Photo: Yannoula, left, shares a joyful moment with fellow kafetzoudes at Kafeneio Lakonias, where she is a familiar face and always ready to lend a helping hand.
Yannoula Michael has made history as the first woman
elected President of the Cyprus Community of South Australia in the
organisation’s 78-year history.
Her election marks an important new chapter for one of South Australia’s
longest established Greek Cypriot organisations and represents a proud
milestone for women in community leadership.
Yannoula will lead the newly elected Executive Committee
alongside Vice President Minas Loucas, Secretary Eve Grant and Treasurer Marios
Panatsos. Together with the remaining committee members, they will guide the
Community and continue its work in preserving Cypriot identity, culture and
traditions for future generations.
Her election is especially meaningful given the
important contribution women have made to the Cyprus Community over many
decades. In 2025, the Community celebrated the 50th anniversary of its Ladies
Auxiliary, recognising half a century of dedicated service, fundraising and
support. Yannoula’s appointment now carries that proud tradition of service
into the highest leadership position of the organisation.
A retired school principal, Yannoula devoted her
professional life to education. Her distinguished career included classroom
teaching, school leadership and numerous senior responsibilities within the
education sector. Her experience, sound judgement and understanding of people
developed throughout those years will serve her well in her new position.
Yannoula is also well known to the Laconian community.
She is a regular patron of Kafeneio Lakonias and is always willing to lend a
helping hand. Those who share a coffee or a conversation with her know her as a
warm, approachable and generous person who contributes quietly and willingly
whenever assistance is needed.
We warmly congratulate Yannoula Michael on this historic achievement. We
wish her and the newly elected Executive Committee every success as they begin
this new chapter in the proud history of the Cyprus Community of South
Australia.
It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Mihail Zounis on 19 August 2026, aged 85.
Mihail was born on 21 January 1941 on the island of Kastellorizo. At the age of 14, he arrived in Australia aboard the Tasmania on 30 December 1955.
On 1 May 1967, aged 26, he married Anna Marouda, who hailed from Geraki in Laconia. Through their marriage, Mihail formed a close and lasting connection with the Laconian community.
He is survived by his beloved wife, Anna, and their two sons, Nikolaos and Dimitrios.
Mihail’s funeral service will be held at St George Greek Orthodox Church, 60 Rose Street, Thebarton, on Thursday, 3 September 2026, at 10:30 am.
At the conclusion of the service, the funeral cortege will proceed to the Lawn Section of Dudley Park Cemetery for the committal prayers.
We extend our heartfelt condolences to Anna, Nikolaos, Dimitrios and all his family and loved ones.
Every old family photograph carries a story. Sometimes the names, places and
dates have survived with the image; sometimes all that remains is a face, a
familiar landscape, or a family connection waiting to be rediscovered.
The Pan-Laconian Society is grateful to Koula Tsintziniotis
for passing on these two remarkable photographs to be shared with our members
and friends. Both images connect, directly or through descendants, with
families represented within our present-day Pan-Laconian community.
They remind us that our Society is not only about maintaining a connection
to a place. It is also about preserving the people, families and memories that
give that place meaning.
Konstantinos and Georgitsa Piliouras of Kosmas
The first photograph is a striking portrait of an elderly couple: Konstantinos
Piliouras (1861–1952) and his wife, Georgitsa (1865–1967),
née Sarris. Both are believed to have lived their entire lives in Kosmas
of Kynouria.
Although Kosmas is located in neighbouring Arcadia, its history, traditions and enduring
connections place it firmly within the cultural heart of the wider Laconian
community. For generations, Kosmas and the villages of the Southern Parnon
region have maintained close family and social ties with Laconia, making photographs such as this
particularly meaningful to the Pan-Laconian Society.
Family records help us look beyond the photograph and put names, dates and
places to the faces.
According to the Family Trees of Southern Parnon, the
family Dimotologio of Konstantinos held in the Kynouria Archive
records him as the son of Dimitrios and Angeliki Piliouras,
born in Kosmas in 1861. His date of death is recorded as 19
April 1952. This is supported by the Mitroo Arrenon (Male
Register) of Kosmas, held in the Leonidi Archive, where the birth of Konstantinos
Dimitriou Piliouras was registered in 1861.
