Photo exhibition commemorating Australians fighting in Greece
The Australian Embassy in cooperation with the Parliament of Greece organised an exhibition from 7 June to 7 November 2005 in Constitution (Syntagma) Square in central Athens, titled “60 years after the end of World War II: Greeks and Australians in the common struggle for freedom” . The exhibition was opened by the President of Greece, Karolos Papoulias, with the Speaker of The Greek Parliament, Anna Benaki-Psarouda and Ambassador Paul Tighe giving the inaugural addresses.
The exhibition focused on the contribution of the Australians in the defence of Greece in 1941, and how the episode countries changed the two countries' relationship, bringing the two peoples closer together through the hardships of war through shared sacrifice in the cause of freedom and democracy, and paving the way for the positive reception thousands of Greeks received as migrants in Australia post war.
The exhibition included 120 photographs, quotes and scans from soldiers' diaries, maps and a range of artefacts obtained from the Australian War Memorial, Greek National War Museum and Parliamentary holdings (and from an A-based officer's family collection). 3000 copies of an 80 page catalogue, including a forward by Ambassador Tighe, were printed by the Parliament in support of the exhibition, and continue to be distributed to promote the exhibition's theme to Greek schools, cultural organisations and the public.
A range of Greek politicians and senior officials, representatives of the Greek armed forces, veterans, Greek-Australian organisations and other VIPs attended the opening, which received television and print media coverage. Footage of the opening was broadcast on the Greek national news and was also shown in Australia through the Greek news service on SBS. Articles on the exhibition, including references to the speech given by the Ambassador Paul Tighe, appeared in Greek language newspapers in Australia as well as newspapers in Greece.