The Origins of the Antipodes Festival in Melbourne

In view of the upcoming 37th Antipodes Glendi/ Paniyiri/ Festival this weekend, on Lonsdale St, Melbourne, organized by the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria (GOCMV).

Articulating the history of the ‘Antipodes Festival’ the way it was written, witnessed and documented by those who co-wrote it; and at the same time paying homage to the work and the memory of former leading members of the Community and the Festival, via the photography of my friend Antonios Baxevanidis, and relevant documents (minutes).

The main photo of this post, depicts Larnaca, Cyprus born Savvas (Sam) Papasavvas (1941-1993), seen here on stage together with Australia’s Labor PM at the time Bob Hawke, during the launch of the first Antipodes Festival on Lonsdale St on the 25th March 1987. The late Sam Papasavvas was a well-known lawyer, president of the GOCMV, president of South Melbourne Hellas, Chairman of the former National Soccer League of Australia and Councillor of the City of Melbourne.

The nine day long- and not just three as mentioned in a 2020 SBS Greek news story – ‘Antipodes Festival’ was a brand new and ambitious initiative. IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH GREEK WEEK, as some people attempt to say.

The ‘Greek Week,’ which preceded the Antipodes Festival, did stage in an organised manner cultural events from 1976 onwards, however, it had nothing to do with the creation of the Antipodes Festival. Furthermore, it did not transfer its governance to the GOCMV, as it was mistakenly stated in a relevant news story in the Greek Australian newspaper ‘The Greek Herald’, neither did it take a break, as stated in another article in the Greek Australian newspaper Neos Kosmos.

The ‘Greek Week’ was ultimately abandoned by the wider community; furthermore, it faced financial difficulties and failed to provide financial reports, when requested, by the then State Government of Victoria. In 1987, the State Government withdrew its support to the ‘Greek Week’ and decided to fund the newly established Antipodes Festivals (these points are all raised in Government memos).

The new festival, centered around the celebration of Greek Independence Day in Melbourne; it was an integral part of a worldwide Diasporic policy initiative, of the then Andreas Papandreou PASOK government in Greece, to the established the month of March as a worldwide Greek Cultural Month. This cultural policy was initiated in all the large diasporic centres of Hellenism around the globe.

The first ‘Antipodes Festival’ coincided with the 90th anniversary of the foundation of the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria, which was preceded by the ‘Greek-Australian Conference’ (13-15 March, 1987) with the participation of numerous speakers, media representatives, Greek MPs, and youth leaders from Greece. During the festival, a large number of concerts and theatrical plays were staged with the participation of leading cultural contributors from Greece. For example, composer Christos Leondis and theatre director Thodoros Terzopoulos participated with their works in festival, as well as literary events with the participation of renowned poet Dimitris Tsaloumas and an array of other events. (The 1987 ‘Antipodes Festival’ print program is a testament of the breadth & scope of the events held that year).

The significant contributions of the then Victorian Ethnic Affairs Labor Minister Peter Spyker and of former South Australian Premier Don Dunstan, towards the creation and the staging of the ‘Antipodes Festival’, must also be retained in our collective memory and in the history books of our community in Melbourne.

The 1980’s, in both Melbourne and in Sydney, was an era of a cultural renaissance for the Greek-Australian communities in these two cities. The two wide-ranging, ambitious and largest festivals of Australia’s Hellenism, the ‘Antipodes Festival’ in Melbourne, and the ‘Greek Festival of Sydney’, are the very product of that golden Greek Australian cultural era.