Seaholme’s George Said has made the Australia Day honours list for his service to the community of Hobsons Bay.
A refugee from the 1956 Egypt Suez Canal crisis, Mr Said fled to England with his wife and their baby daughter before the family migrated to Australia in 1962 as “Ten Pound Poms”.
Mr Said, who received a Medal of the Order of Australia, said that 59 years ago he was “the only Greek in Altona who could read and write English”.
“So, I became a secretary, I became a submission writer, I actually developed a constitution,” he said.
He has held the position of “resource person” with the Greek Orthodox Community of Hobsons Bay since 1962, and was partly responsible for acquiring the land on which today sits the biggest Greek Orthodox church in Melbourne’s west.
Mr Said’s honour recognises his extensive voluntary community involvement and commitment to multiculturalism and community building.
After moving from Altona to Seaholme, he started Seaholme Sustainabilty Street, a community program to promote neighbood interaction and a better understanding of the environment.
“Fifteen years ago, I decided that it’s not good enough not to know your neighbours,” he said.
To this day, Mr Said and his neighbours host a Christmas party for the children in the area.
He has acted as an interpreter and translator in Italian, French, Greek, Arabic and English languages since 1962 and was the first president of the University of the Third Age in Williamstown.
Mr Said said he was “delighted” to receive the honour.
“Remember that I’m 88,” he said. “At 88, you don’t get too many excitements.”
