Thursday, July 30, 2015

Arts ... It all began in the Sydney Botanic Garden

Last week MEdia Dragon caught up with John Azarias in front of The Parliament House and I must admit John looks the same as two decades ago when I first met him... John has not lost his storytelling abilities as Gillian (sic) Lester noted in the Great Synagog last month 'John is the most charming man he ever met'. This charm and thoughtfullness is reflected in the following foundation: (Actresses and writers like Bella Imrichova value this kind of foundation even more than bloggers ;-)

It all began early in 2014 when John and Patricia Azarias, the founders of the Prize, took a walk through the Botanic Garden. John Azarias loves Hellenic culture and had seen the original monument in Athens. On that particular day, as he and his wife approached the sandstone replica (commissioned in 1870 by Sir James Martin), they were struck by how eroded it was becoming. He decided then and there to raise the funds for its restoration in readiness for the Botanic Garden’s bicentenary in 2016. John and Patricia Azarias

Sydney businessman John Azarias recently wrote an account, that was published in the Financial Times, of the Greek Alexandrian poet Constantine Cavafy whose '"constant companions of the mind" were the multi-ethnic worlds of the Seleucids, of the Ptolemies, of Byzantium and of the Ottomans'. It was, as Azarias said, 'a quintessentially Alexandrian spirit'. Again, this culture was untidy, overlapping, contradictory and pluralistic—not a culture demanding conformity to a single religion or language—surely rich enough to fit King Abdullah's ideal of 'an overlap of cultures'. As I remember hearing Bill Clinton say once: 'Our differences make us interesting. Our common humanity is more important.' 

Writer - Patricia Azarias is the product of an immigrant family, born in Egypt, of an English father and a Spanish Jewish mother, speaking several languages. She is a passionate advocate of a multi-cultural Australia & is on the board of SBS Radio & Television, an active member of its Community Advisory Committee. She is the Deputy Chair of CRC (NSW). She worked for the United Nations for many years & was the Chief Auditor (2004-2006). She recently finished a year in Papua New Guinea as a UN expert on public finance and established a foundation for sending kids to school. As the Director of the Public Accounts Committee of the NSW Parliament, she wrote numerous publications. - See more at: Migrant Story

Parliament especially in Sydney is a small and people are still keeping in touch. We evev had the friendliest and considerate President in my time in NSW Parliament, Johno Johnson who is currently in the Prince of Wales hospital. The NSW Parliament is peppered with colourful characters ... In 1991 Dr Russell Cope, the Parliamentary Librarian, concluded 40 years of meritorious service Dr Cope is one of those living treasures that few institutions have


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