, who described herself as “utterly broken” by English’s death.

“We sat and chatted and he was in great spirits.

“He was scheduled to have surgery but it should have been pretty routine, so this is a shock to us all.”

English cast Vee as the lead in his 2009 production Buskers and Angels. She has toured with him consistently since 2011.

“I’ve got so much to thank him for and owe him so much,” she said.

“He took me under his wing and I learned so much from him, it was a great opportunity to hone my craft.

“He’s a national treasure and made such a lasting impact on all the people who met him.”

Lizotte’s proprietor Brian Lizotte was working in catering on Jesus Christ Superstar when he met English.

Over the past 12 years, English became a regular fixture on the Lizotte’s calendar and performed at the venues about twice a year.

“He became part of our family,” Lizotte said.

“He loaded in his own gear and was the first one to get there and the last one to leave after meeting fans and having a few drinks with staff.”

English was one of the last musicians to perform at the now-closed Kincumber venue and spent an afternoon commiserating on the deck.

Rock City Event Marketing director Peter Anderson said his company had worked with English since about 1980 and scheduled performances every 18 months to two years.

“Jon was a regular visitor to the Hunter and his death is a loss for the region,” Mr Anderson said.

“Most people over 35 would have seen a Jon English performance.”

Mr Anderson said English played at venues including the former Newcastle Workers Club, Wests Leagues Club, in Muswellbrook, Cessnock and the Central Coast and in musicals at the Civic Theatre.

English often stayed at the Boulevard On Beaumont.

“He had a very strong following here,” Ms Anderson said. “He had a unique voice, he does not sound like anyone else, he sounds like Jon English.

“He had a number of strong hits over the years that he mixed with more recent material and had quality musicians around him.

“He was just larger than life and absolutely able to engage with an audience and share his enthusiasm.”

EARLIER, 9AM: SINGER songwriter Jon English has died, days before he was scheduled to appear at the Beaumont Street Carnivale in Newcastle.
English passed away peacefully on Wednesday night after suffering post-operative complications.

The British-born Logie winner, 66, was surrounded by his four children and close family members.
A post on English’s Facebook page on Thursday morning read: “We are needless to say completely shocked and devastated by this enormous and unexpected loss. The music industry, and indeed the world, has lost an incredible talent and the biggest of big hearts.”

“We are inconsolable and will miss you immeasurably.”

English was in the middle of an Australian tour, but announced on Monday that he had cancelled his Sunday show in Newcastle “on the advice of his doctors”.

The singer had also been planning to spend Saturday night watching close friend Amy Vee perform in the final night of Evita at the Civic Theatre.

The pair met in 2009 when English saw Vee perform in Rent at The Playhouse.

Vee has toured consistently over the past few years with English, who she described as a “mentor, friend, bandmate, inspiration and a really easy guy to get along with”.

She said they had been in close contact over the past week and she had visited him in hospital.

“I commented when I saw him that he looked well, all things considered,” Vee said.

“He was scheduled to have surgery but it should have been pretty routine, so this is a shock to us all.

“He was a national treasure and made such a lasting impact on all the people who met him.”

Beaumont Street Carnivale organisers described English as a “seasoned entertainer and no stranger to Hamilton festival stages”, but said the show would go on.

“The Hamilton Chamber of Commerce and Beaumont St Carnivale event team are saddened by this enormous loss of talent and will fondly remember Jon on Sunday, commemorating his contribution to Australian culture with a minute’s silence,” organisers said in a statement.

“Jon was one of the few Australian performers to combine a successful career in music, television and stage.”

Lizotte’s proprietor Brian Lizotte said he first met English when working in catering for Jesus Christ Superstar.

He said English would later perform at the three Lizotte’s venues about twice a year.

“He became part of our family,” Lizotte said.

“We’d try to help him load in but he always said ‘No, I’m fine’.

“He was the first one to get there and the last one to leave after meeting fans and having a few drinks with staff. He was a hard, hard working man and his love of entertaining really shone through.”

Lizotte said there was always an upcoming Jon English show on his venue’s bill.

“The fans would come back time and time and time again, we had five year olds and 95 year olds in the crowd,” he said. “Every show was different.

“He will be missed for so many reasons – I’m very sad not to have that man grace our stages again.”

Rock City Event Marketing director Peter Anderson said his company had been working with Mr English longer than any other artist on its books.

“Jon was a regular visitor to the Hunter and his death is a loss for the region,” Mr Anderson said.

“Most people over the age of 35 would have seen a Jon English performance, either a theatrical show or a concert.

