School Director Jack Davis and host Alexander Cambitoglou
(Hear a radio interview with Jack Davis on the Australian Broadcasting Company here.)
This August Jack Davis and Shari Stocker travelled to the Antipodes as guests of the Australian Archaeological Institute in Athens. The Institute’s Visiting Lecturer program, organized by Professor Alexander Cambitoglou, director of the AAIA, is now in its 21st year. Professor Sir John Boardman was first to travel to Australia at the invitation of the AAIA and since his trip a distinguished cast has followed annually, including ASCSA staffers Homer Thompson and John Camp and member Alan Shapiro.
Jack delivered thirty lectures on six different topics in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Newcastle, Armidale, Hobart, Adelaide, and Perth. He writes:
“We saw many old friends from ASCSA ‘Down Under.’ Ian McPhee and Betsy Pemberton showed us the wonderful Trendall Centre at LaTrobe University, where they remain hard at work on matters Corinthian now that they have retired. During our visit to Queensland University in Brisbane, Amelia Brown took us to a koala rescue center where we were able to pet these adorable creatures and kangaroos to boot! Blanche Menadier, formerly of the Blegen Library staff, and her husband Ken Sheedy welcomed us to Macquarie University in Sydney.
In Canberra, where I spoke about the School’s participation in 1918-19 in Red Cross relief efforts in Macedonia and Thrace after WW I, the Greek and the diplomatic community turned out in force. The following day, Ambassador Alexis and Mrs. Tenia Christopoulos invited us to their residence, then treated us to a terrific meal at a Turkish restaurant. In Hobart we were also warmly received; there the Greek honorary consul, Alexis Pittas, arranged for us to lunch with him at the Tasmanian Parliament.
Shari and I are extremely grateful to all who were involved in organizing our trip, to the staff of the AAIA, Wayne Mullen, Olivia Kelley, and Stavros Paspalas, as well as to our hosts in each city and university we visited. Our trip to Oz was an excellent opportunity for us to build stronger relations between ASCSA and a broader international academic community. We only hope that our new friends in Australia enjoyed our visit half as much as we did.”
