Alphington Grammar School’s next Open Day showcases all that the school has to offer across all learning programmes.

Alphington Grammar School High Tea promises to be a special occasion for family and friends of Alphington to celebrate the special women in their lives.

Ms Helen Kapalos from Chanel 7’s Today Tonight programme will be the special guest speaker at this function.

Wednesdays 5:15 – 8:15 pm; starting on Wednesday, July 17 2013

This course caters for High School students who wish to increase their cultural literacy, investigate the origins of philosophy, science, politics, rhetoric, history and literature, be inspired from the moral insight and virtue of the classical world, read the architects of western civilization in their own words and finally increase their performance at the VCE Classical Greek examinations with a high score scaling reaching up to 15 marks.

The FILOTEXNO Art Gallery faithful at the rendezvous with the art viewers starts with the opening on Tuesday 19th of February the exhibition The Colours of Greece of 37 Greek Artists (Asprogiannis, Asimakopoulos, Bouranis, Chloi, Daskalakis, Dimas, Gatzonis, Georgas, Georgiou, Georgopoulos, Hazaridis, Htenidis, Katapodis, Kaziridis, Krideras, Konstantakis, Levan, Manoudeas, Mantzios, Melas, Mellidis, Mouratidou, Papadopoulos, Petalidou, Ralli, Seremetis, Sideras, Soragia, Stavrou, Topouria, Tselios, Tsimogiannis, Vlachogiannis, Zachariou, Zartaloudis, Zenetzis, Zervos). 118 paintings dominated by the history and topography of Greece hosted at the Eckersley's Open Space Gallery. The blue of sea and the fervour of the olive colour dominate, expressing the authors' psyche.

Adonis Xylouris, aka Psarandonis, comes from a renowned Cretan musical family and is known as the most idiosyncratic lyra player on the island. An exponent of tripped out Cretan music, Psarandonis’ unique three-stringed lyra playing style, his distinctive voice and his inimitable rendition of traditional folk songs has made him a cult legend in Greece and beyond, particularly with a younger generation of Cretan music lovers. Seeing Psarandonis live is considered to be a once in a lifetime experience.

In what Festival organisers have called a coup, the talented and extremely popular Cypriot born superstar Mihalis Hatzigiannis will headline this year's Antipodes Festival in Lonsdale Street Melbourne on Saturday March 16 and the Greek Festival of Sydney at Darling Harbour on Sunday March 17.

Hatzigiannis was born in Nicosia, Cyprus and graduated from the Cyprus Music Academy (Royal College of London) with a degree in piano, guitar and music theory. Starting out young with his first major performances coming at Eurovision qualifiers when he was only 17 years old, he had three hit records (all reaching platinum status in Cyprus) and a performance at Eurovision by the time he was 20. Sold out tours and platinum records followed right across the Greek speaking world including 2 previous sold out tours of Australia.

2013 New Education Program

* Beginners Modern Greek(Adults):10 week course on Thursdays: 6:30-8:30pm; starting on Thursday, April 18 - Cost $150 - Venue: ITHEA, Level 2, 459 Little Collins St.

* Beginners Ancient Greek (Adults):10 week course on Tuesdays: 6:30-8:30pm; starting on Tuesday, April 16 - Cost $150 - Venue: ITHEA, Level 2, 459 Little Collins St.

* Beginners Ancient Greek (Secondary School Students): 20 week course on Wednesdays 5:15-8:15pm; starting Wednesday, July 17 – Cost $ 250 - Venue: Alphington Grammar School, 18 Old Heidelberg Rd Alphington * Intermediate Ancient Greek (Secondary School Students) - Saturdays 10am -1pm

Register you interest by emailing at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call at: 0431995055

By Dr. Christos N. Fifis

In 2011 the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria (GOCMV) becomes 114 years old. The Community was established on 22 August 1897, in Melbourne, at the shop of Grigoris Matorikos, where a number of Greeks gathered to discuss the issue and bring over a priest from the Patriarchate of Jerusalem for the religious needs of themselves and those Arab speaking Orthodox people of Melbourne. Many people at the gathering promised various amounts, together with the promises of others who were unable to attend the meeting.

Οn the occasion of the 114th Anniversary of the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne & Victoria we are proud to publicly release detailed images of the first minutes of the GOCMV (1897-1916).

The minutes contain hundreds of names of early Greek settlers and through its pages we observe the history of the organisation as it evolved through its first two decades: the establishment of the first Greek Orthodox Church in Melbourne, the contribution of the founding members to the war efforts in Greece and the first constitution of a Greek organisation in Australia.

As a result of an unprecedented number of telephone calls and correspondence that the Greek Community has received from our compatriots in Greece, we wish to stress that in accordance to existing Australian immigration legislation a person that wishes to enter Australia can do so for the purposes of holidays, study or to work in Australia. For your information we note the following: