President of the Panarcadian Association of Melbourne and Victoria ‘O Kolokotronis’, was delighted to receive a call from The Hon. Konstantinos Vlasis, Member for Arcadia, Former Deputy Minister for Greeks Abroad, requesting an audience with fellow Arcadians in Melbourne. Initiated by Mr Kotsirilos, and with the full support of the Committee, a dinner event was organised to welcome Mr Vlasis and the delegation of Greek parliamentarians visiting Melbourne in April for the anniversary and celebrations commemorating the 1821 Revolution of Independence.
An invitation was also extended to the Consul General of Greece in Melbourne, Mr Emmanuel Kakavelakis, our benefactor Mr Andreas Andrianopoulos, Mr Leonidas Argyropoulos, first President of the Association, Mr Dimitris Alexopoulos President of the Panarcadian Federation of Victoria, Mr Bill Papastergiadis, President of the Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM), media representatives, and of course first, second and third generation member Arcadians.
Mr Vlassis expressed with pride his Arcadian heritage and together with Asimina Skondra who hails from Livadia, reflected on Greece’s debt to Arcadians and to Theodoros Kolokotronis. Both focused on the importance of a national plan for Hellenism in the Diaspora. During the evening, Evangelia Liakouli proposed the establishment of a Ministry of the Hellenic Diaspora to address the needs and future of Greek communities worldwide, while Theodora Tzakri emphasised the necessity of a National Strategic Plan for Hellenism, based on the program developed by the Center for the Greek, Thessaloniki.
Mr Kotsirilos explained how the Panarcadian Association was founded by the early migrants who started arriving in Melbourne from Arcadia, Greece in the early 1950s. He spoke about how Arcadian leaders of the time, moved by their zeal to preserve and promote their local traditions, and by a sense of fidelity and solidarity proceeded to put their ideas into effect as early as 1957. On 13th September 1959 the Panarcadian Association of Melbourne and Victoria ‘O Kolokotronis’ was born.
On 11th September 1985 the Panarcadian Association of Melbourne ‘O Kolokotronis’ purchased at auction the historic building located at 570 Victoria Street, North Melbourne, known as the Loco Hall. It was built in 1914 by the Australian Federation of Locomotive Engineman as their union’s trade hall at an approximate cost of 10,000 pounds. At a recruiting meeting held at Loco Hall to encourage union membership on 13th July 1915, the Argus paper reported that amongst the guest speakers was the then Attorney General, the same man who attended the official opening in 1914. Within 3 months Billy Hughes
was Prime minister of Australia 1915-1923. We are honoured that our building had a Prime Minister come through its doors.
Mr Kotsirilos ended the night by presenting to the Greek Parliamentarian delegates ‘The Children of Pan – Arcadians in Australia’, a book on the Arcadian immigration to Australia, written by Professor Anastasios Tamis.
