Jewish service to Australian Hellenism

The centenary of the Consulate-General of the Hellenic Republic (Greece) in Sydney was marked with a series of events in May and June this year.

Amongst these events was the publication of a history of the Consulate-General since the first Honorary Consul was appointed in 1891. Few know about this unbroken diplomatic presence. Fewer still know about the Jewish dimensions of this rich history.

Decades before the re-formation of the State of Israel, a Jewish Australian was serving as a Honorary Consul of the Hellenic Kingdom (Greece). Darlinghurst-born Sir Samuel Sydney Cohen served in Newcastle between 1905 and 1915, becoming popular for his diligence in consular affairs.

In his report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Athens in early-1915, the Honorary Consul in Melbourne, Alexandros Maniakis threw his weight behind Cohen’s candidacy for the post of Honorary Consul in Sydney, informing that Cohen had been energetic in his duties in Newcastle, had financially aided Hellenic national causes and had been unfailing in his support of the Hunter region’s Hellenes. Cohen’s appointment was confirmed in June 1915 by royal decree.

The confidence in Cohen’s abilities was well-deserved, illustrated – for example – by his regular correspondence with the Australian media. The Wednesday, December 22, 1915, edition of the Sydney Morning Herald carried one of those characteristic Cohen letters. Greece at that time was in the throes of the National Division, a period when the pro-German King Constantine and the pro-British prime Minister Eleutherios Venizelos were struggling for dominance.