“He was just larger than life and absolutely able to engage with an audience and share his enthusiasm.”

English migrated to Australia with his parents at the age of 12 and rose to fame in the early 70s after starring in Harry M Miller’s first production of Jesus Christ Superstar.

He released dozens of chart-topping singles in the 70s and 80s including Words Are Not Enough, Handbags and Gladrags, Turn the Page and Hollywood Seven.

His 1979 song Six Ribbons topped the charts in Europe and he received several Logie Awards for his acting in series Against the Wind.

He also played the lead role of Bobby Rivers in 1990s Australian sitcom All Together Now opposite Rebecca Gibney and Today weather presenter Steven Jacobs.

Jacobs paid tribute to English on Twitter on Thursday morning, hailing him as a “true rock legend” and “gentleman”. Gibney said his passing was “so incredibly sad”.

“All Together Now was one of the joys of my career. My love to his family,” she wrote.

source:theherald.com.au

Την Παρασκευή, 11 και το Σάββατο, 12 Μαρτίου, στο Regal Ballroom.

Πολύ σύντομα και, συγκεκριμένα, την Παρασκευή, 11 και το Σάββατο, 12 Μαρτίου, στο Regal Ballroom, 216 High Street, Northcote, θα εμφανιστεί ο μοναδικός λαϊκός τραγουδιστής Ζαφείρης Μελάς, με τη συμμετοχή της Γεωργίας Ράππου, της Εβίτας Σερέτη και της ορχήστρας τους.

Θα παρουσιάσουν μια ανεπανάληπτη μουσική παράσταση για όλους τους λάτρεις του λαϊκού τραγουδιού, οι οποίοι θα χάσουν πραγματικά εάν δεν παραβρεθούν στην καταπληκτική αυτή βραδιά.

Για κρατήσεις θέσεων και κάθε πληροφορία, τηλεφωνήστε στον Κον στον αριθμό 0488 601 177 ή στο Athens Video στον αριθμό 9489 8888 και στο Oakleigh Music Centre στον αριθμό 9568 1864.

Πηγή:Νέος Κόσμος

Για δεύτερη συνεχόμενη εβδομάδα, το κέντρο της Μελβούρνης θα έχει ελληνικό χρώμα.

Το περασμένο Σαββατοκύριακο ήταν το διήμερο Ελληνικό Φεστιβάλ της Lonsdale Street, που συγκέντρωσε δεκάδες χιλιάδες κόσμου.

Αυτή την Κυριακή, 6 Μαρτίου, και ώρα 12.30 μ.μ. θα είναι η παρέλαση για την εθνική μας επέτειο της 25ης Μαρτίου, που φέτος γίνεται νωρίτερα μιας και τo Shrine of Remembrance δεν είναι διαθέσιμο τις επόμενες εβδομάδες,

Σύμφωνα με τον γενικό γραμματέα της Επιτροπής Εορτασμού Εθνικής Επετείου, Κώστα Κόντη, φέτος στην παρέλαση αναμένεται να λάβουν μέρος πάνω από πέντε χιλιάδες μαθήτριες και μαθητές καθώς και εκπρόσωποι διαφόρων φορέων.

Στην παρέλαση θα παραστούν και πολλοί επίσημοι. Ανάμεσά τους εκπρόσωπος του ομοσπονδιακού πρωθυπουργού, ο αρχηγός του Εργατικού Κόμματος, Bill Shorten, ο πολιτειακός πρωθυπουργός, Daniel Andrews, ο αρχηγός της πολιτειακής αντιπολίτευσης Matthew Guy κ.ά.

Την ελληνική κυβέρνηση στην παρέλαση θα εκπροσωπήσει ο γενικός γραμματέας Αποδήμου Ελληνισμού, Μιχάλης Κόκκινος, που φθάνει αύριο στη Μελβούρνη, ενώ την πρώτη της γνωριμία με την παροικία μας θα έχει και η πρέσβης της Ελλάδας στην Αυστραλία, κ. Αικατερίνη Ξαγοράρη, που, επίσης, θα παραστεί στην παρέλαση μαζί με την γενική πρόξενο, κ. Χριστίνα Σημαντηράκη.

Φυσικά, θα παραστούν και οι επίσκοποι Δέρβης κ. Ιεζεκιήλ και Μηλιτουπόλεως κ. Ιάκωβος.

Πηγή:Νέος Κόσμος

The annual parade will take place on Sunday, with the participation of all the organisations of our community.

