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A smiling older person
Speaker Profile Προφίλ ηχείου
George Hagivassilis
| Language: English
A smiling older person

Speaker background

Occupation: compositor, journalist, newspaper editorYear of arrival: 1957Method of transport: Ship (Toscana)

George Hagivassilis was born in Alexandria, Egypt in 1935. After completing his schooling, he worked for the Greek newspaper Tahidromos. Following the Suez crisis in 1956, the Egyptian government nationalised his parents’ printing and stationery business, forcing them to find alternative work. George’s father sent him to Greece to seek employment opportunities. When he was unable to secure work, he and his family migrated to Adelaide where his maternal aunty had lived for forty years. Due to their printing experience, George and his father quickly secured work at the Adelaide Advertiser newspaper. Following an invitation from newspaper publisher Theo Skalkos, in 1969 George moved to Sydney. The pair developed a long-standing professional relationship. During his career, George worked for a number of Greek newspapers, before serving as editor of O Kosmos for more than three decades.

Location in AustraliaRandwick

Interview summary

George discusses his early life living and working for a major Greek newspaper in Alexandria. He describes the economic turmoil in Egypt following the Suez Crisis and his family’s subsequent move to Australia. He explains how, upon arrival, he and his father secured work at the Adelaide Advertiser. George also reflects on his career in Sydney, where he worked for several Greek newspapers.

Interview highlights

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George outlines the reasons why his family chose to migrate to Australia in 1957, following the Suez Crisis and the loss of their business.

George: My hope was to stay in Greece, that I will get a job and stay in Greece. My father had this programme, that we find jobs in Greece, and we stay in Greece. It didn’t work that way. I went first to Greece. I couldn’t get a job because it was, what do they call it, a closed shop. In other words, you couldn’t get a job unless your father is in that job, or somebody is close family. They got all the available jobs. Foreigners like me, we couldn’t get a job. So, my mother wrote to her sister in Adelaide, she hadn’t seen her for forty years. And of course, when Aunty Anika thought there was an opportunity to see her sister, she grabbed it and her daughter did all the paperwork for us to migrate. That’s why my name is wrong, ‘Hagivassilis.’ We have in the Latin alphabet, a ‘T' and a ‘Z’. But, instead of using Hatzi, a ‘T’ ‘Z’ like it is in Greek, she used a ‘G’.

Timecode 22:39 - 24:24
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George recounts the lead-up to the federal election in December 1972 which saw the Labor Party return to office after 23 years. He describes the pre-election visit to the Greek Herald newspaper office, by the then Leader of the Labor Party, Gough Whitlam.

George: Whitlam was a man who could excite people; he was a politician’s politician. He knew the vote from the Greek community was not secure unless he did something about Greeks. So, he started visiting newspapers and giving talks to Greek gatherings. He seemed aloof at times, because I met him, and I know how he behaves.

Interviewer: What was he talking about in these meetings?

George: About the Greeks of course and he was almost an expert on the Greek history. So, he spoke about what he knew about Greek ancient history.

Interviewer: What were some of the issues that were important to the Greek community at that time?

George: Well things like the invasion in Cyprus by the Turks, that was a major major concern for the Greeks. They demonstrated and they expected support from the Australian government.

Timecode 01:11:49 - 01:13:36

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