PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE - NICHOLAS VARIGOS
ΜΗΝΥΜΑ ΠΡΟΕΔΡΟΥ - ΝΙΚΟΥ ΒΑΡΒΑΡΗΓΟΥ

“If Corfu is the most beautiful, Cephalonia the largest, Santa Maura (Lefkatha) the wildest, and Zante (Zakinthos) the prettiest of the Ionian Islands, Ithaca is, beyond all comparison, the most romantic. A pure and bright halo of poetry surrounds it – a poetry the most dreamy and the sweetest, the most homely and the pleasantest – a poetry that touches every feeling and harmonises with every association – a poetry that is in us and not in the place – a poetry that carries us back to the earliest childhood of civilisation, and speaks of men as strong, wise, and simple, and of women as helps meet for a race of heroes – a poetry which presumes each tree to have its dryad, each spring its Nymph, and each grove its sylvan god.”

So wrote Professor D T Ansted, in his book The Ionian Islands in the year 1863.

Professor Ansted was deeply touched by his visit to Ithaca in 1863, the year prior to Ithaca’s release from English rule and reunification back to Greece. His firsthand account of our Island and his personal experiences, written in English, takes us back to the time when many of our forebears commenced or planned their own odyssey to Australia. It is a powerful and vivid account of what life was like and how the islanders presented to visitors. For me this book has helped put a visual image in my mind as a second generation born Australian Ithacan as to what Ithaca must have been like for my great great grand parents and their families.

Today in Melbourne some 146 years since Prof Ansted visited Ithaca and 93 years since our Society was formed I am writing this message with a sense of obligation and history around my thoughts.
The Ithacan Philanthropic Society in Melbourne has been part of my fabric in growing up as a young boy. “The Club”, as we know it, was inculcated into my mind from a very young age. Initially being taken by my parents to the many children’s events and then sitting with my father at so many meetings and listening to the stories of years gone by.

I was privy as a very young boy to observe the transition of generations. Generations of men and women who came from Ithaca as migrants and were bonded in their early migration years to support each other. I grew up on stories of how many families today in Melbourne started off in my grandparent’s house in Bourke Street in the city when they first arrived and how they met their partners. The men spoke of their father’s and grandfather’s trials and tribulations and the profound challenges of being migrants at a time where there was no interpreters, no Greek newspapers nor doctors or lawyers who spoke our language to guide them and stories of the gold fields in the 1880’s.

I observed the trials and tribulations of the first Australian born Ithacans grapple with their own challenges of maintaining their Ithacan spirit whilst embracing their new Aussie interests. Assimilation was a paramount desire.

I lived my own experience as a second generation Aussie born “Thiac” and now am privileged to see the third generation tackle their own identity issues and how Ithaca and “the Club” remain or do not remain a relevant part of their worlds.

For me growing up - Ithaca was a concept, a magical place, where things like the “Neromilo” lived and Marmaka was a place you walked to regularly when you lived in Exoghi. (This year I found that Neromilo!) Most of it was taken in by word of mouth, stories in Greek from my grandparents as my own parents were born here. Many of the things shared were hard to understand as my Greek was poor but my parents had the ability of language so translations got the messages across and also linked the generations.

Today Ithaca is closer to Australia in all means than ever before. Our challenge now is to make it relevant for the future generations while not forgetting the past. Our Club does not have a natural growth in members any more as there are few Ithacans migrating to Melbourne. Hence our challenge is to continue to develop our club, firstly around the mission for which it was originally established, and equally if not more relevant today, to update that mission so it is relevant to today’s society and our members whilst maintaining our links to our amazing Island.
Thankfully due to the tireless and honest work of members past, the IPS today is in very sound shape financially and the membership is good in numbers. Our events are well attended and the committee has had success with a variety of new events such as the highly successful trip to Hobart recently. Our regular events are always well attended but by mostly the same faces.
It should not be forgotten that there are many, many more people of Ithacan descent who are NOT members than those who are. For the future we need to find and reach out to those people to re-engage them and hence build our base and our long term viability. To do so we need to look at what and how we do things and understand what interests people to rejoin.
My committee and I now carry the responsibility of steering the club through its 93rd year of formal existence. We are also challenged to directly look at and plan for how we will celebrate our 100th year anniversary in 2016. This milestone is a key event and one that needs care in preparing for. We are unique in this country for our longevity, and also for the fact that for nearly 100 years our society has been harmonious and totally aligned in purpose in supporting its members and providing a link to our unique heritage.

The Committee members and I look forward to your support as members and friends of the Society and to your input to assist us in meeting the challenge for the future welfare of the society and future generations.

We are all fortunate that our small and amazing Island has created such powerful images, emotions and concepts in people’s minds for thousands of years and for so many diverse reasons.

Ithaca is an ideal to some, a magical and beautiful island to others, It has associations: Homer, Trojan Horses, Winston Churchill, Aristotle Onassis, Lord Byron, Prof Heinrick Schliemann who rediscovered Troy and others. It still provokes debate today as to where Odysseus castle is really located - Aetos or Homers School? Pilikata or even dare I say the name - Cephalonia?
Ithaca inspired Constantine Cavafy to write his most famous and emotional poem of the same name. That poem and its sentiments very recently inspired Sean Connery and Vangellis to join together to create an emotional recitation of the famous poem. The music and Connery’s most amazing voice send shudders down your spine to hear it.

Our club is on its own Odyssean Journey and we are hoping all Ithacans and their friends will join together to help our Society meet our challenges.

I urge all our members to remain active in bringing new members to the club and to bring their friends and relatives to events. Our club deserves to be proud of its history and cognizant of where we can be in the future. The committee will do its best and we shall also form a small number of sub-committees and will be calling on member volunteers where required to assist in those sub committee’s specific endeavours.

Finally, I would like to thank Dennis Katsamas and his prior committee for all its hard work in the past two years. Also I would like to thank my current fellow committee members for committing their personal time for the benefit of the members for the forthcoming year. A special thanks goes to Helen Vlass who stood down from the committee after 24 years of dedicated service; especially as long time Treasurer (22 years). Likewise to the Ithacan Historical Society we wish their new Committee, ably lead by Lula Black, every success and we remain committed to working closely with them as always.

To all those lucky enough to be going to Ithaca – have a fabulous holiday and safe travels.

Last words should come from Professor Ansted –

“It is easy to appreciate the fondness of Homer for this spot, which he certainly knew well, and which he wisely selected as the home of the wise Ulysses.”

2009 ITHACAN PICNIC

Pictured above are the stalwart members who braved the elements on Sunday 26th April 2009 at the re-scheduled Annual Picnic at Ferny Creek.

2009 ITHACAN ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING The Annual General Meeting of the Ithacan Philanthropic Society was held on Sunday 3 May 2009 at Ithaca House. The well-attended meeting efficiently went through the agenda items. As it was an election year, all Executive positions in both the IPS and the Historical Society (see report on Page 4) were declared vacant and nominations were called for. There are eleven positions on the Executive Committee and since only eleven persons were nominated, they were duly appointed. Alexander Kaimakamis and Nick Lourantos were nominated and elected as auditors. The first meeting of the new committee was held on Thursday 7 May 2009 and office bearers for the new IPS Executive were elected as follows President: Nicholas D. Varigos Vice-President: Antonios Drakopoulos Secretary: Peter Andrews Treasurer: Eugenia Vlass-Tsalikis Assistant Treasurer: Kristalenia Callinikos Costa Kaimakamis Paul Karavias Dennis Katsamas Peter Lekatsas Peter Paxinos Andriana Zervoulis