The corresponding family Dimotologio for Georgitsa records her as
the daughter of Athanasios Sarris, born in Kosmas in 1865.
She lived to the remarkable age of 101, dying on 16 January 1967.
A summary of her death certificate, dated 10 February 1967,
provides further detail. It records Georgia Piliouras, a
housewife and widow, aged 99, born and residing in Kosmas and the wife of
Konstantinos Piliouras. Her cause of death is recorded as cardiac
failure, on 16 January 1967.
These archival records transform the photograph from an anonymous image of
an elderly couple into a documented family story. We can now place Konstantinos
and Georgitsa within their community and understand something of the lives they
led in Kosmas across the late nineteenth and much of the twentieth century.
The photograph itself offers a rare glimpse into that world. Their clothing,
expressions and surroundings speak quietly of a very different era. Yet their
connection to families represented among us today gives the image an immediacy
that goes far beyond historical curiosity.
Konstantinos and Georgitsa were ancestors of present-day members of the
Pan-Laconian community. Their photograph is therefore a tangible link between
generations; a reminder that the people who built their lives in the villages
and towns of our ancestral homeland remain part of the stories carried forward
by their children, grandchildren and descendants.
Who Are the Couple in the Second Photograph?
The second photograph presents another couple, dressed in formal attire and
photographed in what appears to be an earlier studio portrait. Unfortunately,
their names, location and precise family connection are not presently known to
us.
And this is where we need your help.
Could they be relatives of a Pan-Laconian family? Does the photograph look
familiar? Might someone recognise the couple from a photograph preserved in a
family album, or know of a branch of a family that left Laconia generations ago?
Sometimes the smallest clue can unlock an entire family story: a surname, a
village, a nickname, an approximate date, a family relationship or simply
recognition of a familiar face.
We hope that by sharing this photograph with the wider Pan-Laconian
community, someone may be able to help us identify this couple and return their
names and story to the historical record.
Why These Photographs Matter
Photographs such as these are pieces of a much larger family and community
archive. Individually, they may tell us only a little. Together, however, they
can help document family relationships, migration patterns, village life and
the experiences of Laconian families across generations.
For the Pan-Laconian Society, preserving these images is particularly
valuable because many of the connections that once existed naturally within
families and villages are becoming harder to trace. As generations pass, names
can be forgotten, photographs can become separated from their stories, and
important details can disappear.
A photograph can therefore be much more than an old picture. It can be a primary
piece of family history, a visual record that helps connect today's generations
with those who came before them.
Sharing family photographs gives us an opportunity to bring some of those
stories back to life and, importantly, to make them available to future
generations.
Do You Have an Old Family Photograph?
We would love to hear from you.
If you have an old photograph connected to Laconia, a Laconian
village, or a family with Laconian roots, please consider forwarding
it to the Pan-Laconian Society.
It does not need to depict a famous person or a historically significant event.
A wedding portrait, family gathering, photograph of grandparents, village
scene, school group, or even an unidentified ancestor, may contain a connection
that someone in our community can help uncover.
Please share whatever information you have with the photograph: names,
villages, approximate dates, family relationships, or any story that has been
passed down through the family. Even when the details are incomplete, another
member may recognise a face or family name and help fill in the missing pieces.
Our family photographs are part of Laconia's collective memory. By sharing them
today, we help ensure that the people, families and stories behind them are not
forgotten tomorrow.
Sincere Thanks to Koula Tsintziniotis
Our sincere thanks to Koula Tsintziniotis for entrusting
these photographs to us and allowing their stories—or, in the case of the
second photograph, the search for its story—to be shared with the Pan-Laconian
community.
We hope this will be the beginning of many more discoveries. Who knows what
other faces from Laconia's
past are waiting in family albums, drawers and boxes to be recognised?
