These aged care residents in Melbourne were given a rare glimpse of ancient Greece

Australia Broadcast Center

19 hours ago

Greek elders are sat around a table, listening intently as two volunteers sing the oldest surviving complete musical composition in the world.
One of the volunteers plucks at strings of a lyre — and during a second run through of the song, the elders gradually begin singing along.
"It was originally on a tombstone," explains Natasha Marinopoulos from the Hellenic Museum of Melbourne.
"A man named Seikilos wrote it for his wife, so the lyrics are talking about … while you live, shine, and don't get down on the small stuff."
The exercise is part of an outreach program lead by the museum that brings ancient history to the residents.
Previously, residents of Fronditha Care in Thornbury would make the bus trip to the Hellenic Museum themselves — but challenges around mobility and the pandemic have made that more difficult.
Now, the museum is coming to them.
Museum staff and volunteers partnered with the centre to run sessions inside the home, using song, storytelling, weaving, and object handling to create a full sensory experience.
Ms Marinopoulos says her own grandparents are residents of Fronditha Care in Clayton South — so leading the program holds a personal connection for her.
"It's the most rewarding thing I've ever done in my professional life," she says.
"Seeing people who can't make it into museums get to come and have that experience — and a really tailored experience as well."
"Each of them involve object handling. We want to keep it really tactile so there's lots of different ways to engage — you can use your hands, you can see things, you can hear things."
The hope for staff — igniting the deep connection between residents' muscle memory and more profound nostalgia, now lost to time.
At 85, Angeliki knows she's losing her memory. She's started keeping a journal to write down the important ones.
But after sitting in on a weaving workshop, it all comes rushing back to her.
"She remembers she's from Ioannina," explains Mary Christofidis, a volunteer from the museum who lead the session.
Mary translated her conversation with Angeliki, who spoke little English, to the ABC.
"She also remembers the balconies high up in the mountains," Mary explains.
"She said she would go up to those balconies and shout greetings to the neighbours which would be carried to them through echoes."
Mary explains Angeliki also passed on tips and tricks to care for woven garments, handed down through generations of women in her family.
The evidence of this generational knowledge, according to Mary, was intricately woven into Angeliki's cardigan.
"If you have a close look … these designs go way back to ancient Greece," Mary explains.
"It's just amazing."
For Angeliki's husband, Lazaros, aged 88, a woven blanket brought in for the class begins to resurface memories of their wedding.
"He got the dowry from [Angeliki's] family to marry this lovely lady," Mary says.
"To create a family, the most important thing was safety, warmth and food".
Louisa Storer, deputy manager at Fronditha, explains the day is more than just an opportunity to get the residents up and about.
"[It's] language and culture," she says.
"A lot of our residents speak limited English so having something that's in Greek and so relevant to their background is so important.
"Many of our residents, when they move into aged care may have been quite isolated, but then they gain this whole community here."
"It's not uncommon for people to already know someone here, or find someone they know, or came from their village, or came out on the same ship, worked at the same factory — it's just this lovely community," Louisa says.
She says the men of the home have engaged particularly well with the session on implements of war and lessons on Petteia — an ancient gambling board game involving pebbles.
One of the gentlemen, 84-year-old Christopher Theodoridis, says it's "pretty interesting".
"We're talking about Hellenic history. We're talking three thousand years before — Alexander the Great!"
The men pass around a reproduced coin engraved with the face of the historical Macedonian king, along with an authentic coin featuring Greek goddess Athena.
For some, it's perhaps the first time they've held something that reflects their heritage in such a tangible way. It shows in their eyes.
"So many Greeks are into their own history," Natasha says.
"People have said, 'It's nice to feel connected to my culture again'.
"That's the best we could hope for."
She says she would like to see more museums bringing the exhibits within the walls of aged care homes.
"People in aged care are just as much part of our community as anybody else, and we should include them as much.