Ballarat honours humanitarian George Devine Treloar with launch of new book
Source: NEOS KOSMOS
The humanitarian legacy of Colonel George Devine Treloar was celebrated this week at St Patrick’s College Ballarat with the launch of ‘Genocide to Regeneration: The Photographs of George Devine Treloar’ by Associate Professor David Treloar and Dr Panayiotis Diamadis.
The event took place at the college on Monday 10 November, and marked the first presentation of the publication, which documents the work of the school alumnus and former League of Nations Commissioner for Refugees.
In a statement, the College said the event was held to honour the life and humanitarian legacy of Treloar.
Dr Diamadis said the presentation in Ballarat held particular significance.
“This evening was very special as Ballarat is where the story of Colonel Treloar began,” he said.
“To present his photographs, his writings and our research on his legacy at St Patrick’s, at the school which helped shape Colonel Treloar, to walk the grounds and halls he walked 125 years ago, was a humbling experience.”
Student leaders accompanied Dr Diamadis, along with representatives of the Australian Greek Ex-Servicemen’s Association, Nick Makridis and Kostas Antoniadis, to an olive tree and commemorative plaque planted at the College in 2015.
The memorial was a gift from the Melbourne Greek Genocide Commemoration Committee, which Antoniadis then chaired.
Since 2016, the committee has presented the George Devine Treloar Award for Community Service to a St Patrick’s student each year.
The College thanked Dr Diamadis and Associate Professor Treloar for their work in documenting Colonel Treloar’s story.
Treloar’s photographs, featured in the book, were taken during his time as League of Nations Commissioner for Refugees in northern Greece, where he assisted with resettlement and reconstruction efforts in the early 1920s.
Dr Vasilis Adrahtas, co-founder of Unity in Philia, which published the volume, said Treloar’s story links Australian and Greek history.
George Devine Treloar was born in Ballarat in 1884. He served with British forces during the First World War and later worked with refugees in Constantinople between 1920 and 1922.
The launch was attended by college staff, student leaders, alumni, members of the Ballarat Hellenic community and visitors from Melbourne.
The original article: belongs to NEOS KOSMOS .
