Shane Stone, ex-Chief Minister of the NT - 1998 (in blue shirt) and               The Greek Community school in Nightcliff
   John Vrodos, President of the  Greek Community in recent function.
   Following the elections of August 2001, Clare martin MLA is the new
   Chief Minister and Leader of the first ever Labor Government in the NT.
  Kon Vatskalis is the new Minister for Ethnic Afairs, Local Government,
  Housing and Lands Planning and Environment (photos soon).
 

There has been a Greek presence in the Terriotry for more than a hundred years now. From the Greek migrants early in the 20th century who worked to the Vesteys abbatoirs and resided to the Salonika settlement, to the Kastelorizian pioneers in the 20s and the large Kalymnian settlement that started in the 1950s the Greek community in Darwin has been a vibrant and dynamic community that has gained access to all aspects of the Australian life.

Today there are approximately 3000 Greek (read Kalymnos) born Darwin residents but in total the Greek origin Territorians exceed the 7000 people. Despite the fact that large scale migration from Greece to Australia has stopped many years ago in the past few months for various reasons a large number of Kalymnians who had returned to Kalymnos from Darwin have come back to Darwin.

It should be noted that the Darwin Greeks are famous for traveling backwards and forwards to and from Greece. Many of the Darwin Greeks will spend years in Kalymnos but they will always consider themselves permanent residents of Darwin (side photo: Fannie bay).

There are strong links between Darwin and Kalymnos, they are sister cities after all. There is a Kalymnos drive, Canaris Street, Maria Liveris street and Salonika crossing in Darwin but there is also a Darwin street in Kalymnos. There is also a Darwin Greeks Association in Kalymnos.

It is obvious that our community in Darwin is unique!

St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, Cavenagh street, Darwin
 

Located in Cavenagh street our church is designed and built in the Aegean island style, white with verandas all around it. Built by islanders could not be named anything else but Agios Nikolaos (Saint Nicholas). It is the centre of our religious activities and the famous Easter custom of the dynamites.

On the Resurection night 12.00 the Kalymnians observe faithfully their island customs of announcing that Christ is risen by throwing dynamites! This custom has now become a Darwin tradition and nobody worries when loud explosions are heard 12.00 midnight on Saturday night before Easter Sunday. In the photographs you can see the characteristic design of the church and the interior of the church.

The Greek School in Nightcliff

The Greek Orthodox Community of Northern Australia, the organisation that represents the Greek people in the Territory owns and runs the Greek school in Nightcliff, a suburb of Darwin. Sold to the community by the Northern Territory Government for $1 the school runs Greek classes for Greek children every Saturday morning. The school facilities are also used by the Greek aged and the school hall is hired for christening, weddings and engagement dinners or dances.

Today more than 180 children attend Greek Language classes every Saturday morning. In addition a Greek dancing school operates in the Grounds of the school. The Greek community has managed to acquire a number of traditional greek costumes from various areas in Greece. These costume are exhibited in various functions and in during the Glenti festival.

The young Greeks

Mostly born and grew up in Darwin many of the young Greek people now turn away from the traditional Greek professions such as building, trade and shop ownership. We now have many University graduates who are lawers, doctors, teachers, and public servants however many young Greeks turn to the traditional professions and are employed in the building industry. As a result it would not be far from truth to say that Greeks control the house construction industry.

The Greek language.

The vast majority of the young Greeks are bilingual. Most of them speak fluently English and Greek , with a large "dose" of Kalymnian dialect. I have found Darwin to be the only city in Australia that modern Greek is spoken openly in the city streets by old and young alike. In addition many Australian children have picked up a few Greek words that they use in their interaction with the Greek children of the same age.

Many families move from Darwin to Darwin and the other way around on a regular basis so the children attend primary and secondary schools in Greece, thus improving their Greek language skills. However in the last few months (1997-98) we have seen a large number of families returning to Darwin and many young Greeks enrolling at the local college or University.

(Side photo: The NT Parliament).A few years ago the Federal Australian government implemented a program to teach English to adult migrant. This program flopped completely in Darwin. Alarmed federal public servants responsible for the program employed consultants to examine the reasons for this failure. The consultants report indicated that there was a complete lack of support by Greek migrants, especially women, for this program. The main reason was that there was no need for Greek people to speak English in Darwin since there were Greek speaking persons at the banks, the post office, government offices, the shops, nearly everywhere in Darwin that could speak Greek.

The Community today

The Darwin Greek community of 7000 people is relatively young, still holds strong to the language, customs and traditions of the motherland, proud to be Greeks and proud to be Territorians. The Darwin Greek community is by all means a strong, vibrant community. It is unique!

For Comments:  konv@arafura.net.au