RETURN TO ANATOLIA

RETURN TO ANATOLIA 4th ANNUAL CONFERENCE - Through Australian Eyes

Through Australian Eyes... 4th annual Return To Anatolia National Conference was held in Melbourne. The theme was the roles played by Australians in the dark time of the Genocide of the Hellenes, Armenians and Assyrians: eyewitnesses and rescuers. These roles were presented by the four speakers, along with photographs and other Australian archival material from the broader Hellenic world during that time.

 The first speaker was Dr Panayiotis Diamadis, lecturer in Genocide Studies at the University of Technology, Sydney. During his presentation, he related the story of Sydney and Joice NanKivell Loch. From 1922 until the ends of their respective lives they dedicated themselves to the establishment and development of a refugee settlement in Macedonia, Ouranoupolis in the Halkidike district.

 Next speaker was Mr Nicholas Al-Jeloo, an Assyrian background doctoral student from Sydney. He presented the story of the Dunsterforce. This British army force (which included many Australians amongst its ranks), saved approximately 40,000 Assyrians and Armenians from the sabres of the Ottoman Turkish Army and its allies during the summer of 1918. During their flight from their ancestral lands around Lake Urmia in north-west Iran, the Australian and other Dunsterforce men fought and saved thouands of civilians.

 The third speaker was Mr Vicken Babkenian, also an associate of the Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, in Sydney. The researcher of Armenian descent presented on the Australian effort to send humanitarian relief to the destitute genocide survivors who had found refuge in Greece, Syria and Soviet Armenia. For example, in 1922 alone, Australia sent aid worth $100,000 in the forms of food, clothing and cash.

 The keynote address was presented by Professor David Treloar of the University of Western Australia. Professor Treloar is the youngest son of Colonel George Devine Treloar. Through the photographs and letters of his father, Prof. Treloar spoke about his father's work as the League of Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in western Thrace and eastern Macedonia. The younger Treloar related the story of how Colonel Treloar saved approximately 108,000 survivors of the Hellenic Genocide from hunger and disease. In those crucial early hours, when the destitute survivors were arriving by the tens of thousands, this Australian laid the foundations for them to find food, clothing and shelter. For them to be able to stand on their own feet and rebuild their lives.

 At the conclusion of the Conference, the Return to Anatolia President, Mrs Sofia Kotanidis, presented commemorative awards to the speakers. Amongst those who attended the day-long Conference were state Members of Parliament Jenny Mikakos and John Pandazopoulos, councillors Mary Lalios and Kris Paylides, many compatriots as well as representatives of the Assyrian, Armenian and Jewish communities. Mrs Despoina Poursanides served as Master of Ceremonies.