The Greek Community of Melbourne has launched a comprehensive initiative to secure the future of Classical Greek education in Victoria, combining scholarships, school outreach, partnerships and free trial classes. Central to this effort is Miltiadis Paikopoulos, Vice President of our sister organisation, the Pallaconian Brotherhood of Victoria, who, in his capacity as a GCM Classical Greek teacher, is leading the school outreach campaign and has initiated AGON—a network bringing together educators, academics, parents and organisations committed to promoting and preserving Classical Greek.The following article is reprinted from the 20 August 2026 issue of The Greek Herald.
Melbourne
commits to the continuation of Classical Greek education
(L-R) Professor Anastasios Tamis, Maria
Bakalidou, Miltiadis Paikopoulos and Dr Nick Dallas.
The Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM) has reaffirmed its commitment to the
continuation of Classical Greek education in Victoria, launching a series
of initiatives designed to strengthen the program and secure its long-term
future.
Classical Greek will continue to be offered from Year 7 through to VCE and
will remain open to students from across Victoria,
regardless of the school they attend.
At a time when the number of students choosing Classical Greek remains
limited, the GCM’s aim is not simply to maintain the existing program, but to
create the conditions for it to grow in the years ahead.
The long-term strategy includes scholarships for students, an Open Day and
free trial classes, a school outreach campaign, partnerships with other
schools, the development and sharing of teaching resources, and the creation of
a broader network of educators and organisations committed to the future of
Classical Studies in Victoria.
Scholarships
An important first step is the introduction of scholarships offered by the
Australian Institute for Macedonian Studies (AIMS), through the initiative of
Professor Anastasios Tamis.
The scholarships, established in memory of Panagiotis Liveriadis, will be
offered over the next five years to support students who wish to undertake the
GCM’s Classical Greek program.
At the same time, the GCM will continue to seek further partnerships and
additional scholarship opportunities to ensure that financial circumstances do
not prevent interested students from studying Classical Greek.
On Saturday, 19 September 2026, the GCM will host a special Classical Greek
Open Day at the Greek Centre for students and their families.
Families will have the opportunity to meet the teachers, learn about the
program and the pathway from introductory Classical Greek through to VCE, and find
out more about scholarships and free trial classes.
Most importantly, students will have the chance to experience Classical
Greek for themselves and discover that the subject extends far beyond grammar
and vocabulary. They will explore its connections with Modern Greek and
English, as well as philosophy, science, history and concepts that remain part
of our everyday lives.
Taking Classical Greek into Melbourne schools
As part of the strategy, the GCM is also launching a school outreach
campaign to introduce Classical Greek directly to secondary students across Melbourne.
A team of GCM educators, together with Classical Greek teacher Miltiadis
Paikopoulos and GCM Schools Principal Maria Bakalidou, will visit secondary
schools across the city to give students an opportunity to discover the
language and the world of Classical Greek.
Through short presentations and engaging activities, students will be
introduced to the influence of Classical Greek on language, science, philosophy
and the modern world, while also challenging some of the common perceptions
they may have about the subject.
Students who would like to explore the subject further will then be invited
to attend free Classical Greek trial classes at the Greek Centre, with no
obligation to enrol.
The aim of the campaign is simple: to give more young people the opportunity
to experience Classical Greek before deciding whether it is a subject they
would like to pursue.
Collaboration with Xavier College
Miltiadis Paikopoulos with students
An important part of the long-term strategy is the developing collaboration
between the GCM and Xavier College.
GCM Schools Principal Ms Bakalidou and Chair of the GCM Education Committee
Dr Nick Dallas have held a series of meetings with Xavier College Director of
Learning Monique Dalli to discuss the future of Classical Greek education and
ways in which the two organisations can work together to increase student
interest and participation.
The collaboration will include the joint development and sharing of
curriculum resources and teaching materials, as well as closer cooperation
between Classical Greek teachers from both organisations.
By bringing together the experience and expertise of both institutions, the
partnership aims to provide stronger support for teachers and students and
contribute to a more sustainable model for Classical Greek education into the
future.
The collaboration reflects the GCM’s broader view that the future of
Classical Greek cannot rest with one school or organisation alone. It requires
cooperation between schools, teachers, universities, families and the wider
community.
