NAIDOC Week (3–10 July) is an opportunity for all Australians to learn about First Nations cultures and histories, and to participate in celebrations of the oldest, continuous living cultures on earth.

This year's theme is Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! which speaks to Indigenous peoples' history of standing up for their rights, and is a call for non-Indigenous people to support First Nations people by amplifying their voices and narrowing the gap between intent and action.

For NAIDOC Week, this month's Hellenic Social is highlighting First Peoples stories and celebrating some of the intersections between Indigenous Australian and Greek cultures. Our similarities and differences should be celebrated and encourage our respect and understanding of one another, as we work towards equity and justice.

To learn more about NAIDOC Week, and to find events and resources to celebrate and support Australia's First Peoples, visit the NAIDOC website.

Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander readers please note that linked websites may contain images of deceased persons.
 

Today barramundi is a mainstay of the Australian seafood industry. Thanks to a close knowledge of the land, Indigenous people have enjoyed the best of this native produce for thousands of years. But to European colonists barramundi was an acquired taste, and difficult to catch – so it wasn't until the 1950s that it found broader popularity.

According to historians Leonard Janiszewski and Effy Alexakis, this was in part thanks to the Haritos family. After migrating from Lesvos and settling in Darwin, the Haritos sons learned traditional spearfishing techniques from local First Nations people and became skilled barramundi fishermen.

They were certainly not the first to fish for barramundi, but they were the first to bulk export the fish to the southern states. This sparked national interest, and ultimately landed barramundi on the plates of Olympians at the 1956 Melbourne Games, catapulting it into Australia's culinary mainstream.

Image: Darwin Salt Works, Ludmilla Creek, Darwin, NT, 1919. (L-R): John Sfakinakis, Efstratios George Haritos, Dick Colivas and George Harmanis. Source: L. Harmanis, from the ‘In Their Own Image: Greek Australians’ National Project Archives, Macquarie University.

The common threads between Indigenous Australian and Greek cultures do not end with cuisine. In this article from SBS Greek, Professor Vrasidas Karalis from the Department of Modern Greek and Byzantine Studies at the University of Sydney spoke to Themi Kallos about the similarities between Aboriginal and Byzantine Sacred Arts – in particular, their use of abstraction to explore the invisible dimensions within the everyday.

Image: Byzantine mosaic of Christ Pantocrator on the walls of the Hagia Sophia, Constantinople c. 1261.

The ancient Greeks often looked to the stars for meaning, and their myths have had a prolific influence on common interpretations of the constellations. But they were not the only stargazers.

Among other cultures, Australia's First Peoples developed their own systems and traditions. As with all facets of First Peoples culture, there is no single astronomical system, with differences across the country and between language groups. Nonetheless, there are some features which are common to many local astronomical traditions, and quite different to those of European astronomy.

But most remarkably, despite geographical distance, there are also commonalities between constellations and their narratives in Indigenous Australian and ancient Greek cultures. In this article, researcher Duane W. Hamacher searches for answers.

For more information on First Peoples astronomy, explore these helpful resources from AIATSIS and Museums Victoria.

Image: In Wergaia traditions the Greek Gemini brothers Castor and Pollux take the form of animals: Yurree the fan-tailed cockatoo and Wanjel the long-necked tortoise. Source: Stellarium, John Morieson and Alex Cherney.

Speaking of the stars – this month in the Argonauts Club, we're exploring our final three classical planets: Jupiter, Saturn & Mars. Head to the blog to discover the myth of Zeus and Cronus, their epic battle for the throne, and how Zeus informs the names of Jupiter's moons. Then, create your own ultimate space battle!

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