Saturday, 8 June 2024
Sydney Hotel
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC, Governor of New South Wales

Bujari gamarruwa, Diyn Babana Gamarada Gadigal Ngura

In greeting you in the language of the Gadigal, Traditional Owners of this land, I pay my respects to Elders, past, present and emerging.

• Your Eminence, Archbishop Makarios
• Consul-General Ioannis Mallikourtis
• Professor Les White AM, Board Member, The Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation
• Debutantes and partners, family members and special guests:

Kalispera Sas.^[1] 

Dennis and I are delighted to join you tonight for this sparkling occasion.

There is a saying in the English language, that is believed to date back to the ancient Greek storyteller Aesop: “All that glitters is not gold.” Aesop clearly had never envisaged the Greek Young Matrons’ Association Debutant Ball!

To mix my metaphors, just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, the success of this Ball and, more particularly, of the work of the Greek Young Matrons ‘Association is a story of nearly three quarters of a century of committed dedicated work.

In 1951, when the Association was founded, Sydney was a city of just 1 and 3/4 million people.^[2] Robert Menzies was the Prime Minister, James McGirr the Premier and Sir John Northcott, the Governor of New South Wales.  It was also the year of birth of the 39^th Governor of NSW, (which is giving something away)! 

King George VI was the monarch – but not for long, his daughter Elizabeth acceded to the Crown the following year upon her father’s death.^[3] Four years earlier she had married Philip, a prince of Greece, who was baptised in the Greek Orthodox rites at St George’s Church on the island of Corfu.^[4]

The Greek community was one of the fastest growing immigrant communities in the country, doubling in size between 1947 and 1954 from just over 12,000 people to 25,000.  Today, those with Greek heritage are edging up towards half million. Your first Greek ambassador arrived in 1953.

Amongst all this activity, the newly formed Association, all volunteers, set about raising funds for hospitals for sick children and organisations who care for the underprivileged, for children with disabilities, for the aged and others in need help.

Seventy-three years later, you are still working, still dedicating your time and energies to contribute to the larger community of which you are part and bringing the next generation with you. 

One of the longest beneficiaries of your work, including from the Debutante Ball - is the Sydney Children’s Hospital.  The Association has raised over $2,000,000 -  of which you can be incredibly proud.  

You have assisted in establishing the Chair of Modern Greek and the Department of Classical Archaeology at the University of Sydney and supported both the Australian Archaeological Institute in Athens, and the Nicholson Museum in Sydney.

To the Organising Committee and Association women – past and present – thank you!

To the Debutantes and your partners, your fun tonight is the ‘saving grace’ for someone tomorrow. Congratulations!

[1] ‘Good evening to you’

[2] https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/cities/206167/sydney/population

[3] 6 February 1952

[4] https://en.wikiped.org/wiki/Prince_Philip,_Duke_of_Edinburgh