The “AGON” initiative
Supporting this broader effort is “AGON”, a new action group initiated by
GCM Classical Greek teacher Mr Paikopoulos.
The GCM congratulates Mr Paikopoulos on the initiative, which brings
together people and organisations with a shared interest in preserving and
promoting Classical Studies.
The group brings together teachers from different schools, parents,
academics, representatives from education and government, and supporters of
Classical Studies, providing a forum to exchange ideas and coordinate
initiatives aimed at strengthening interest in Classical Greek and supporting
the future of the subject.
Investing in the future of Classical Greek
GCM Schools Principal Ms Bakalidou said the commitment to continuing and
developing the program also carried a special significance for the Greek
Community Schools.
“The future of Classical Greek in Victoria
requires collaboration, careful planning and long-term investment. We don’t
simply want to keep a subject alive because of its historical significance. We
want more young people to have the opportunity to discover this language, its
ideas and the texts that have had such a profound influence on the modern
world,” she said.
“For us, this effort also has a very personal significance. Our Classical
Greek program was established through the vision, dedication and persistence of
our much-loved teacher, Alexandros Giannadakis, who worked tirelessly to
establish Classical Greek within the Greek Community Schools. His unexpected
passing in 2024 was a great loss to our school community. Continuing and
growing this program is also a way for us to honour his memory and carry
forward the work he began.”
Chair of the GCM Education
Committee Dr Dallas
said the new initiatives reflected a long-term commitment by the GCM.
“This is not a one-year initiative. It is a long-term commitment by the
Greek Community of Melbourne. We are committed to continuing to offer Classical
Greek from Year 7 through to VCE and, above all, to ensuring that every student
who genuinely wants to study the language has the opportunity to do so,” he
said.
“To achieve that, we need to build interest from the younger years, support
families where needed, and invest in the partnerships that will make the
program sustainable in the long term.”
For the GCM, the goal is clear: no student in Victoria who wants to study Classical Greek
should be denied the opportunity to do so.
The scholarships, Classical Greek Open Day, free trial classes, school
outreach campaign, collaboration with Xavier
College and the “AGON” initiative are
the first steps in a broader strategy to ensure that Classical Greek education
remains vibrant, accessible and sustainable in Victoria for future generations.
Students and families interested in learning more about the scholarships,
Open Day, free trial classes or the Classical Greek program are encouraged to
contact the Greek Community of Melbourne Schools for further information.
Visit their website here: https://www.greekcommunity.com.au/schools
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Theodora Malavazos, née Sarris, who passed away in Adelaide, South Australia, on 10 August 2026, aged 87. She was the beloved wife of the late Evangelos Malavazos.
Theodora was born on 26 December 1938 in Agios Dimitrios Zarakos, Lakonia, Greece. In 1958, at the age of 20, she migrated to Australia to marry Evangelos who had migrated from Karitsa two years earlier. Together, they settled in Goodwood, South Australia, where they made their home and raised their family.
A devoted wife, mother and grandmother, Theodora’s life was defined by hard work, generosity and a deep commitment to her family and the Greek community. For many years, she was a dedicated volunteer of the Pan-Laconian Society, generously giving her time and energy to support the Society and its activities.
The Church of Saints Constantine and Helen in Goodwood held a special place in Theodora’s life. Situated only a short walk in the neighbourhood where she and Evangelos raised their family, the church had been part of her life since its consecration in the 1970s.
Theodora’s warmth, generosity and steadfast devotion to her family and community will be fondly remembered by her children and grandchildren, relatives, friends and fellow members of the Laconian community.
The funeral service will take place at 2:00 pm on Saturday, 15 August, at the Church of Saints Constantine and Helen in Goodwood.
Burial will follow at Centennial Park Cemetery, alongside her beloved husband, Evangelos. Following the burial, a memorial gathering will be held at the Pan-Laconian Family Centre in Aldridge Avenue, Plympton Park.
We extend our deepest sympathies to her family and loved ones at this time of sorrow.
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