Trailblazer Eugenia Mitrakas OAM becomes first Greek-Born Golden Alumna at Melbourne Unive
Source: NEOS KOSMOS
Eugenia Mitrakas OAM, lawyer, notary and prominent community leader, has been named a Golden Alumna by the University of Melbourne for her lifetime contribution to the law and the Greek Australian community. It is the first time a Greek-born woman has received the honour. Born in Lesvos, Mitrakas migrated to Australia at the age of nine and went on to build a career spanning law, education, welfare and community advocacy.
“I stand beside so really greats in the law like Sir James Gobbo and The Hon Sue Kenny, the first women to be appointed to the Court of Appeal in Victoria and then to the Federal Court,” Mitrakas said.
She told Neos Kosmos the recognition left her “very emotional and goes to the very core of why my father chose to migrate”.
“I was eight when I got off the boat and turned nine the day after and my journey was full of hardships that the second generation and later generations did not experience.”
For Mitrakas, the award also acknowledges the contribution of migrant women to Australia’s educational, legal and community institutions.
The trailblazer said she has received six awards this year, “more than a lifetime before”.
“Finally, I have been given recognition for my work in the late 1960s through to the 1980s,” she said.
Emotions were strong as Mitrakas noted the absence of key figures in her life. The award, she said, brought on “tears due to its significance because both my parents, and David [late husband] could not be there.”
Her late husband David [Roylance] died in 2010 and was a shipping, transport, oil and gas lawyer listed in Who’s Who Legal.
“We met is Law School in the late 1960s when he acted for TT Lines and purchased the ferries boats that sail to Tasmania from Superfast Ferries in Greece,” she recalled.
“David sold the old ferry Abel Tasman to NEL Lines on Lesvos which was renamed Theofilos by NEL.”
Her husband is buried at Melbourne General Cemetery, in front of the rose gardens next to the Prime Ministers’ Memorial Garden.
An emotional Mitrakas said she “visited him before the ceremony” and reflected on their life and jorney.
“I walked through PM’s memorial gardens and stood in front of Sr Robert Menzies’ grave who was the Chancellor when I graduated Arts who handed me my degree,” an emotional Mitrakas said.
David Roylance’s father was a well-known sports journalist who on Wide World of Sport on Sundays, and was also the editor of the Sporting Globe and sports editor for The Sun.
The Alumna described the award as “the greatest honour so far from Australia’s top University”.
“They have invited me to talk at the Graduation Ceremony at The Exhibition building next month – this is a huge honour.”
My father went through so much in Greece and he migrated so that his children could have a “fair go with their education” . Australia has given me a lot more than a fair go. This was never on the agenda for my father or for me. It is a huge honour not only for me but the Greek community as a whole to give such a significant award to a Greek born migrant.
I have been invited to speak at their Graduation ceremony in December at the Exhibition Building to inspire the new graduates. This is even a bigger honour.
Mitrakas said called her time at the University of Melbourne “happy days”.
“My lecturers became lifelong friends. As the only Greek female in the law faculty, I naturally did not have any Greek friends and this allowed me to integrate quicker than later generations, becoming an Australian-Greek who is immensely proud of my Greek background and culture.”
She referenced the ancient Greek female poet Sapho in her acceptance speech who like Mitrakas was was on Lesvos on a village built on a caldera.
“My street being the only one at the time with a name – Οδός Σαπφούς – I named my home in Albert Park ‘Sappho’ as a homage to my birthplace and my classical Greek education at the University of Melbourne”, said the Golden Alumna.
She added that the recognition “justified the migration journey; despite all the hardships we encountered in the first 10 years”.
Such a grand award “from a top-ranking university” was never on her parents’ or for that matter her radar said Mitrakas.
The original article: belongs to NEOS KOSMOS .