The broader Greek Community of Melbourne will gather to commemorate Greek National Day tomorrow with the annual parade at the Shrine of Remembrance. Thousands of students of all ages are expected to take part and salute the heroes of the 1821 uprising against the Ottoman Empire and will re-affirm their commitment to preserving Greek history and the Greek Orthodox tradition in Australia.
More than 60 community schools and organisation are programmed to take part in the parade, which will be attended by the political leadership of Australia and of the state of Victoria together with the leadership of the Greek Orthodox Church and the diplomatic delegation of the Hellenic Republic in Australia, among them newly-appointed Greek Ambassador Aikaterini Xagorari.
Schools, parents and officials will pay their respects to the heroes involved in the uprising against the Ottoman Empire on March 25 1821, marking the day that Greece was liberated from 400 years of Turkish occupation. The parade will officially commence at 12.30 pm, with participants required to assemble by noon.

The program for the day is as follows:
12.15 pm: Officials arrive and take their positions at the steps of the Shrine
12.30pm: Parade commences
1.30 pm: Officials proceed to the Eternal Flame. Memorial Service. Wreath-laying and speeches.
2.00 pm: Commemoration concludes with Greek and Australian national anthems.
Schools and community organisations will march in the following order:
Panmacedonian Association of Melbourne & Victoria Inc.
Greek National Resistance Fighters’ League of Melbourne & Victoria
Alpha Children’s Centre
Kalimera Kids

SCHOOLS

Greek Orthodox Community of Melb. & Victoria Alphington Grammar School
Greek Orthodox Community of Melb. & Victoria Afternoon & Saturday Schools

FEDERATION OF GREEK COMMUNITIES

Greek Orthodox Community of St Albans
Greek Orthodox Community of Clayton

SCHOOLS OF ASSOCIATION OF GREEK ORTHODOX COMMUNITIES & PARISHES OF MELBOURNE & VICTORIA

St John’s Greek Orthodox College
St John’s Greek Orthodox College Saturday School
Ascot Vale Greek Orthodox Parish
Bentleigh Greek Orthodox Parish
Box Hill Greek Orthodox Community
Brunswick Greek Orthodox Parish
Coburg Greek Orthodox Parish
Dandenong Greek Orthodox Community
Fawkner Greek Orthodox Parish
Oakleigh Grammar
Oakleigh Grammar Saturday School
Hobsons Bay/Altona Greek Orthodox Community
Keilor Greek Orthodox Parish
Malvern Greek Orthodox Parish
Mentone Greek Orthodox Community
Nunawading-Forest Hill Greek Orthodox Parish
Richmond Greek Orthodox Parish
Saint Albans Greek Orthodox Parish
Springvale Greek Orthodox Parish
Thomastown Greek Orthodox Parish
Yarraville Greek Orthodox Parish

SCHOOLS OF OTHER ORGANISATIONS

Pegasus Dance Academy
Panhellenic College

EDUCATION COMM. OF GREEK LANGUAGE SCHOOLS & CULTURE

‘Ariston’ Greek School
Greek School ‘Aristotelis’
AHEPA Greek School
Zenon Education Centre
Nestoras College
Mavragani Greek Language School
‘Protypo’ Greek Centre
INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS
Omiros College
Greek School ‘Pythagoras’
Pedia Greek School

STATE SCHOOLS
Victorian School of Languages
Clarinda Primary School
South Oakleigh Secondary College

FEDERATIONS OF GREEK ORGANISATIONS

S.E.K.A.
Cyprus Community of Melbourne & Victoria
Cretan Federation of Australia & New Zealand
Αchaian Federation of Melbourne & Victoria
Panarcadian Federation of Australia
Panepirotic Federation of Australia
Dodecanesian Federation
Epirotic Federation of Oceania (Aust)
Federation of Messinian Organisations of Melbourne & Victoria
Pammesinian Brotherhood Papaflessas LTD
Greek Women of Northern Suburbs
Hellenic Women’s Federation of Victoria

ORGANISATIONS

National Union of Greek Australian Students – Victoria
A.H.E.P.A.
Central Pontian Association of Melbourne & Victoria ‘Pontiaki Estia’
Pallaconian Brotherhood ‘Leonidas’
Panpyliaki Brotherhood Navarinon of Melbourne & Victoria Ltd
The Australian Hellenic Org. in Support of the Olympic Spirit and Ideal
Hellenic Cultural Association of Melbourne – ‘O Periklis’
The Pan Maniot Union of Australia
Greek Australian Scouts of Victoria

source: Neos Kosmos