Friends, it’s great to see so many people here in Marrickville this afternoon, celebrating our rich Greek heritage and all those Greek-Australians who have made Marrickville such an extraordinary place to live today.

Marrickville simply wouldn’t be what it is today without the contribution made by Greeks and Greek Australians.

You can see it everywhere you look. In so many of the businesses that line Marrickville and Illawarra Roads, in our local sports clubs, in the charitable and philanthropic work done by the Greek Orthodox Church and by Greek Australian community groups, and in our arts and culture.

The waves of Greeks that came to settle in Marrickville came here to build a better life for themselves and their families, but they have done so much more than that.

They’ve built a better life for all of us who live in this community.

And I think it’s important to remember why we’ve named this area of Marrickville Little Greece.

Because it is a living, breathing Greek Australian community. It’s not just a part of history.

Little Greece is still going strong.

You can’t walk down Marrickville Road without hearing people speak Greek, and this community is still the centre of social, economic, cultural and religious life for so many Greek Australians.

The Greek Australian connection to Marrickville and to the Inner West is a very special thing.

It’s made us the birthplace of Australian multiculturalism and given our community ties that reach right across the globe.

We simply wouldn’t be the community that we are today without it,

So I pay tribute to the Greek Australian diaspora and say Chronia Pola (cron ya pol a) to you all. May Little Greece continue to flourish for many, many years!